Made it official that he will be back in Bloomington next season.
D’Angelo Ponds
- Thread starter Kelly_32
- Start date
Great news! And Byrant Haines posted on X afterwards. 4 It always starts there. Then 6 Trouble. Big Trouble. Now 5....? No escaping now. Guess it's not a one-off. More are coming. Standards rising. Now you'll see it. #New Era #Never Daunted.
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I don’t see a drop off defensively next year,may be even stronger
Agree, if our new DL are as good as West & Carpenter. That's a tall order.
I think we'll be good, but to me, it depends on how we fill our safety positions (only Farrell is coming back) and finding another edge who can get to the QB.
Maybe Ndukwe will emerge this next year?
Sneed has some experience, maybe he'll get some snaps. Tuddy Collins came in as a highly ranked kid, maybe he figures it out.
We're very young on the edge in terms of game snaps outside of Kamara.
I like this. My concern with the defense is how much we will miss Walker. He was fast for a LB and created a lot of havoc. Do any of the returners have that kind of speed?
Yeah, him too.
Our defense will be better next year. The Wheeler kid from Western Kentucky is a stud. Our returners will also be better.
I agree but Hosea Wheeler seems to be legit. If you have time, check out this scouting review of his game soon after he went into the portal. These guys are literally laughing at how he dominated players, including vs Alabama. Good watch.
Hosea Wheeler will be a force for us with Coach Kuntz's techniques.
I love him. That site YOTHN posted, has an interview with Hosea since he signed, it's good too. Says Indiana felt like home like WKU did. Says he watched Carpenter and West as part of seeing how he'd be used. The host is a big D'Angelo Ponds fan also.
Such a good get, I have to keep my fingers crossed until the spring poaching period is closed.
My favorite was where he said knowing the playbook is so important that it's what he stresses to younger players to help them perform.
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Such a good get, I have to keep my fingers crossed until the spring poaching period is closed.
My favorite was where he said knowing the playbook is so important that it's what he stresses to younger players to help them perform.
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Great stuff.... and totally unbiased evaluations! I think the only "weakness" they saw in him was when one of them said, "on occasion he loses leverage when double teamed, but that can be coached out"....
"That's what a ball player looks like"
He's going to be a great addition. Sounds like he's as good as West and Carpenter. Maybe better?
Gonna be tough to be better than Carpenter...
That guy is pure Effort all the time...
From a guy who got worked against Air Force in JMU's Bowl game (he was playing injured) to what we saw on the field this past Fall was night and day different...
I'll miss that guy and I'm glad he totally proved my doubts about him wrong (by showing it every down out on the field)...
Wish we had him another 3 years...
I’m big on Tyrique Tucker. That kid can be like CJ West with more snaps. Now, with Sweet Lou Moore back as a veteran in the DB, we shore up some of that youth there.
I like Tucker a lot. I think he and Wheeler are going to be great in the middle. At this point if we can add another edge and some help on the offensive line, I will call this another home run transfer portal from CCC and the gang. We could certainly use depth elsewhere, but offensive line and another edge are the only potential holes that I see.
Ponds posted this on X. Apparently some were confused if he was returning.
Defense was pretty freaking good this year. Just saying..
I'd like to see one more LB in the mold of Walker, who was another speedy, all effort, all the time guy that's bound to be missed somewhat... I miss him already...
I think Hardy steps right into that spot. He really improved through the year. His big plays per snaps played is kinda crazy. Was really playing well late in the year. May not be = to Walker next year, but will be pretty close, with 2 more years after that.
I wouldn’t mind it either. I guess I liked enough of what I saw from Jones and Hardy that I don’t consider it a hole like the other two spots. There is potential at the holes I pointed out, but nobody with enough tape to make me feel comfortable.
I agree but I worry about depth after him...
The problem is, you will never get experienced guys to transfer in to play back up snaps. If they were ok with being a backup, they wouldn’t have transferred.
There is the possibility of a smaller school guy who isn’t good enough to start but brings experience. But in that case, if the small school guy isn’t good enough to start is he just stunting the growth of developing young guys.
Unless you get a guy good enough to share 1st team snaps...
WR, like DL, is different because the way they rotate, there isn’t much difference in snaps.
Respect to Stephens, but that actually proves my point. The OL wasn’t quite the same once Evans went down. Stephens was ok, but a drop off.
Answering the post above. I suppose you could find someone close to Hardy and basically split the snaps, but that just seems very unlikely.
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