BLOOMINGTON \u2014\u00a0The Indiana football<\/a> workforce had an unofficial media day to preview the School Soccer Playoff on Tuesday evening.\u00a0
The Hoosiers<\/a> (11-1) had eight gamers (4 from the offense and 4 from the protection) converse to reporters about their first-round matchup against Notre Dame on Friday night.<\/a>\u00a0
Right here\u2019s one second that stood out from each participant that stepped as much as the rostrum on Tuesday evening:\u00a0
Extra:<\/strong>Indiana vs Notre Dame: The football rivalry that wasn\u2019t takes center stage in CFP first round<\/a>
Fisher sounded quite a bit like his coach on Tuesday evening when he revisited the workforce\u2019s loss to Ohio State.\u00a0
\u201cI do know numerous the fellows right here, the JMU guys, I feel we misplaced thrice within the final two years,\u201d Fisher mentioned. \u201cIt isn’t a sense that we like and never a sense that we wish to repeat.\u201d
That\u2019s the same message to the one Cignetti had for IU followers at his introductory press convention. He\u2019s now gone 14 seasons and counting as a head coach with out a shedding season and the singular focus he brings to the sidelines has rubbed off on his gamers.\u00a0
These JMU transfers like Fisher helped construct the successful tradition that\u2019s taken maintain in Bloomington, and it was their lengthy observe file of success that helped their phrases carry weight within the locker room.\u00a0
The longest tenured JMU transfers on the workforce (James Carpenter, Solomon Vanhorse and Nick Kidwell) have profession data of 52-9.\u00a0
Extra:<\/strong>Curt Cignetti handed Kurtis Rourke keys to Indiana’s offense. They made college football history.<\/a>
The sixth-year quarterback was requested about his feelings going into what could possibly be his closing faculty soccer sport \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s out of eligibility after this season \u2014 however Rourke isn\u2019t cleansing out his locker simply but.\u00a0\u00a0
\u201cI actually have cherished this yr, cherished all my years in faculty,\u201d Rourke mentioned. \u201cSimply realizing this could possibly be the final potential faculty sport positively involves my thoughts, but in addition I am taking it as a optimistic and motivating, that it is another probability to have an ideal alternative to play with the fellows and this workforce that is been so profitable.\u201d
\u201cSimply actually utilizing it to inspire me much more than I already need to go on the market, have enjoyable, get pleasure from it. We’ll speak about my final faculty sport in 4 video games.\u201d
Rourke, who completed ninth within the Heisman voting (22 factors) with three first-place votes, threw for two,827 yards (70.4%) with 27 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He\u2019s one landing away from tying Kellen Lewis\u2019 file for many passing touchdowns in a single-season and 173 yards from changing into simply the fourth-ever Hoosier to move for 3,000 or extra yards in a single-season.\u00a0
Extra:<\/strong>Indiana vs. Notre Dame: How the CFP first-round opponents match up by the numbers<\/a>
Indiana and Notre Dame haven\u2019t performed since 1991, and the Hoosiers haven\u2019t received in South Bend since 1898. The typical ticket worth offered for the video games is north of $700.\u00a0
Do gamers get a way of that enthusiasm for the uncommon matchup between the instate faculties?\u00a0
\u201cI see it on daily basis,\u201d Sarratt mentioned. \u201cI’ve to get off Twitter. I see it just a little an excessive amount of. I see the significance to everybody who’s concerned with each applications and I am as excited to have the ability to play on this sport. Who is aware of subsequent time we’re going to have the ability to play?\u201d
Sarratt is grateful to be on this place having began out his profession at Saint Francis, a university in Pennsylvania with lower than 2,000 college students. He was IU\u2019s main receiver this season with 49 catches for 890 yards (18.2 yards per catch) with eight touchdowns.\u00a0
Extra:<\/strong>How Indiana football DE Mikail Kamara went from zero to hero, silencing his doubters<\/a>
Kamara, who was the primary IU participant with 10 sacks in a single season since 2008, isn\u2019t altering his tune now that IU has reached the playoffs.\u00a0
He\u2019s been pounding the desk for the Hoosiers all yr and considered them as a possible title contender after a 6-0 begin. He introduced that very same stage of confidence with him to the rostrum on Tuesday evening when speaking in regards to the challenges of dealing with a dual-threat quarterback.\u00a0
\u201cI really feel like their scheme is fairly easy,\u201d Kamara mentioned. \u201cIt is only for us to go on the market and match our gaps and do what we have to do. We have practiced it. We have seen it. It is one thing totally different however nothing that scares us in any respect.\u201d
