Indiana Football: How Cole Gest’s transfer impacts Hoosiers
By Alec Lasley
The Indiana football junior became the second running back to transfer out of the program this season, leaving the backfield much different from how it started the season.
As the Hoosiers are getting ready to take on its next Big Ten opponent this weekend as Rutgers travels to Bloomington, they are also dealing with the news of Cole Gest transferring out of the Indiana football program.
Just like Ivory Winters, who transferred before the season started, Gest becomes the second Hoosier running back to leave the program this year.
Gest, who was a crucial member of the Indiana backfield earlier in his career, had fallen to fourth on the depth chart this season after not seeing a carry in each of the past two games, and only nine total touches (carries, receptions) all year.
As it stands now, the Hoosiers will turn to what was once an extremely deep backfield and see just three names will college experience, Stevie Scott, Sampson James, and Ronnie Walker.
So how exactly do the Hoosiers move forward with some openings in the backfield? There are a couple of names that should see some increased contact in their recruitment.
The first name is Alante Brown. The former Michigan State commit decided to take a prep year so he will, instead of being in the 2019 recruiting class, be in 2020.
Not only are the Hoosiers in his top-3, but he will be on an official visit to Bloomington for homecoming, this weekend. While he has been widely known as a wide receiver in high school, his athleticism and skillset make him usable all over the field and the Indiana staff has made him a priority, and possible running back commit.
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With Missouri and Michigan State in his top-3 as well, it is worth noting that the Spartans have had multiple running backs transfer out of their program this season as well, both being a bit of a shock to some.
Moving to the other name that could start to pick up steam. This one happens to be one of those running backs that transferred out of East Lansing, La’Darius Jefferson.
The former QB in high school transitioned to the running back position upon his arrival at Michigan State and it worked out pretty well as he ran the ball 78 times for 255 yards as a freshman, as LJ Scott went down with an injury in the middle of the season.
During Jefferson’s recruitment, Indiana was a strong option for quite some time before he chose the Spartans, so seeing the Hoosiers get back involved wouldn’t be surprising.
Either way, Indiana definitely has a hole to fill in the backfield in the next two classes and it wouldn’t shock me if Mike Hart and Tom Allen put together a couple of nice running back additions in the near future.
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