August 15, 2025 • 22 mins
The Hoosiers are midway through camp and just two weeks from opening the 2025 season, and we hear from head coach Curt Cignetti and OL Drew Evans.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, you doing everybody. I'm Ken Bikoff and welcome to
the Peagus Podcast. Indiana football is now just a little
bit over two weeks from returning to the field for
the regular season opener against Old Dominion that kicks off
at two thirty pm at Memorial Stadium August thirtieth, and
the Hoosiers had their first scrimmage I guess I first
(00:29):
kind of full walk through scrimmage last weekend, and you're
gonna be hearing coach Signetty talk about that here in
just a little bit. We got a tight ten with
with Sig earlier this week and he talks about that scrimmage.
We're also going to be hearing from Drew Evans, who
suffered a season ending achilles injury last year, about his
(00:50):
comeback and everything that goes along with that. But you know, again,
this is a team that as they continue to work.
I enjoyed the tone from all the players as as
you see them talk to the media. Just everything is
the same as it was last year. And that is
all the Sig and all of Sig and his coaching
(01:13):
staff just setting an example of not getting too high,
not getting too low, and just focusing on the work.
It's tough at this time of camp midway through, and
they do a great job of really just setting the
tone and making sure everybody is is doing what they're
supposed to do. Avoiding injury during camp is really really important.
(01:36):
You're gonna hear Sig talk a little bit about some
guys getting back on the field after suffering some things
along the way. Being able to bounce back quickly also
is kind of a testament to the job that the
strength and conditioning staff has done since Sig took over.
Indiana has historically had injury problems, and part of that
(02:00):
is luck, part of that is preparation. Part of that
is just getting guys in shape to where they don't
suffer things over and over and over again. It's been
hot in Bloomington, so making sure everybody is physically where
they need to be for each practice is really important.
So good on the strength and conditioning folks to make
sure that everybody is as healthy as they can be
(02:22):
and staying in shape, and that's really important. You guys
don't want to hear me talk about what's been going
on in camp, be sure to check out peaks dot
com to check out what Matt Weaver and jeffrab Johns
and Jared Kelly have had to say about the camp
that has going on, But for right now, here's head
coach Kurt Signetti during his weekly meeting with the media
(02:43):
earlier this week.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, practice ten tomorrow, make them progress, improving, Still got
a long way to go and we'll be back at it.
Important week.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Coach, how did the scrimmage go on Saturday? Did you
what takeaways did you have from it?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
To make penalties like almost every first scrimmage we've ever had,
uh to may missed assignments and you know, there was good,
there was bad, and there was ugly, but the effort
and the competition was good.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Coachm let me ask you about Lebron Bond. I know
it's tough for freshmaning on the field, but was here
in the spring. I know you liked what you saw
in the springs. Your thoughts on what you liked about
him so far in the progress he's made since he
got got on campus back in January.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, it's really important to him football. You know, he
is uh picked up where he left off and gotten
better and uh still a little bit more consistency needed,
but he's in a position to help us this fall.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, coach. The NCAA announced in a waiver in December
for players like Louis Moore juco athletes to be eligible
for this season. His waiver has been denied and his
eligibilities up in the area's at sue obviously by the
lawsuit on Friday. Are you frustrated with over the NCAA
over how they've kind of handled this situation his waiver
request and are you supportive of him having to go
(04:22):
through the courts to play this season?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I think the issue with Lewis and a lot of
other guys across the country right now is the Vanderbilt
quarterback was still within his five year clock, whereas there's
a group of guys that are at five and a
half years. I do support Louis, but it's a legal
matter and that's all I can say about.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Can you assess the running back room and what you're
looking for from the running backs, and in particular, what
was it about Hindy that you really liked?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah? Well, Henby's a veteran, he's done it for a
number of years in the Big Ten Conference. He's had
a solid camp. He's got to improve on his past protection.
Kaylon Black has had a good camp. BB was back
out there today. I thought Van Horse really ran well
in the scrimmage and passed Prode well, older veteran guy.
(05:14):
Interesting story on him is when we first went to
JMU in nineteen, he had been a walk on the
previous season and was a walk on still. We opened
with West Virginia. Third series of the game, he's in there,
played well and he started the next six to seven
games and then heard his ankle. Then he had some
injury problems from that point on. But I thought he
ran well Saturday, and Kobe Martin's getting better. It's good
(05:36):
to get BB back. He was out there today first practice.
