Despite the fact that we continue to hear Indiana is in the best shape with Bruce Brown, the Vermont Academy guard will take a couple more visits starting this weekend with a trip to Miami-FL. This will be his third official following stops at Indiana and Xavier. Next weekend he'll travel to Purdue.
Another trip to UMass before the fall signing period is possible but that's an in-state school he already knows well.
Of the schools he has or will take an official visit to this fall, Indiana has been recruiting him the longest and the Hoosiers have done a very good job with thos closest to him (per sources), which often pays off at the end.
Some interesting eligibility issues out there to be decided by the NCAA. Several involve former IU targets at schools that could or will face Indiana this season. St. John's is awaiting word from the Clearinghouse on point guard Marcus LoVett. He attended several schools and was home schooled at times. The Red Storm are on the Indiana half of the Maui Invitational bracket.
Kansas is also in Maui and waiting word on five-star Cheick Diallo, an AAU teammate of Thomas Bryant. The NCAA is looking into some classes taken by Diallo in his home country of Mali.
Diallo is practicing with his team as his another five-star, Fort Wayne native Caleb Swanigan, now at Purdue. The NCAA is looking into his relationship with Roosevelt Barnes, his guardian and a former Boiler player in basketball and football. Barnes is an NFL agent but has long ties to the family and do anticipate Swanigan to eventually be ruled eligible.
Speaking of Purdue, the Boilermakers are seriously considering redshirting Basil Smotherman due to a bit of logjam at the wing positions.
Look for Mississippi State to land former IU target Schnider Herard on Wednesday. From a numbers standpoint I would not expect this to influence their interest in Mario Kegler and De'Ron Davis. As is often the case after coaching changes, many scholarships for Ben Howland to use right now.
Herard is pretty close to a true five, which won't scare away Kegler. Will it influence Davis, a true four? Hard to say at this point. He did drop Arizona pretty quickly after the Wildcats landed 6'10 Lauri Markkanen from Finland, but he's been described more as a four than a five.
Believe it has been a very long time since a true out of state player committed to Indiana before their junior season, so Al Durham Jr.'s pledge to the Hoosiers on Monday did take us a bit by surprise.
While he sits in the last spot of the Rivals150 right now, the Georgia scouts we spoke to really like how he's been looking this fall. When I watched him at the Best of South tourney in mid-July he wasn't getting the jumper to go down but he was very quick with the ball and played consistently in fifth gear. That's one of Yogi Ferrell's best traits.
In that game I saw Durham played a lot with the ball in his hands but the consensus of the scouts right now is he's more of a two guard that can play some point than the opposite. At the same time some of them said he could become a point in the long run thanks to his work ethic and improving handle and decision making.
Continue to expect IU to be in the final three for Mario Kegler. Mississippi State and Maryland the most likely to join them, although Arizona State in that group would not be a big surprise. So Indiana continues to surge but can't go any further than saying it may be a 1/3 type chance.
Few thoughts on some of the Hoosier Hysteria visitors by class:
2017: It will be a battle royale for Kris Wilkes with all sorts of heavy hitters but Indiana getting him down for last weekend and recent trips up to North Central -- that's some solid evidence that the Hoosiers are going to be a real factor. Speaking of evidence, really too much of it with Malik Williams to think he won't end up anwhere but Bloomington. No talk, however, of an early decision. And getting Justin Smith (IL) once again was interesting.
2018: Don't know if Kevin Easley made it down after his unofficial to Michigan State the night before but he has already made it down to IU just a few weeks ago. Could be another MSU/IU/Purdue battle. Hearing it could be a bit of an uphill situation for Indiana with Romeo Langford (New Albany), who did make it to Bloomington on Saturday. Getting that first offer out to Robert Phinisee could obviously pay off in the long run and he made the trip down from Lafayette.
L'Christian Smith is a big time prospect from Ohio that made it in but keep in mind he's a guy who could play football or basketball in college. AAU teammate with Paul Scruggs, Kris Wilkes, Zach Gunn, etc, so landing any of those guys could help. Speaking of following teammates, Jonathan Kabongo is one right now with Curtis Jones at Huntington Prep. Kabongo is a point guard with offers from Indiana, Missouri, Virginia Tech and Washington State.
