Indiana Football: IU one of four programs with three guys on Maxwell watch list

Indiana Football, Whop Philyor (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Indiana Football, Whop Philyor (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

The Indiana football team has three players on the Maxwell watch list which is presented to the college player of the year.

On Friday the Maxwell watch list was announced and three Hoosiers were on the list. They were one of only four programs in the country to have three guys on the list.

If you asked college football fans, Indiana would not be one of their first choices in guessing the schools that had three players on the list. In fact, they would probably go through half the schools in the country before they got to IU.

But if you are a fan of the Big Ten and Indiana, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise. The Hoosiers return sophomore quarterback Michael Penix Jr who was having an outstanding year before he got hurt. Behind him, Stevie Scott is back and was one of the most reliable running backs in the Big Ten, even if you didn’t know his name.

Those guys are both great, but the big-name coming back is Whop Philyor who burst on to the scene last year with over 1,000 yards receiving with 70 catches. Those 70 catches were good for 16th in the country and he was in the top 40 in receiving yards. He had three double-digit reception games and was an absolute force for the Hoosiers.

Those three along with Ty Fryfogle and Peyton Hendershot should make up one of the top offenses in the Big Ten. They just need the defense to step up and the Hoosiers could turn in a very good 2020.

We have talked about this a lot during the preseason, but the Hoosiers are trying to prove last year was not a fluke and they are starting to get some recognition for it. We think they are going to have a great year as we showed in our predictions of the Big Ten standings. This watch list is just another example of how things are changing for the Hoosiers.