However don\u2019t mistake easy for second-rate.\u00a0
\u201cWhenever you play towards a workforce that wishes to run their quarterback, meaning they wish to grind it out,\u201d Kamara mentioned. \u201cThat is going to be a bodily ballgame to see who outlasts the opposite, and I do know it’ll be us on high.\u201d
Extra:<\/strong>Indiana football RB Justice Ellison is ’embracing every single moment’ in his new home<\/a>
Ellison is the certainly one of two gamers on IU\u2019s roster who has performed in South Bend, and it\u2019s an expertise he\u2019ll always remember. The previous Wake Forest operating again had 15 carries for 63 yards in a 45-7 loss to the Irish in 2023.\u00a0
It was solely the sixth all-time matchup between the applications.\u00a0
\u201cI soaked all of it in,\u201d Ellison mentioned. \u201cIt was an historic sport as properly. Wake Forest was enjoying — Sam Hartman was enjoying his old fashioned, Wake Forest. Being within the ambiance with a packed crowd.\u201d
Indiana receiver Ke\u2019Shawn Williams additionally obtained a beginning nod for Wake Forest within the loss. He returned a pair of kicks for 35 yards and had three touches on offense \u2014\u00a0a 20-yard achieve on the bottom and two catches for 22 yards.\u00a0
Ellison is hoping for a greater end result within the rematch.\u00a0
\u201cI knew I used to be going to come back again,\u201d Ellison mentioned. \u201cI knew I used to be going to come back again and get one other shot at it. To see all of it full circle I feel is wonderful.\u201d
Extra:<\/strong>The last time IU football played Notre Dame: NBC debut, pro QBs, bad blood and The Bus<\/a>
Walker could have overshared when he talked about slowing Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard down.\u00a0
\u201cWe put in new finish stops, like spying the quarterback or simply operating like previous, previous so simply to navigate him — have him have hassle escaping the pocket,\u201d Walker mentioned. \u201cWe simply know he\u2019s an ideal quarterback so we have now numerous performs constructed to cease his effectiveness, and it is prepared.\u201d
Leonard ran for 721 yards (5.8 yards per carry) this season and 14 touchdowns. He topped 100 yards in a single sport twice and had double-digit carries in 9 of the workforce\u2019s 12 video games.\u00a0
It isn\u2019t all that shocking IU would add some new wrinkles into the sport plan \u2014 the Hoosiers didn\u2019t face a real dual-threat quarterback in the course of the common season \u2013 however coaches are loath to share any particulars.\u00a0
It\u2019s why when the Hoosiers opened follow to the media for quarter-hour on Tuesday evening the vast majority of what reporters obtained to see was gamers stretching, however Walker can simply make up for the fopaux with a giant hit or two on Friday evening.
Extra:<\/strong>Indiana vs. Notre Dame: How the CFP first-round opponents match up by the numbers<\/a>
The JMU gamers that Curt Cignetti introduced over with him to Bloomington knew this system was destined for excellent issues lengthy earlier than anybody else.\u00a0
\u201cI’ve a full perception in Coach Cig and the employees and every thing they do,\u201d Horton mentioned. \u201cSo simply following them from JMU to IU, I knew from the get-go that no matter we do goes to be particular.\u201d
Horton had seen it earlier than when Cignetti made positive James Madison didn\u2019t miss a beat leaping into the FBS. He reworked the Dukes<\/a> into some of the talked about groups within the nation in 2023 amidst a 10-0 begin that included wins over Virginia and Utah State.\u00a0
\u201cI do know Cig goes to get the people who he desires and he’ll run a decent enterprise and all people goes to observe alongside,\u201d Horton mentioned. \u201cHe’ll get all people to purchase in and do every thing {that a} coach might do.\u201d
Extra:<\/strong>Riley Leonard is one of the best dual-threat QBs in the FBS. Indiana football wants him to pay a toll for that.<\/a>
Ponds, who earned second-team FWAA All-American honors hours earlier than chatting with reporters, is without doubt one of the IU’s youngest starters as a real sophomore. He was additionally one of many final gamers added to the roster in the course of the spring portal window.
He is felt at house in Bloomington the minute he arrived, and is keen to reward everybody that is believed in him over the past six months.
\u201cAll the fellows in right here, even the transfers, every thing, they took me in with open arms,\u201d Ponds mentioned. \u201cIt positively means quite a bit to me, and I positively wish to carry a Nationwide Championship right here to Bloomington.\u201d
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Instances. You’ll be able to observe him on X @michaelniziolek<\/a> and browse all his protection by clicking here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n