Speaker 7 (05:42):
Coach, how important is it to have a guy like
kelln Wyatt play opposite on that defensive line so it
kind of freeze things up for Kamorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Well, I think it's really important because you got to
have eleven good players doing their job. You know, outside
of what it does for McHale, you got to have
two bookends, you know, when you're in a four down front. Now,
we were very multiple, but Whatt is a high effort,
high energy, intelligent guy, like Bryant said, he's very versatile,
(06:11):
he can do a lot of different things. He's had
a really good camp and you know he's he'll be
a big addition.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
For US coach.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
You mentioned how getting coach Whitmer up to speed of
the playbook was a priority in the spring. I mean,
how have you seen him adapt up to this point
and kind of start to use the things he's learned
at the NFL level.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, well, you know, I think anytime. You know, his
primary experience was in the NFL and the college as
graduate assistant, so there was a learning curve in the spring.
He's doing a great job, terrific job. He's doing a
great job mentoring the quarterbacks. He's got good ideas. I'm
very pleased he's going to add a lot to the staff.
(06:53):
He's got great work ethic. He's a film junkie, really smart,
got great demeanor.
Speaker 7 (07:02):
You mentioned Lebron Bond earlier, but on the wide receiver
room as a whole, what have you seen from them
in developing connections with Fernando.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
But you know, we had pretty good offensive success overall
last week. In practice it wasn't but still a lot
of mistakes and there's a lot of areas that we've
got to get better. Now, what I would say to
that is the defense was really shorthanded. You know, Hardy
(07:32):
returned to practice today, but had a growing miss most
of the last week. Mary Ferrell had a personal matter,
mother passed away, was gone most of the week. He's
back today. Pawns went out of the scrimmage early, tweaked
his ankle. He practiced today, is fine, And then you
(07:54):
got to put other guys in different positions. So I
think the defense was a little shorthanded. I think we
have a chance to be a good offense. We've gotta
be bounced, running the ball, throwing the ball, do a
good job of protecting quarterbacks, separating getting open. But you know,
(08:17):
there's not an area on the team right now offensively
where if we're ready to play a game. You know,
we're still in stalling, going over situations, low red, high red,
you know, all that stuff one minute. So, but I
think we're progressing, and where I see the progress aside
(08:40):
from the scrimmage. As the week went on, I thought
the competition picked up, the speed and the tempo picked up,
and the execution was starting to improve. Now I think
one of the biggest things we got to do now
is You know, we can't let mental fatigue precede physical teague.
(09:01):
And you know when guys start to get a little gassed,
you know they they can't give in. Ninety eight percent
of this game is between your ears. You know, it's
amazing when you if you run the team at the
end of practice, you run them on ten tens or
ten forties, you make them do it again. Start at
(09:23):
zero fit are not perfect by everybody. How on that
tenth one they run faster than they've ever run. And
it's all between years and so. But I think we've
made good progress, but we've got a long way to
(09:46):
go yet.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
A coach, you have a couple of new pieces on
special teams, with Mitchell McCarthy coming in in a kickoff specialist.
Can you talk about them and how they're progressing? And
then also have Nico and yeah, some other guys.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, it all starts with Langston, who's as good as
there is in a country at short and long snapper,
and Nico who's been money as a field goal kicker. Okay,
Frankie who about eighty percent of his kickoffs have been
known returnable in his career, and then McCarthy, who gets
a ball off really fast and strongly, a great hang time.
(10:25):
I really like our specialists. I think we have a
chance to do some special things this year.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
See the last few years you had a staple at
tight end and Zach Horton's got some new guys this year.
What are your impressions, your thoughts on holding and Riley
and some of those guys in that room.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, I think Riley is a lot like Wyatt, just
a real smart, hard working guy. You know what you're
going to get from an effort and preparation standpoint day
in day out. You know, consistency and he's going to
be a valuable member of the offense.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And Holden stays uh you know, is improving as a blocker.
It has really good soft hands, big long body, can
get down the field in the past game. So and
Bomba is you know, this will be his senior year
and hopefully we keep him healthy for you know, the
whole season and afterward.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
You mentioned being a little bit short handed in the
secondary the last couple of days. Has that allowed some
of the younger guys to kind of step up and
impress you a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
It gives him an opportunity Yeah, to work with the
ones or the two's, and so you know, we're still
looking at building quality depth back there.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, offensive line has been obviously a big topic of discussion.
