Alante Brown Names Top Three to TheHoosier.com
Perhaps the most significant development of the week for Indiana football recruiting was the offer extended to prep school wideout Alante Brown. The Hoosiers offered on Tuesday, and when asked if the offer changes anything about his recruitment, Brown answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, it does,” Brown told TheHoosier.com. “They are in my top three.”
Even though he is hearing from Illinois, Maryland, Arkansas, Boston College and is taking a visit to Temple this weekend, Brown said his top-three is comprised of Indiana, Michigan State and Missouri.
Brown told Rivals’ Iowa recruiting reporter Blair Sanderson that he will be taking a visit to IU on Dec. 13.
The Hoosiers have been involved with Brown since his senior year of high school, but they never offered and Brown, who at one point was committed to Michigan State, eventually signed with Texas Tech in 2019 and is now at St. Thomas More in Connecticut.
At Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, where he played his high school ball, Brown played quarterback, though he didn’t throw the ball often. He ran a light-scheme offense that featured him as the primary ball carrier, running read-option out of the shotgun. At St. Tomas More, though, he is working at wide receiver, and at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, that is where he will likely play in college.
He was an All-State selection as a senior, as he accounted for 3,436 yards of offense – 2,347 passing and 1,089 rushing – as well as 41 touchdowns. He was rated as a high-tier three-star recruit in high school and received 24 offers.
JUCO tight end Hayden Hagler in contact with IU
Tight end Hayden Hagler is in a similar position as Alante Brown. He signed with Southeastern Louisiana out of the 2019 class but got out of his National Letter of Intent because he felt that there were better opportunities for him elsewhere.
So far, he’s been correct, as he’s been offered by Akron and UMass and has been talking with Indiana tight ends coach Nick Sheridan.
“I felt that I was being slept on in the recruiting process because I moved high schools twice and wanted to chase my dream of playing at a big-time college,” Hagler told TheHoosier.com.
Hagler is out of Sulphur High School in Louisiana, but his family moved to Baytown, Texas, after his freshman year. He played his sophomore and junior years in Texas before moving back to Louisiana for his senior year so his family could take care of his grandma, who was ill. Being in constant transition like that can make it tough to be discovered by coaching staffs, so Hagler had settled on Southeastern Louisiana.
He enrolled early at SE Louisiana but never played a down for them. Now, he’s at Blinn College, where he hasn’t caught any passes yet.
He got into contact with Sheridan through Twitter, and now the two talk on the phone “quite a bit.”
Last Week’s Visitors
Indiana hosted a handful of visitors to the Connecticut game in Bloomington last weekend, and TheHoosier.com was able to catch up with most of them.
These were the visitors contacted:
2022 Ohio athlete Kaden Saunders
2021 Indiana offensive lineman John Hofer
2020 Florida safety Liam Zaccheo
2022 Indiana wide receiver Darian Hanley
2020 Bloomington South wide receiver Sean Azcui
2020 Georgia long snapper Michael Wright
2020 Fort Wayne safety Patrick Finley
Saunders talked with TheHoosier.com immediately after his visit and talked in detail about his relationship with Indiana. That story was published Monday. It was the speedster's first visit to Indiana, though he already has an offer from IU. He said he felt good about the foundation set for a relationship moving forward. He’s a young prospect already receiving major interest form the Big Ten, and that will undoubtedly spread nationally.
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Valparaiso offensive tackle John Hofer told TheHoosier.com that his visit to IU was “an awesome time.” He has offers from Ball State, Kent State, Toledo and Western Michigan, and while he is not yet rated by Rivals, 247Sports rates him as the No. 776 player overall in the 2021 class. He’s been in contact with Indiana since the summer and was able to talk with Tom Allen, Darren Hiller and offensive graduate assistant Danny Friend, as well as Lee Wilbanks, whom he’s been in most contact.
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Zaccheo is an interesting case among 2020 targets, as he was originally going to receive an Indiana offer but then "blew out his knee,” so the Hoosiers extended a preferred walk-on offer that could potentially be elevated to a scholarship offer. That is his only current offer. He was in Bloomington to maintain that relationship.
“I loved it up there,” Zaccheo told TheHoosier.com. “The energy and culture was amazing. Campus was a lot nicer and bigger than I had expected. But it was a great trip.”
Zaccheo said that he and the IU staff have a plan in place that he feels comfortable with. He burst onto the scene in 2018, when he recorded 103 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, three sacks and two fumble recoveries on his way to a second team selection in Class 6A All-State.