2019: Having the Fort Wayne duo of Keion Brooks and Sydney Curry was a coup as both have enormous potential. Hear Brooks looked good in from of his peers at the CP3 and other camps this fall. Walked past Curry at Assembly Hall on Saturday and he looked clearly taller than a few months ago. He's been listed in the 6'5 to 6'6 range and plays very much like a power forward.
Kyle Rode is considered the top prospect in Kentucky for this class so getting him in was newsworthy. He's a 6'6 swing with a deadly jumper. Torrence Watson from St. Louis was suppose to be in and he's a 6'3 shooting guard with early offers from Missouri and Kansas State.
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The Haunted Hall of Hoops event that includes a team scrimmage will be tomorrow at Assembly Hall. The scrimmage should start around 2:30 pm.
IU Athletics today announced that all 19 home men's basketball games will be broadcast in Mandarin on the university's official athletics website, IUHoosiers.com, making Indiana University the first institution in the country to broadcast college basketball games in Mandarin. These broadcasts can be accessed for free on the IU Athletics website anywhere in the world.
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The Hoosiers have a bye this week before returning to action a week from tomorrow when they host the 10th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. On Monday Coach Kevin Wilson met with the media to recap the Michigan State game and to talk about the plan for the bye week for both the players and coaches. You can check out that video here.
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Indiana defensive end Nick Mangieri has been named to the 2015 Ted Hendricks Award Watch List. The award is presented to the nation's top defensive end. Mangieri leads the Hoosiers and is tied for 10th nationally with a career-high seven sacks this season, the most for an IU player since Jammie Kirlew's 10.5 in 2008. He is also sixth on the team with 33 tackles, 21 solos, to go along with his seven sacks, eight tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups, four quarterback hurries and one blocked kick. Here is the story from IUHoosiers.com on Mangieri being a candidate for the Hendricks Award.
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After Michigan State defeated IU one of the players gave the Indiana offense high praise. Spartan linebacker Jon Reschke said that the Hoosiers offense was better than the Oregon offense that MSU faced earlier in the season. You can check out that story here.
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With a week off and no game to prepare for the IU staff was able to get out on the road for recruiting. Earlier this week Peegs.com posted on our Premium Football Board the different places the Indiana coaches would be visiting this week to check in on prospects. Here is that post that talks about where the IU staff was scheduled to recruit this week.
We also have a recruiting story on the bye week and how it is a big week for the Hoosiers with so many coaches out on the road. In it there are quotes from Coach Wilson talking about what he feels are the biggest remaining needs in the 2016 class.
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One of the prospects that IU evaluated this week was junior college QB Richard Lagow. The Texas native plays at Cisco C.C. in Cisco, Texas and he recently picked up an offer from UNLV. He will visit the Rebels next week and it looks like he will visit IU the following weekend for the game against Michigan. You can read the story we did on Lagow here.
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One player in the 2017 class that the IU staff is very interested in is C.J. Hayes from South Warren H.S. in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver was in Bloomington a few weeks ago for the Rutgers game and he told Peegs.com that he really enjoyed his visit. Here is the story we did on Hayes after his visit to Indiana.
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Another top target for the Hoosiers in the 2017 class is in-state defensive end Britt Beery. The standout from Carmel (IN) Carmel H.S. has an offer from Indiana and he is very high on the program. Rivals.com Midwest Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmhodt put out this story on Beery yesterday.
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Helmholdt also had this story on 2017 Fort Wayne wideout Mic Hippenhammer. The talented prospect told Helmholdt that he communicates with the IU staff the most and they are the school showing him the most attention.
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The Indiana staff has extended some new offers this week to the following prospects:
2017 New York QB Jack Coan
2017 Maryland RB Tayon Fleet-Davis
2017 Tennessee LB Jacob Phillips
2017 Florida DB Ahman Ross
2017 Texas LB Amaud Willis-Dalton
2018 Georgia athlete Taiyon Palmer
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The 2016 Indiana recruiting class is getting close to the end of their regular seasons and Peegs.com has been keeping track of how each commit is doing. You can check out our weekly feature that checks in on each commit and gives an update on how their respective seasons are going. Here is our Following the Future story.
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The NFL just finished up week five of the 2015 season and there are a handful of Hoosiers who are getting playing time for their respective teams. Each week Peegs.com puts out a weekly feature on how former Hoosiers playing in the NFL are doing. Here is the update on how four former IU players did in week seven of the NFL season.