How do you judge? I mean, because you know, you
played really well for most of the season, it was
those kind of games against higher competition. How do you
tell if the offensive line is ready for that or
is trending in the direction to be ready in those
environments and those top tier competitions. Can you tell that
they're further along this year than near last year? Can
(12:01):
you tell they're we're physically ready yet or is that
still something you'll see kind of once you get into
games and things like that.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I mean, I wouldn't focus in just on the offensive
line in the two games where we fell short, you know,
I think you look at all the positions where we
need to play better.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know, we had some protection issues against the High State.
Some of it was communication and missed assignments and Notre Dame.
You can't say that we won the line scrimmage in
that game. I think we've improved ourselves potentially with the
guys that we've brought in, and I think we're in
a good place right now, you know, starting to jail
(12:41):
but not ready to play a game.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
That sig from the team room, you know, direct as always,
that's how he rolls. But they also let us talk
to Drew Evans offensive lineman Drew Evans, who was having
a great season last year before he injured himself in
practic just suffered an achilles injury. Let you hear him
(13:04):
talk about his recovery, how excited he is for the
upcoming season, and uh, just where he is mentally as
as the Hoosiers prepare for Old dominion.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Yeah, it takes back to the injury last year, and
I think it was like a non contact thing, but
he walked us through and kind of what was your
mindset after having kind of worked so hard to get
to that moment right before the Michigan game for it
to happen.
Speaker 8 (13:36):
Yeah, obviously that was really a devastating moment. I was
really excited because Michigan d line is they're really tough
last year and I wanted I thought that was a
good opportunity to prove myself against some of the top
guys and uh, obviously really kind of heartbreaking, but you know,
(13:56):
good opportunity to get some adversity.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
What happened with the injury was it just like a
flu kind of thing. In practice it was this kind
of a serious thing.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
So I was up in a sled and then just
all of a sudden, it felt like someone came and
kicked me in the back of my leg, and I
was kind of like, you know, who kicked me in
the back of leg? And then that's when I realized
it was pretty serious.
Speaker 9 (14:25):
I guess just from your perspective going through the recovery process,
just what was spring like for you, What was summer
like for you? How were you just sort of the
process of building back to full strength and to being
just can you walk us through some of that as well?
Speaker 8 (14:41):
So, yeah, with the achilles, I was kind of like
completely out of everything, not really doing it much for
like six weeks, and then like start working into walking
again and then getting on like a lighter treadmill like
the altar g and so it's a very very low process.
(15:02):
But you know, once I got back lifting and starting
to see some strides and my calf strength kind of
more uplifting, but still just very gradual, slow process. And
you know, it's always hard to sit out and watch
your friends play without you.
Speaker 10 (15:25):
You met about that a little bit, like mentally, just
how difficult of a process was that to.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Go through and how do you kind of get through it?
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (15:32):
Obviously really hard. I've never been in that situation before,
you know, watching especially the first few weeks when my
friends are going to go play good teams without me
and I feel like I can't be out there with them.
Obviously that's tough, and you know, really you just gotta
(15:53):
focus one day at a time, like it's gonna be
gone done eventually.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, Drew, now that your your back, what are the
keys for you? What do you need to improve on?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
What needs you to get better?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (16:09):
You know, right now, it's just like shaking the rust
off every day getting a little better. I'm feeling good
out there. Just the same thing, like get the fundamentals
every day, shake the lorst off.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
How would you compare playing with Pat after you know,
playing with with uh Mike last year at center?
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Both really good guys. Uh you know, more like they're
smart guys like know the game. Well, Uh yeah, I'd
say they're pretty similar, but both good in their own ways.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, Drew, you get to go up against the
defensive lineman every day who has stood out to you,
especially from the new guys like see and uh Daniel Ratcliffe.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Oh yeah, they're our d line is very good, uh Ratcliffe, Uh,
very good guy, very quick, Joseah, big and strong. You
know it's ah, we have a very good deal line.
It's good to be going against them every day, Drew.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Last year, you guys played well all year, I know
towards the the year you went with him, but had
a little bit of struggle against you know at Michigan,
Ohio State Notre Dame. How much have you guys talked
about that this year when you go against an Oregon
and Iowa Penn State kind of you know, taking that
play up to that next level and dominating like you
did against other teams, against teams like that.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
You know, it's just we want to learn from the mistakes,
you know, so we can go on the road and
play in those big games and just right now building
confidence and you know, just because you know you know
what you have to do, you just gotta go do it.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
That you feel like you kind of out on the
chance to prove yourself at the end of last year.
