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Inside the Locker Room

peegs

Hall of Famer
May 29, 2001
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Columbus, Indiana
Don't believe yesterday's dismissals were surprising given this week's episode followed what should have been a huge wake-up call for both former Devin Davis and Hanner Mosquera-Perea.

So in a matter of two months the Hoosiers have gone from being oversigned by three to being undersigned by two.

Bank the two? No, don't think that is not going to happen. Indiana needs frontcourt depth for this coming season and perimeter help for beyond this season. The general expectation today is two more will be added to the incoming class if quality players can be found.

Already names are popping up and as we all learned last year in the case of Emmitt Holt, quality players can even surface in mid-August.

Before yesterday's news the Hoosier staff had already reached out to former VCU transfer Jordan Murphy, the No. 113 overall player in the Rivals150 for the Class of 2015. He's 6-foot-7, 220-pounds and out of San Antonio, Texas.

Murphy's AAU coach told our Jeff Rabjohns yesterday that they're "mulling over" using their last official visit to Indiana. Last year he took two of his five official visits to VCU and UNLV. Last week he took one to Boston College and earlier this week he visited Minnesota, the rumored leader at this point.

The Texan is about the same size as Holt but has more of a face-up game and is viewed by most as a small forward. At the same time he's a pretty good rebounder and an athlete w/nice length, the latter a trait of many of the players recruited into the "havoc" system at VCU.

Another guy on the market due to a coach leaving for another job is forward Noah Dickerson, the No. 81 overall player in the Rivals150. At 6-foot-8 and 245-pounds, there's no question he's more of a power forward. We featured Dickerson late last summer just before he committed to Billy Donovan and Florida (see story) Indiana scouted him some at the AAU Nationals when he was in in Louisville in late July with his Georgia Stars team. Played at Montverde Academy near Orlando but originally from the north Atlanta area. At one time was a Georgetown commit.

It has been less than 24 hours since Dickerson got his release so hard to tell now who the major players will be with him. New UF coach Mike White did not put any restrictions on his release which is notable as it opens him up to SEC teams.

Another Gator top 100 ranked signee, KeVaughn Allen, got his release this week. He's a 6-foot-3 shooting guard out of Little Rock, Arkansas.

Five-star seven-footer Thon Maker remains a serious roster addition possibility. But right now he continues to look like a January addition, not the greatest timing for any team looking at him. Speaking of teams, hard to say who may be in the best shape between the Hoosiers, Arizona State and Kentucky. Landing Thomas Bryant, however, did help the Hoosier cause.

Indiana has been mentioned some with 6-foot-11 junior college center Johnny Hamilton but the shot blocking specialist is headed to Virginia Tech.

At this point not aware of any other junior college prospects that are real possibilities but there area few good ones still on the market including 6'11 Chris Boucher (Northwest College, WY), 6'6 Ty Outlaw (Lee College, TX) and 6'9 Torren Jones (Midland College, TX).

While we haven't seen anything develop yet with any grad transfers immediately eligible, many of those guys don't surface till the summer as we saw last year with Nick Zeisloft. Here are just a couple of those types on the market now that may not contend to start but could be good enough for help with inside depth:

Tomasz Gielo - averaged 12.0 ppg, 6.3 rebs at Liberty. 6'9, 220. Out of Poland

Tyler Harris - 9.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg at Providence. Younger brother of Tobias Harris.

Cameron Forte - key bench player for Georgia, 6'7, 220, 4 ppg, 3 rpg - story

Max Biefeldt - 5.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg at Michigan. Got a special waiver allowing him to transfer to Big Ten school. Family ties to Illinois but may be zeroing in on Nebraska, a school he visited this week. He's 6'8, 245 lbs.

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We had the quick story on Tony Bradley, a new 2016 offer. He's a top 40 prospect and a big center.

A couple new 2017 offers went out this week:

Justin Smith - 6'6, 200-pounds from Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Really emerged the last few weeks playing with the 16U Mac Irvin Fire team. He was a bit under the radar after playing with high scoring, McDonald's All-American guard Jalen Brunson during his first two years at Stevenson.

Averaged 10.3 ppg in his soph season and just in the last two weeks or so has added offers from IU, Illinois, DePaul and Wake Forest.

Another offer went out to Mitchell Ballock, a well known top 25 2017 prospect out of Kansas:

Here are some notes from Jeff on Ballock:

Ballock is a 6-foot-4 left-handed shooting guard ranked No. 23 in the 2017 class. He is from Eudora, Kansas.