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Former Indiana player Pat Kraft is now the athletic director at Temple and there was a story done on him recently that talks about the job he is doing there. You can check out that story here.
Another trip to UMass before the fall signing period is possible but that's an in-state school he already knows well.
Of the schools he has or will take an official visit to this fall, Indiana has been recruiting him the longest and the Hoosiers have done a very good job with thos closest to him (per sources), which often pays off at the end.
Some interesting eligibility issues out there to be decided by the NCAA. Several involve former IU targets at schools that could or will face Indiana this season. St. John's is awaiting word from the Clearinghouse on point guard Marcus LoVett. He attended several schools and was home schooled at times. The Red Storm are on the Indiana half of the Maui Invitational bracket.
Kansas is also in Maui and waiting word on five-star Cheick Diallo, an AAU teammate of Thomas Bryant. The NCAA is looking into some classes taken by Diallo in his home country of Mali.
Diallo is practicing with his team as his another five-star, Fort Wayne native Caleb Swanigan, now at Purdue. The NCAA is looking into his relationship with Roosevelt Barnes, his guardian and a former Boiler player in basketball and football. Barnes is an NFL agent but has long ties to the family and do anticipate Swanigan to eventually be ruled eligible.
Speaking of Purdue, the Boilermakers are seriously considering redshirting Basil Smotherman due to a bit of logjam at the wing positions.
Look for Mississippi State to land former IU target Schnider Herard on Wednesday. From a numbers standpoint I would not expect this to influence their interest in Mario Kegler and De'Ron Davis. As is often the case after coaching changes, many scholarships for Ben Howland to use right now.
Herard is pretty close to a true five, which won't scare away Kegler. Will it influence Davis, a true four? Hard to say at this point. He did drop Arizona pretty quickly after the Wildcats landed 6'10 Lauri Markkanen from Finland, but he's been described more as a four than a five.
Believe it has been a very long time since a true out of state player committed to Indiana before their junior season, so Al Durham Jr.'s pledge to the Hoosiers on Monday did take us a bit by surprise.
While he sits in the last spot of the Rivals150 right now, the Georgia scouts we spoke to really like how he's been looking this fall. When I watched him at the Best of South tourney in mid-July he wasn't getting the jumper to go down but he was very quick with the ball and played consistently in fifth gear. That's one of Yogi Ferrell's best traits.
In that game I saw Durham played a lot with the ball in his hands but the consensus of the scouts right now is he's more of a two guard that can play some point than the opposite. At the same time some of them said he could become a point in the long run thanks to his work ethic and improving handle and decision making.
Continue to expect IU to be in the final three for Mario Kegler. Mississippi State and Maryland the most likely to join them, although Arizona State in that group would not be a big surprise. So Indiana continues to surge but can't go any further than saying it may be a 1/3 type chance.
Few thoughts on some of the Hoosier Hysteria visitors by class:
2017: It will be a battle royale for Kris Wilkes with all sorts of heavy hitters but Indiana getting him down for last weekend and recent trips up to North Central -- that's some solid evidence that the Hoosiers are going to be a real factor. Speaking of evidence, really too much of it with Malik Williams to think he won't end up anwhere but Bloomington. No talk, however, of an early decision. And getting Justin Smith (IL) once again was interesting.
2018: Don't know if Kevin Easley made it down after his unofficial to Michigan State the night before but he has already made it down to IU just a few weeks ago. Could be another MSU/IU/Purdue battle. Hearing it could be a bit of an uphill situation for Indiana with Romeo Langford (New Albany), who did make it to Bloomington on Saturday. Getting that first offer out to Robert Phinisee could obviously pay off in the long run and he made the trip down from Lafayette.
L'Christian Smith is a big time prospect from Ohio that made it in but keep in mind he's a guy who could play football or basketball in college. AAU teammate with Paul Scruggs, Kris Wilkes, Zach Gunn, etc, so landing any of those guys could help. Speaking of following teammates, Jonathan Kabongo is one right now with Curtis Jones at Huntington Prep. Kabongo is a point guard with offers from Indiana, Missouri, Virginia Tech and Washington State.
2019: Having the Fort Wayne duo of Keion Brooks and Sydney Curry was a coup as both have enormous potential. Hear Brooks looked good in from of his peers at the CP3 and other camps this fall. Walked past Curry at Assembly Hall on Saturday and he looked clearly taller than a few months ago. He's been listed in the 6'5 to 6'6 range and plays very much like a power forward.