Do you are you going into this year with that
mindset of trying to prove yourself each week.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
Oh yeah, big time.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
What does that look like a day to day basis
for you?
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Day to day basis just you know, you got to
be your best self every day and learn from your
mistakes every day.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
Joe just curious, what was the moment when you did
something physically and went, Okay, the Achilles is good.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I have confidence and I can push off.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I can.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Was there one moment where you're like, okay, yeah, I'm
good to go.
Speaker 8 (18:33):
I wouldn't say there was one moment. It's like, uh
still Like I wouldn't say I have very much like
I don't have equal strength in my right calf as
my left calf. But it's it was a very slow
process to build that confidence and you know, I'll get
back to running and all that first practice, I'd say,
(18:55):
first Paul camp practice was pretty like all right, I'm
you know, I'm here, I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Back for the adversity face. I mean, what do you
learn about yourself through that time? I mean that was
mid November and now we're mid August and you're back
playing ball again.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yeah, I uh, I had never really gone through something
like that, and you know, it's whatever it's was nine
months or eight months, it's a long time to not
play football, and you like, you realize how much you
missed playing football, And I don't know, I'm like, you know,
(19:33):
I missed football a lot.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Yeah, did you feel like you were playing you know,
obviously sit out in the spring, close set out in
the spring. Do you feel like you're playing catch up
kind of the summer this fall chemistry wise? And and
how's that kind of process kind of building back up
defensive line as a group.
Speaker 8 (19:52):
Uh, obviously I wasn't out there in the spring but
on the practice field, but I'm still you know, with
my guys. You know, it's a pretty close group. I
feel pretty confident that we're on the same page.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
And Drew, obviously there's an expectation in a standard here
now with Kurt entering your second year here, what you
did all last season preseason ranking for the fourth time
I believe in school history. Is there any sort of
notion with that for you guys, knowing that there are
more eyes on you heading into this season instead of
drawing them as the season continued like it did last year.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
Me personally, I'm you know, it's kind of cool that
you know ranked preseason, but it's not. It's not a
huge deal, I'd say, you know, it's We're still just
gonna go play our best whenever we can.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So again, that's Drew Evans. It's good to see him
back on the field and working hard. The Hoosiers take
on Old Dominion August thirtieth. After that game, say a
second season of The Peak's Post Game Live. And I'm
really excited for the second season of this the Call
In Show. It's going to host it from the Memorial
(21:03):
Stadium parking lot, weather permitting. That is looking really really
forward to that. We have microphone there for any passers
by who want to to chime in on the game,
talk about IU football. I'm really excited about that. Exact
location of where I will be this year is something
I'm still working out, but I'll be sure to let
(21:24):
you know in advance of the game. I know I'm
running out of time, but I have an idea of
where i want to be and I just have to
solidify the details of that. But we take your calls
after the game. If it's a home game, you can
swing by where I'll be and be able to weigh
in on what's going on, and I'm just really excited
about it. I really thoroughly enjoyed hearing all your thoughts
(21:47):
last year, and it seems that you guys enjoyed it too.
So I'm gonna be live streaming. You're gonna be able
to see my ugly face while I'm doing it, and
as soon as the show is over, as soon as
I could get it loaded up into my podcast system,
and it'll go live for that. But works best when
I'm hearing from you, because that's what I really want
to hear from. And uh, really looking forward to season two,
(22:10):
So look forward to that. What's all the time we
have on the Peaks podcast this week? I want to
thank you for listening, and I want to remind you
of visit peaks dot com for the very best and
you football and basketball coverage you're going to find anywhere
nobody covers who's you're recruiting better than Jeff rab John's,
Matt Weaver, Trevor Andershoch, and Jared Kelly. So come be
a part of a thriving and exciting community at Peaks
dot com. Folks, you are not going to be disappointed.
(22:31):
Folks are out of time, but for now and for Jeff, Matt,
Jared and Trevor. I'm ken Baikoff saying thanks for listening, everybody,
Hi, you doing everybody. I'm Ken Bikoff and welcome to
the Peagus Podcast. Indiana football is now just a little
bit over two weeks from returning to the field for
the regular season opener against Old Dominion that kicks off
at two thirty pm at Memorial Stadium August thirtieth, and
the Hoosiers had their first scrimmage I guess I first
(00:29):
kind of full walk through scrimmage last weekend, and you're
gonna be hearing coach Signetty talk about that here in
just a little bit. We got a tight ten with
with Sig earlier this week and he talks about that scrimmage.