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Azcui is a local prospect from Bloomington South, and Indiana is talking to him about potentially being a preferred walk-on addition to the program. He’s also been receiving interest from Butler, Indiana Wesleyan, Valparaiso and Cincinnati Christian. But if Indiana were to offer a PWO, he said he’d be interested.
“That would be really cool,” Azcui told TheHoosier.com. “I would have my family close, and I would be able to have my town behind me.”
The rest of the visitors are discussed in more detail below.
Michael Wright could add to IU long-snapping success
Tom Allen has talked about his love of good special teams players in the past, most recently when he praised true freshman long snapper Sean Wracher for his work with the kicking crew. Georgia long snapper Michael Wright could be a good addition to a group like that.
Wright is rated by Rubio Long Snapping as the No. 27 long snapper in the 2020 class with the talent to be a Division I long snapper, which is much less common than one would expect.
“One of the hottest long snappers you will ever come across in the country. When he is on, he is very, very on and can compete with anyone in the country,” Rubio Kicking said about Wright on his profile. “He was inches away from earning an All-American spot in July and continued his hot streak at The TOP 12 Camp.”
Wright said his Indiana visit was one of the top visits he’s taken over the years, and those visits include Michigan, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and others.
“I had a great time and really enjoyed myself in Bloomington,” Wright told TheHoosier.com. “After meeting some coaches and looking through the facilities, I got a really good feel for the great culture that Indiana Football has. My mother actually played field hockey at IU back in the 80s, and to see all the places that she's always described on campus was just an added bonus. Hope to be back on campus soon in the near future.”
Patrick Finley has connections to IU, needs to show promise through film
Fort Wayne safety Patrick Finley is another case where Indiana had quite a bit of interest in him until he broke his collarbone in the second game of the 2018 season and was only able to return as a wide receiver for regional play and then was added into a nickel package for the state game, which Bishop Dwenger won.
As he works his way back, he’s trying to build enough film as a senior to draw interest form Power Five schools, but the only P5 schools showing interest are IU and Northwestern.
“They have told me I am at the very least good enough to be a PWO,” Finley told TheHoosier.com. “But it may turn into a full scholarship after they evaluate more.”
Finley said he enjoyed the visit to the Connecticut game and is in regular contact with Darren Hiller, Kasey Teegardin and Lee Wilbanks, but he’s also in contact with student coaches Nick Fiacable and Alec Watercutter, who both graduated from Bishop Dwenger in Fort Wayne and are brothers to former IU football players. Watercutter’s father recently retired as Bishop Dwenger’s defensive coordinator.
Outside of Indiana and Northwestern, Cincinnati and Air Force are both interested in Finley, and Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green are awaiting his senior-year film.
Darian Hanley has special connection to Bloomington, IU Football
Some Indiana football fans might recognize in-state wide receiver Darian Hanley’s name, as he’s the son of former IU defensive back Michael Hanley, who played in Bloomington from 2000-2002.
Darian is on the other side of the ball, though, as most schools are looking at him as a wide receiver. At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Hanley has good size and is a dynamic playmaker for North Miami High School in Denver, Indiana.
North Miami’s running back was injured, so, for his junior season, Hanley has needed to step in at the position, which has flashed some new facets of his skillset. In five games, he’s carried the ball 66 times for 579 yards and eight touchdowns, while catching 22 passes for 219 yards. Last season as a sophomore, he only touched the ball 63 total times.
Indiana is likely only looking at him as a preferred walk-on at this point with the potential to increase to a scholarship offer. But he was on campus for the Connecticut game.
“It was awesome to be able to come to Bloomington, where I was born and where my dad played football,” Hanley told TheHoosier.com “Amazing hospitality from the staff.”
Brady Allen has deep relationship with Indiana, releases mid-season tape
Interest in 2022 Gibson Southern quarterback Brady Allen is only trending upward as more schools see his talent. He already has offers from Virginia Tech, Indiana, Purdue and Cincinnati, and when he participated in an Ohio State 7-on-7 camp in June, he caught the staff’s eye so much that Ryan Day and quarterbacks coach Mike Yurcich – who got his coaching start at St. Francis in Fort Wayne – worked with him personally throughout most of the camp.
He is IU’s top quarterback target for the class, though, and the staff has really cultivated a relationship with the sophomore. He released film from his first four games earlier this week.
Cayden Baker releases mid-season tapes
Three-star 2020 Cayden Baker is one of only a few remaining top targets for Indiana in the 2020 class. His offers list has expanded to include Washington State, North Carolina, Purdue, South Florida, Syracuse, Miami, Pittsburgh, Indiana and a few others. At 6-foot-7, 280 pounds, he will likely need to add some weight, but his size and athleticism is pretty obvious in his mid-season tapes, just released a couple days ago.