Kyle Rode is considered the top prospect in Kentucky for this class so getting him in was newsworthy. He's a 6'6 swing with a deadly jumper. Torrence Watson from St. Louis was suppose to be in and he's a 6'3 shooting guard with early offers from Missouri and Kansas State.
--------
The Haunted Hall of Hoops event that includes a team scrimmage will be tomorrow at Assembly Hall. The scrimmage should start around 2:30 pm.
IU Athletics today announced that all 19 home men's basketball games will be broadcast in Mandarin on the university's official athletics website, IUHoosiers.com, making Indiana University the first institution in the country to broadcast college basketball games in Mandarin. These broadcasts can be accessed for free on the IU Athletics website anywhere in the world.
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The Hoosiers have a bye this week before returning to action a week from tomorrow when they host the 10th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. On Monday Coach Kevin Wilson met with the media to recap the Michigan State game and to talk about the plan for the bye week for both the players and coaches. You can check out that video here.
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Indiana defensive end Nick Mangieri has been named to the 2015 Ted Hendricks Award Watch List. The award is presented to the nation's top defensive end. Mangieri leads the Hoosiers and is tied for 10th nationally with a career-high seven sacks this season, the most for an IU player since Jammie Kirlew's 10.5 in 2008. He is also sixth on the team with 33 tackles, 21 solos, to go along with his seven sacks, eight tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, four pass breakups, four quarterback hurries and one blocked kick. Here is the story from IUHoosiers.com on Mangieri being a candidate for the Hendricks Award.
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After Michigan State defeated IU one of the players gave the Indiana offense high praise. Spartan linebacker Jon Reschke said that the Hoosiers offense was better than the Oregon offense that MSU faced earlier in the season. You can check out that story here.
-----
With a week off and no game to prepare for the IU staff was able to get out on the road for recruiting. Earlier this week Peegs.com posted on our Premium Football Board the different places the Indiana coaches would be visiting this week to check in on prospects. Here is that post that talks about where the IU staff was scheduled to recruit this week.
We also have a recruiting story on the bye week and how it is a big week for the Hoosiers with so many coaches out on the road. In it there are quotes from Coach Wilson talking about what he feels are the biggest remaining needs in the 2016 class.
-----
One of the prospects that IU evaluated this week was junior college QB Richard Lagow. The Texas native plays at Cisco C.C. in Cisco, Texas and he recently picked up an offer from UNLV. He will visit the Rebels next week and it looks like he will visit IU the following weekend for the game against Michigan. You can read the story we did on Lagow here.
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One player in the 2017 class that the IU staff is very interested in is C.J. Hayes from South Warren H.S. in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver was in Bloomington a few weeks ago for the Rutgers game and he told Peegs.com that he really enjoyed his visit. Here is the story we did on Hayes after his visit to Indiana.
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Another top target for the Hoosiers in the 2017 class is in-state defensive end Britt Beery. The standout from Carmel (IN) Carmel H.S. has an offer from Indiana and he is very high on the program. Rivals.com Midwest Recruiting Analyst Josh Helmhodt put out this story on Beery yesterday.
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Helmholdt also had this story on 2017 Fort Wayne wideout Mic Hippenhammer. The talented prospect told Helmholdt that he communicates with the IU staff the most and they are the school showing him the most attention.
-----
The Indiana staff has extended some new offers this week to the following prospects:
2017 New York QB Jack Coan
2017 Maryland RB Tayon Fleet-Davis
2017 Tennessee LB Jacob Phillips
2017 Florida DB Ahman Ross
2017 Texas LB Amaud Willis-Dalton
2018 Georgia athlete Taiyon Palmer
-----
The 2016 Indiana recruiting class is getting close to the end of their regular seasons and Peegs.com has been keeping track of how each commit is doing. You can check out our weekly feature that checks in on each commit and gives an update on how their respective seasons are going. Here is our Following the Future story.
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The NFL just finished up week five of the 2015 season and there are a handful of Hoosiers who are getting playing time for their respective teams. Each week Peegs.com puts out a weekly feature on how former Hoosiers playing in the NFL are doing. Here is the update on how four former IU players did in week seven of the NFL season.
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Former Indiana player Pat Kraft is now the athletic director at Temple and there was a story done on him recently that talks about the job he is doing there. You can check out that story here.