We're also going to be hearing from Drew Evans, who
suffered a season ending achilles injury last year, about his
(00:50):
comeback and everything that goes along with that. But you know, again,
this is a team that as they continue to work.
I enjoyed the tone from all the players as as
you see them talk to the media. Just everything is
the same as it was last year. And that is
all the Sig and all of Sig and his coaching
(01:13):
staff just setting an example of not getting too high,
not getting too low, and just focusing on the work.
It's tough at this time of camp midway through, and
they do a great job of really just setting the
tone and making sure everybody is is doing what they're
supposed to do. Avoiding injury during camp is really really important.
(01:36):
You're gonna hear Sig talk a little bit about some
guys getting back on the field after suffering some things
along the way. Being able to bounce back quickly also
is kind of a testament to the job that the
strength and conditioning staff has done since Sig took over.
Indiana has historically had injury problems, and part of that
(02:00):
is luck, part of that is preparation. Part of that
is just getting guys in shape to where they don't
suffer things over and over and over again. It's been
hot in Bloomington, so making sure everybody is physically where
they need to be for each practice is really important.
So good on the strength and conditioning folks to make
sure that everybody is as healthy as they can be
(02:22):
and staying in shape, and that's really important. You guys
don't want to hear me talk about what's been going
on in camp, be sure to check out peaks dot
com to check out what Matt Weaver and jeffrab Johns
and Jared Kelly have had to say about the camp
that has going on, But for right now, here's head
coach Kurt Signetti during his weekly meeting with the media
(02:43):
earlier this week.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah, practice ten tomorrow, make them progress, improving, Still got
a long way to go and we'll be back at it.
Important week.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Coach, how did the scrimmage go on Saturday? Did you
what takeaways did you have from it?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
To make penalties like almost every first scrimmage we've ever had,
uh to may missed assignments and you know, there was good,
there was bad, and there was ugly, but the effort
and the competition was good.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Coachm let me ask you about Lebron Bond. I know
it's tough for freshmaning on the field, but was here
in the spring. I know you liked what you saw
in the springs. Your thoughts on what you liked about
him so far in the progress he's made since he
got got on campus back in January.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, it's really important to him football. You know, he
is uh picked up where he left off and gotten
better and uh still a little bit more consistency needed,
but he's in a position to help us this fall.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, coach. The NCAA announced in a waiver in December
for players like Louis Moore juco athletes to be eligible
for this season. His waiver has been denied and his
eligibilities up in the area's at sue obviously by the
lawsuit on Friday. Are you frustrated with over the NCAA
over how they've kind of handled this situation his waiver
request and are you supportive of him having to go
(04:22):
through the courts to play this season?
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I think the issue with Lewis and a lot of
other guys across the country right now is the Vanderbilt
quarterback was still within his five year clock, whereas there's
a group of guys that are at five and a
half years. I do support Louis, but it's a legal
matter and that's all I can say about.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Can you assess the running back room and what you're
looking for from the running backs, and in particular, what
was it about Hindy that you really liked?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah? Well, Henby's a veteran, he's done it for a
number of years in the Big Ten Conference. He's had
a solid camp. He's got to improve on his past protection.
Kaylon Black has had a good camp. BB was back
out there today. I thought Van Horse really ran well
in the scrimmage and passed Prode well, older veteran guy.
(05:14):
Interesting story on him is when we first went to
JMU in nineteen, he had been a walk on the
previous season and was a walk on still. We opened
with West Virginia. Third series of the game, he's in there,
played well and he started the next six to seven
games and then heard his ankle. Then he had some
injury problems from that point on. But I thought he
ran well Saturday, and Kobe Martin's getting better. It's good
(05:36):
to get BB back. He was out there today first practice.
Speaker 7 (05:42):
Coach, how important is it to have a guy like
kelln Wyatt play opposite on that defensive line so it
kind of freeze things up for Kamorrow.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Well, I think it's really important because you got to
have eleven good players doing their job. You know, outside
of what it does for McHale, you got to have
two bookends, you know, when you're in a four down front. Now,
we were very multiple, but Whatt is a high effort,
high energy, intelligent guy, like Bryant said, he's very versatile,
(06:11):
he can do a lot of different things. He's had
a really good camp and you know he's he'll be
a big addition.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
For US coach.