Perhaps the most significant development of the week for Indiana football recruiting was the offer extended to prep school wideout Alante Brown. The Hoosiers offered on Tuesday, and when asked if the offer changes anything about his recruitment, Brown answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, it does,” Brown told TheHoosier.com. “They are in my top three.”
Even though he is hearing from Illinois, Maryland, Arkansas, Boston College and is taking a visit to Temple this weekend, Brown said his top-three is comprised of Indiana, Michigan State and Missouri.
Brown told Rivals’ Iowa recruiting reporter Blair Sanderson that he will be taking a visit to IU on Dec. 13.
The Hoosiers have been involved with Brown since his senior year of high school, but they never offered and Brown, who at one point was committed to Michigan State, eventually signed with Texas Tech in 2019 and is now at St. Thomas More in Connecticut.
At Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, where he played his high school ball, Brown played quarterback, though he didn’t throw the ball often. He ran a light-scheme offense that featured him as the primary ball carrier, running read-option out of the shotgun. At St. Tomas More, though, he is working at wide receiver, and at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, that is where he will likely play in college.
He was an All-State selection as a senior, as he accounted for 3,436 yards of offense – 2,347 passing and 1,089 rushing – as well as 41 touchdowns. He was rated as a high-tier three-star recruit in high school and received 24 offers.
JUCO tight end Hayden Hagler in contact with IU
Tight end Hayden Hagler is in a similar position as Alante Brown. He signed with Southeastern Louisiana out of the 2019 class but got out of his National Letter of Intent because he felt that there were better opportunities for him elsewhere.
So far, he’s been correct, as he’s been offered by Akron and UMass and has been talking with Indiana tight ends coach Nick Sheridan.
“I felt that I was being slept on in the recruiting process because I moved high schools twice and wanted to chase my dream of playing at a big-time college,” Hagler told TheHoosier.com.
Hagler is out of Sulphur High School in Louisiana, but his family moved to Baytown, Texas, after his freshman year. He played his sophomore and junior years in Texas before moving back to Louisiana for his senior year so his family could take care of his grandma, who was ill. Being in constant transition like that can make it tough to be discovered by coaching staffs, so Hagler had settled on Southeastern Louisiana.
He enrolled early at SE Louisiana but never played a down for them. Now, he’s at Blinn College, where he hasn’t caught any passes yet.
He got into contact with Sheridan through Twitter, and now the two talk on the phone “quite a bit.”
Last Week’s Visitors
Indiana hosted a handful of visitors to the Connecticut game in Bloomington last weekend, and TheHoosier.com was able to catch up with most of them.
These were the visitors contacted:
2022 Ohio athlete Kaden Saunders
2021 Indiana offensive lineman John Hofer
2020 Florida safety Liam Zaccheo
2022 Indiana wide receiver Darian Hanley
2020 Bloomington South wide receiver Sean Azcui
2020 Georgia long snapper Michael Wright
2020 Fort Wayne safety Patrick Finley
Saunders talked with TheHoosier.com immediately after his visit and talked in detail about his relationship with Indiana. That story was published Monday. It was the speedster's first visit to Indiana, though he already has an offer from IU. He said he felt good about the foundation set for a relationship moving forward. He’s a young prospect already receiving major interest form the Big Ten, and that will undoubtedly spread nationally.
-
Valparaiso offensive tackle John Hofer told TheHoosier.com that his visit to IU was “an awesome time.” He has offers from Ball State, Kent State, Toledo and Western Michigan, and while he is not yet rated by Rivals, 247Sports rates him as the No. 776 player overall in the 2021 class. He’s been in contact with Indiana since the summer and was able to talk with Tom Allen, Darren Hiller and offensive graduate assistant Danny Friend, as well as Lee Wilbanks, whom he’s been in most contact.
-
Zaccheo is an interesting case among 2020 targets, as he was originally going to receive an Indiana offer but then "blew out his knee,” so the Hoosiers extended a preferred walk-on offer that could potentially be elevated to a scholarship offer. That is his only current offer. He was in Bloomington to maintain that relationship.
“I loved it up there,” Zaccheo told TheHoosier.com. “The energy and culture was amazing. Campus was a lot nicer and bigger than I had expected. But it was a great trip.”
Zaccheo said that he and the IU staff have a plan in place that he feels comfortable with. He burst onto the scene in 2018, when he recorded 103 tackles, 21 tackles for loss, three sacks and two fumble recoveries on his way to a second team selection in Class 6A All-State.
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Azcui is a local prospect from Bloomington South, and Indiana is talking to him about potentially being a preferred walk-on addition to the program. He’s also been receiving interest from Butler, Indiana Wesleyan, Valparaiso and Cincinnati Christian. But if Indiana were to offer a PWO, he said he’d be interested.