He also has offers from Creighton, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

Ballock told Peegs.com tonight Tom Crean made the offer in a phone conversation on Saturday but he didn't tell anyone until today.

Ballock also told Peegs.com that he plans to visit Indiana either in the summer or in the fall.

"I definitely want to see what Indiana basketball is all about," he said.

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Due to inclement weather forecasted for tomorrow, Indiana and Ohio State men's baseball will complete their weekend series with a doubleheader today A 3 p.m. start for the opener at Bart Kaufman Field. There will be a 45-minute break between games and tickets for either game will be accepted for admission all day.

Yesterday Indiana clinched a berth in the eight-team field for next week's Big Ten tournament in Minneapolis. One more win or Nebraska loss and IU will be a No. 7 seed. That's important as it helps IU avoid an opening tourney game against top seed Illinois. The Illini are the No. 4 nationally thanks to a 44-6 overall and 20-1 record in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers would get Iowa next Wednesday instead, a redemption chance since Hawkeyes are the only team to pull a three-game sweep on Indiana this season.

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This week's football update from Matt Weaver:

The Indiana staff continues to be busy on the recruiting trail as they handed out several new offers over the past week. Below is a list of names that Peegs.com has compiled of the prospects that have picked up offers from the Hoosiers this week.

2016 Texas DE/LB Michael Badejo (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Michael-Badejo-171943)

2016 Georgia CB Korey Banks (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Korey-Banks-160069)

2016 Ohio WR Seth Dawkins (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Seth-Dawkins-165032)

2016 Florida safety Deon Edwards (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Deon-Edwards-172227)

2016 Florida safety Romeo Finley (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Romeo-Finley-156337)

2016 Florida DE/TE Evan Hinson (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Evan-Hinson-165493)

2016 Georgia safety Javon Jackson (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Javon-Jackson-165136)

2016 Georgia DE Bryce Morais (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Bryce-Morais-168343)

2016 Illinois DT Mike Panasiuk (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Mike-Panasiuk-170002)

2016 Florida WR Jerron Rollins (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Jerron-Rollins-167072)

2016 Ohio RB Asim Rose (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Asim-Rose-171203)

2016 Florida DL Kordell Slater (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Kordell-Slater-176910)

2016 Florida CB Mark Williams (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Mark-Williams-162215)

2017 Florida athlete Matt Landers (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Matthew-Landers-172539)

2017 Florida LB Dylan Meeks (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Dylan-Meeks-162269)

2018 Florida WR Zion Roland (https://rivals.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Zion-Roland-172924)


We spoke to Kordell Slater last night and he told us that after the offer from IU they are one of his top three schools along with Virginia and East Carolina. The three-star recruit also said that he is good friends with Florida RB Elijah Mack (http://sports.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Elijah-Mack-158605) and the two would like to go to the same college and they both have IU high on their list of favorites.

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Peegs.com got in touch with a few other IU targets this week to see how recruiting is going for them. One was Alabama defensive lineman Kurtis Beaman. He picked up his offer from the Hoosiers last week and he told us that he is very interested in the Indiana program. You can read what else he had to say in this story (https://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1766140) that we did on him.

Another Hoosier target that we spoke to is Florida DB Scoop Bradshaw. The Tampa native is from the same high school as former IU defensive lineman Bobby Richardson, and he is also cousins with Richardson. He said the positive experience Richardson had at IU has made a strong impression on him. Here (https://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1765187) is the story we did on Bradshaw.

We also got in touch with in-state RB Gerrid Doaks from Lawrence Central H.S. in Indianapolis. Doaks had a good season last fall for an L.C. team that has a disappointing year. He has been communicating with Indiana assistant Deland McCullough and he said the Hoosiers are in good shape with him. You can read the story we did on him here (https://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1765662).

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There is a good question and answer story on IUHoosiers.com with Indiana QB Nate Sudfeld. The IU signal-caller talks about his upcoming senior at IU and the importance of summer workouts with his teammates. You can check out the Q&A with Sudfeld here (http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/051315aad.html).

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Another kick-off time has been set for IU for the 2015 season. It was announced yesterday that the Homecoming game against Rutgers on October 17th will get underway at 3:30. It is known at this time who will televise the game as those decisions are sometimes not made until a week or two before the game.

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Former IU running back Tevin Coleman did not take long to sign his first professional contract with the Atlanta Falcons after being selected in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft earlier this month. Here (http://www.atlantafalcons.com/news/...Contract/9c465fa0-49e3-4f5d-ab45-471c758fdca0) is the story from the Falcons site on Coleman signing his four-year deal with the team.
 
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