Speaker 6 (06:21):
You mentioned how getting coach Whitmer up to speed of
the playbook was a priority in the spring. I mean,
how have you seen him adapt up to this point
and kind of start to use the things he's learned
at the NFL level.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, well, you know, I think anytime. You know, his
primary experience was in the NFL and the college as
graduate assistant, so there was a learning curve in the spring.
He's doing a great job, terrific job. He's doing a
great job mentoring the quarterbacks. He's got good ideas. I'm
very pleased he's going to add a lot to the staff.
(06:53):
He's got great work ethic. He's a film junkie, really smart,
got great demeanor.
Speaker 7 (07:02):
You mentioned Lebron Bond earlier, but on the wide receiver
room as a whole, what have you seen from them
in developing connections with Fernando.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
But you know, we had pretty good offensive success overall
last week. In practice it wasn't but still a lot
of mistakes and there's a lot of areas that we've
got to get better. Now, what I would say to
that is the defense was really shorthanded. You know, Hardy
(07:32):
returned to practice today, but had a growing miss most
of the last week. Mary Ferrell had a personal matter,
mother passed away, was gone most of the week. He's
back today. Pawns went out of the scrimmage early, tweaked
his ankle. He practiced today, is fine, And then you
(07:54):
got to put other guys in different positions. So I
think the defense was a little shorthanded. I think we
have a chance to be a good offense. We've gotta
be bounced, running the ball, throwing the ball, do a
good job of protecting quarterbacks, separating getting open. But you know,
(08:17):
there's not an area on the team right now offensively
where if we're ready to play a game. You know,
we're still in stalling, going over situations, low red, high red,
you know, all that stuff one minute. So, but I
think we're progressing, and where I see the progress aside
(08:40):
from the scrimmage. As the week went on, I thought
the competition picked up, the speed and the tempo picked up,
and the execution was starting to improve. Now I think
one of the biggest things we got to do now
is You know, we can't let mental fatigue precede physical teague.
(09:01):
And you know when guys start to get a little gassed,
you know they they can't give in. Ninety eight percent
of this game is between your ears. You know, it's
amazing when you if you run the team at the
end of practice, you run them on ten tens or
ten forties, you make them do it again. Start at
(09:23):
zero fit are not perfect by everybody. How on that
tenth one they run faster than they've ever run. And
it's all between years and so. But I think we've
made good progress, but we've got a long way to
(09:46):
go yet.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
A coach, you have a couple of new pieces on
special teams, with Mitchell McCarthy coming in in a kickoff specialist.
Can you talk about them and how they're progressing? And
then also have Nico and yeah, some other guys.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, it all starts with Langston, who's as good as
there is in a country at short and long snapper,
and Nico who's been money as a field goal kicker. Okay,
Frankie who about eighty percent of his kickoffs have been
known returnable in his career, and then McCarthy, who gets
a ball off really fast and strongly, a great hang time.
(10:25):
I really like our specialists. I think we have a
chance to do some special things this year.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
See the last few years you had a staple at
tight end and Zach Horton's got some new guys this year.
What are your impressions, your thoughts on holding and Riley
and some of those guys in that room.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, I think Riley is a lot like Wyatt, just
a real smart, hard working guy. You know what you're
going to get from an effort and preparation standpoint day
in day out. You know, consistency and he's going to
be a valuable member of the offense.
Speaker 6 (11:00):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
And Holden stays uh you know, is improving as a blocker.
It has really good soft hands, big long body, can
get down the field in the past game. So and
Bomba is you know, this will be his senior year
and hopefully we keep him healthy for you know, the
whole season and afterward.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
Exactly.
Speaker 7 (11:23):
You mentioned being a little bit short handed in the
secondary the last couple of days. Has that allowed some
of the younger guys to kind of step up and
impress you a little bit.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
It gives him an opportunity Yeah, to work with the
ones or the two's, and so you know, we're still
looking at building quality depth back there.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, offensive line has been obviously a big topic of discussion.