“That would be really cool,” Azcui told TheHoosier.com. “I would have my family close, and I would be able to have my town behind me.”
The rest of the visitors are discussed in more detail below.
Michael Wright could add to IU long-snapping success
Tom Allen has talked about his love of good special teams players in the past, most recently when he praised true freshman long snapper Sean Wracher for his work with the kicking crew. Georgia long snapper Michael Wright could be a good addition to a group like that.
Wright is rated by Rubio Long Snapping as the No. 27 long snapper in the 2020 class with the talent to be a Division I long snapper, which is much less common than one would expect.
“One of the hottest long snappers you will ever come across in the country. When he is on, he is very, very on and can compete with anyone in the country,” Rubio Kicking said about Wright on his profile. “He was inches away from earning an All-American spot in July and continued his hot streak at The TOP 12 Camp.”
Wright said his Indiana visit was one of the top visits he’s taken over the years, and those visits include Michigan, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and others.
“I had a great time and really enjoyed myself in Bloomington,” Wright told TheHoosier.com. “After meeting some coaches and looking through the facilities, I got a really good feel for the great culture that Indiana Football has. My mother actually played field hockey at IU back in the 80s, and to see all the places that she's always described on campus was just an added bonus. Hope to be back on campus soon in the near future.”
Patrick Finley has connections to IU, needs to show promise through film
Fort Wayne safety Patrick Finley is another case where Indiana had quite a bit of interest in him until he broke his collarbone in the second game of the 2018 season and was only able to return as a wide receiver for regional play and then was added into a nickel package for the state game, which Bishop Dwenger won.
As he works his way back, he’s trying to build enough film as a senior to draw interest form Power Five schools, but the only P5 schools showing interest are IU and Northwestern.
“They have told me I am at the very least good enough to be a PWO,” Finley told TheHoosier.com. “But it may turn into a full scholarship after they evaluate more.”
Finley said he enjoyed the visit to the Connecticut game and is in regular contact with Darren Hiller, Kasey Teegardin and Lee Wilbanks, but he’s also in contact with student coaches Nick Fiacable and Alec Watercutter, who both graduated from Bishop Dwenger in Fort Wayne and are brothers to former IU football players. Watercutter’s father recently retired as Bishop Dwenger’s defensive coordinator.
Outside of Indiana and Northwestern, Cincinnati and Air Force are both interested in Finley, and Ball State, Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green are awaiting his senior-year film.
Darian Hanley has special connection to Bloomington, IU Football
Some Indiana football fans might recognize in-state wide receiver Darian Hanley’s name, as he’s the son of former IU defensive back Michael Hanley, who played in Bloomington from 2000-2002.
Darian is on the other side of the ball, though, as most schools are looking at him as a wide receiver. At 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Hanley has good size and is a dynamic playmaker for North Miami High School in Denver, Indiana.
North Miami’s running back was injured, so, for his junior season, Hanley has needed to step in at the position, which has flashed some new facets of his skillset. In five games, he’s carried the ball 66 times for 579 yards and eight touchdowns, while catching 22 passes for 219 yards. Last season as a sophomore, he only touched the ball 63 total times.
Indiana is likely only looking at him as a preferred walk-on at this point with the potential to increase to a scholarship offer. But he was on campus for the Connecticut game.
“It was awesome to be able to come to Bloomington, where I was born and where my dad played football,” Hanley told TheHoosier.com “Amazing hospitality from the staff.”
Brady Allen has deep relationship with Indiana, releases mid-season tape
Interest in 2022 Gibson Southern quarterback Brady Allen is only trending upward as more schools see his talent. He already has offers from Virginia Tech, Indiana, Purdue and Cincinnati, and when he participated in an Ohio State 7-on-7 camp in June, he caught the staff’s eye so much that Ryan Day and quarterbacks coach Mike Yurcich – who got his coaching start at St. Francis in Fort Wayne – worked with him personally throughout most of the camp.
He is IU’s top quarterback target for the class, though, and the staff has really cultivated a relationship with the sophomore. He released film from his first four games earlier this week.
Cayden Baker releases mid-season tapes
Three-star 2020 Cayden Baker is one of only a few remaining top targets for Indiana in the 2020 class. His offers list has expanded to include Washington State, North Carolina, Purdue, South Florida, Syracuse, Miami, Pittsburgh, Indiana and a few others. At 6-foot-7, 280 pounds, he will likely need to add some weight, but his size and athleticism is pretty obvious in his mid-season tapes, just released a couple days ago.