How do you judge? I mean, because you know, you
played really well for most of the season, it was
those kind of games against higher competition. How do you
tell if the offensive line is ready for that or
is trending in the direction to be ready in those
environments and those top tier competitions. Can you tell that
they're further along this year than near last year? Can
(12:01):
you tell they're we're physically ready yet or is that
still something you'll see kind of once you get into
games and things like that.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I mean, I wouldn't focus in just on the offensive
line in the two games where we fell short, you know,
I think you look at all the positions where we
need to play better.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
You know, we had some protection issues against the High State.
Some of it was communication and missed assignments and Notre Dame.
You can't say that we won the line scrimmage in
that game. I think we've improved ourselves potentially with the
guys that we've brought in, and I think we're in
a good place right now, you know, starting to jail
(12:41):
but not ready to play a game.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
That sig from the team room, you know, direct as always,
that's how he rolls. But they also let us talk
to Drew Evans offensive lineman Drew Evans, who was having
a great season last year before he injured himself in
practic just suffered an achilles injury. Let you hear him
(13:04):
talk about his recovery, how excited he is for the
upcoming season, and uh, just where he is mentally as
as the Hoosiers prepare for Old dominion.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
Yeah, it takes back to the injury last year, and
I think it was like a non contact thing, but
he walked us through and kind of what was your
mindset after having kind of worked so hard to get
to that moment right before the Michigan game for it
to happen.
Speaker 8 (13:36):
Yeah, obviously that was really a devastating moment. I was
really excited because Michigan d line is they're really tough
last year and I wanted I thought that was a
good opportunity to prove myself against some of the top
guys and uh, obviously really kind of heartbreaking, but you know,
(13:56):
good opportunity to get some adversity.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
What happened with the injury was it just like a
flu kind of thing. In practice it was this kind
of a serious thing.
Speaker 8 (14:07):
So I was up in a sled and then just
all of a sudden, it felt like someone came and
kicked me in the back of my leg, and I
was kind of like, you know, who kicked me in
the back of leg? And then that's when I realized
it was pretty serious.
Speaker 9 (14:25):
I guess just from your perspective going through the recovery process,
just what was spring like for you, What was summer
like for you? How were you just sort of the
process of building back to full strength and to being
just can you walk us through some of that as well?
Speaker 8 (14:41):
So, yeah, with the achilles, I was kind of like
completely out of everything, not really doing it much for
like six weeks, and then like start working into walking
again and then getting on like a lighter treadmill like
the altar g and so it's a very very low process.
(15:02):
But you know, once I got back lifting and starting
to see some strides and my calf strength kind of
more uplifting, but still just very gradual, slow process. And
you know, it's always hard to sit out and watch
your friends play without you.
Speaker 10 (15:25):
You met about that a little bit, like mentally, just
how difficult of a process was that to.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Go through and how do you kind of get through it?
Speaker 5 (15:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (15:32):
Obviously really hard. I've never been in that situation before,
you know, watching especially the first few weeks when my
friends are going to go play good teams without me
and I feel like I can't be out there with them.
Obviously that's tough, and you know, really you just gotta
(15:53):
focus one day at a time, like it's gonna be
gone done eventually.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, Drew, now that your your back, what are the
keys for you? What do you need to improve on?
Speaker 4 (16:06):
What needs you to get better?
Speaker 6 (16:08):
Uh?
Speaker 8 (16:09):
You know, right now, it's just like shaking the rust
off every day getting a little better. I'm feeling good
out there. Just the same thing, like get the fundamentals
every day, shake the lorst off.
Speaker 6 (16:26):
How would you compare playing with Pat after you know,
playing with with uh Mike last year at center?
Speaker 5 (16:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (16:33):
Both really good guys. Uh you know, more like they're
smart guys like know the game. Well, Uh yeah, I'd
say they're pretty similar, but both good in their own ways.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, Drew, you get to go up against the
defensive lineman every day who has stood out to you,
especially from the new guys like see and uh Daniel Ratcliffe.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Oh yeah, they're our d line is very good, uh Ratcliffe, Uh,
very good guy, very quick, Joseah, big and strong. You
know it's ah, we have a very good deal line.
It's good to be going against them every day, Drew.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Last year, you guys played well all year, I know
towards the the year you went with him, but had
a little bit of struggle against you know at Michigan,
Ohio State Notre Dame. How much have you guys talked
about that this year when you go against an Oregon
and Iowa Penn State kind of you know, taking that
play up to that next level and dominating like you
did against other teams, against teams like that.
Speaker 8 (17:39):
You know, it's just we want to learn from the mistakes,
you know, so we can go on the road and
play in those big games and just right now building
confidence and you know, just because you know you know
what you have to do, you just gotta go do it.
Speaker 7 (17:58):
That you feel like you kind of out on the
chance to prove yourself at the end of last year.
Do you are you going into this year with that
mindset of trying to prove yourself each week.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
Oh yeah, big time.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
What does that look like a day to day basis
for you?
Speaker 8 (18:10):
Day to day basis just you know, you got to
be your best self every day and learn from your
mistakes every day.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
Joe just curious, what was the moment when you did
something physically and went, Okay, the Achilles is good.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I have confidence and I can push off.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
I can.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Was there one moment where you're like, okay, yeah, I'm
good to go.
Speaker 8 (18:33):
I wouldn't say there was one moment. It's like, uh
still Like I wouldn't say I have very much like
I don't have equal strength in my right calf as
my left calf. But it's it was a very slow
process to build that confidence and you know, I'll get
back to running and all that first practice, I'd say,
(18:55):
first Paul camp practice was pretty like all right, I'm
you know, I'm here, I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
Back for the adversity face. I mean, what do you
learn about yourself through that time? I mean that was
mid November and now we're mid August and you're back
playing ball again.
Speaker 8 (19:11):
Yeah, I uh, I had never really gone through something
like that, and you know, it's whatever it's was nine
months or eight months, it's a long time to not
play football, and you like, you realize how much you
missed playing football, And I don't know, I'm like, you know,
(19:33):
I missed football a lot.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
Yeah, did you feel like you were playing you know,
obviously sit out in the spring, close set out in
the spring. Do you feel like you're playing catch up
kind of the summer this fall chemistry wise? And and
how's that kind of process kind of building back up
defensive line as a group.
Speaker 8 (19:52):
Uh, obviously I wasn't out there in the spring but
on the practice field, but I'm still you know, with
my guys. You know, it's a pretty close group. I
feel pretty confident that we're on the same page.
Speaker 10 (20:07):
And Drew, obviously there's an expectation in a standard here
now with Kurt entering your second year here, what you
did all last season preseason ranking for the fourth time
I believe in school history. Is there any sort of
notion with that for you guys, knowing that there are
more eyes on you heading into this season instead of
drawing them as the season continued like it did last year.
Speaker 8 (20:28):
Me personally, I'm you know, it's kind of cool that
you know ranked preseason, but it's not. It's not a
huge deal, I'd say, you know, it's We're still just
gonna go play our best whenever we can.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So again, that's Drew Evans. It's good to see him
back on the field and working hard. The Hoosiers take
on Old Dominion August thirtieth. After that game, say a
second season of The Peak's Post Game Live. And I'm
really excited for the second season of this the Call
In Show. It's going to host it from the Memorial
(21:03):
Stadium parking lot, weather permitting. That is looking really really
forward to that. We have microphone there for any passers
by who want to to chime in on the game,
talk about IU football. I'm really excited about that. Exact
location of where I will be this year is something
I'm still working out, but I'll be sure to let
(21:24):
you know in advance of the game. I know I'm
running out of time, but I have an idea of
where i want to be and I just have to
solidify the details of that. But we take your calls
after the game. If it's a home game, you can
swing by where I'll be and be able to weigh
in on what's going on, and I'm just really excited
about it. I really thoroughly enjoyed hearing all your thoughts
(21:47):
last year, and it seems that you guys enjoyed it too.
So I'm gonna be live streaming. You're gonna be able
to see my ugly face while I'm doing it, and
as soon as the show is over, as soon as
I could get it loaded up into my podcast system,
and it'll go live for that. But works best when
I'm hearing from you, because that's what I really want
to hear from. And uh, really looking forward to season two,
(22:10):
So look forward to that. What's all the time we
have on the Peaks podcast this week? I want to
thank you for listening, and I want to remind you
of visit peaks dot com for the very best and
you football and basketball coverage you're going to find anywhere
nobody covers who's you're recruiting better than Jeff rab John's,
Matt Weaver, Trevor Andershoch, and Jared Kelly. So come be
a part of a thriving and exciting community at Peaks
dot com. Folks, you are not going to be disappointed.
(22:31):
Folks are out of time, but for now and for Jeff, Matt,
Jared and Trevor. I'm ken Baikoff saying thanks for listening, everybody,
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