Here's our roundup of IU basketball, football and recruiting news:
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
This week we took our first stab at the 2020 recruiting board (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/2020-recruiting-board). This is a very early edition as IU is not very far down the road in this class (and it’s obviously still very early.)
They’re going to have to expand the recruiting board to out-of-state guys because there aren’t shaping up to be many offers among this group locally.
One name who continues to improve is Anthony Leal from Bloomington. He’s impressed some scouts this spring and if his play continues to get better, he could move up the board.
The first and only known offer in the class is Butler (Pa.) four-star guard Ethan Morton (6-5, 180 pounds, No. 47 player nationally). Archie trying to work his western Pennsylvania roots on this one, and Morton has already visited campus once, so expect the Hoosiers to put some effort in this one.
…
In the class of 2019, Valparaiso’s Brandon Newman is a name that could get added to the board
(link).
Shooting 40 percent from behind-the-arc in both high school and on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit is pretty impressive. I figured there wouldn’t be much in-roads made here, given that IU has already made the decision to expand the 2019 guard recruiting board out-of-state - but if Newman keeps improving, IU could try to poke around with this one.
Picking up a Florida State offer was an eyecatcher for Newman. He’s averaging 18.4 points per game for Meanstreets this spring.
…
We researched how Archie Miller’s first full class compared with the rest of the coaches around the Big Ten when they got started (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/ind...ring-first-big-ten-classes-to-archie-miller-s)
It’s certainly a nice haul. Miller’s group ranks No. 7 nationally and is the top group in the Big Ten - a nice feat when you compare to how the other coaches did in their first year.
Also have to note recruiting is ramping up in the league. Brad Underwood (Illinois) and Chris Holtmann (Ohio State) both finished with nice rookie classes themselves.
…
The class of 2021 is shaping up to be an impressive one in the state. One of the early names to know in that group is Brownsburg wing Pierce Thomas (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/indiana-basketball-2021-wing-pierce-thomas-on-iu-s-radar)
His athleticism is off the charts, as you can read in the story. If his skill can catch up with that, his potential is through the roof.
IU’s already tracking his progress and they had him on campus this year. He looks up to Romeo Langford, so the Hoosiers signing the 2018 five-star is a nice, early in.
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Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Big news this week was the announcement that Indiana will be hosting Marquette in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Marquette could very realistically be a Top 25 team next season, if not right off the bat. They return 9 of 13 starts from a year ago and have several pieces added via transfers and recruiting that will make a difference. On paper, it's a team that, if it lives up to expectations, could end up being a good win for Indiana's NCAA tournament resume.
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Stu Jackson / Football Beat & Recruiting News
Recruiting:
As we reported earlier this week, the next two weekends are expected to be big ones for in-state visitors. 2019 4-star Carmel (Ind.) High DE Beau Robbins is going to be unofficially visiting this weekend, along with 2019 Florida WR/TE Brett Seither. The following weekend, 2019 3-star Brownsburg (Ind.) High WR Bryce Kirtz will be taking an official visit to Indiana.
Kirtz has an official to Northwestern this weekend, so Indiana would be the last visit he takes before making his decision assuming he sticks with plans made at the beginning of this month to commit "within the next month." He has a final four of Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern and Duke.
Team:
Had the chance to sit down one-on-one with IU head coach Tom Allen today and touched on a number of topics. Some of the highlights:
-- With spring official visits now ingrained in the recruiting process, expected them to occur in June at the earliest. The philosophy Allen said he and his staff have is that any earlier and it feels like it's too far away from when most of these kids make their decisions, whether it be in the fall or November/December. June is also when IU has several of its team camps, so that month will shape up to be a big one for the program from recruiting standpoint.
-- Redshirt junior wide receiver Nick Westbrook is progressing well and remains ahead of schedule in his recovery. Additionally, sophomore running back Morgan Ellison is expected to be "full-bore" at the beginning of next month while grad transfer center Nick Linder is expected to be cleared in two weeks. Allen said redshirt junior wide receiver Donovan Hale is still progressing.
-- One surprising injury update was J-Shun Harris. Allen said Harris is recovering faster from his current ACL injury than he did from his previous two. Harris at full strength will be big for IU's special teams.
-- Players aside from the spring individual award winners who have stood out to Allen in the weight room/benefitted from the new strength staff: Ellison, defensive tackle Michael Barwick, defensive end Nile Sykes, offensive lineman Mackenzie Nworah and offensive lineman Britt Beery.
-- Allen wants to have a Top 25 offense and Top 25 special teams in addition to having a Top 25 defense. Those are his expectations heading into 2018. (I'll have stories with his thoughts on how each phase fared in 2018 in the next couple of weeks).
Jordan Wells / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
This week we took our first stab at the 2020 recruiting board (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/2020-recruiting-board). This is a very early edition as IU is not very far down the road in this class (and it’s obviously still very early.)
They’re going to have to expand the recruiting board to out-of-state guys because there aren’t shaping up to be many offers among this group locally.
One name who continues to improve is Anthony Leal from Bloomington. He’s impressed some scouts this spring and if his play continues to get better, he could move up the board.
The first and only known offer in the class is Butler (Pa.) four-star guard Ethan Morton (6-5, 180 pounds, No. 47 player nationally). Archie trying to work his western Pennsylvania roots on this one, and Morton has already visited campus once, so expect the Hoosiers to put some effort in this one.
…
In the class of 2019, Valparaiso’s Brandon Newman is a name that could get added to the board
(link).
Shooting 40 percent from behind-the-arc in both high school and on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League circuit is pretty impressive. I figured there wouldn’t be much in-roads made here, given that IU has already made the decision to expand the 2019 guard recruiting board out-of-state - but if Newman keeps improving, IU could try to poke around with this one.
Picking up a Florida State offer was an eyecatcher for Newman. He’s averaging 18.4 points per game for Meanstreets this spring.
…
We researched how Archie Miller’s first full class compared with the rest of the coaches around the Big Ten when they got started (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/ind...ring-first-big-ten-classes-to-archie-miller-s)
It’s certainly a nice haul. Miller’s group ranks No. 7 nationally and is the top group in the Big Ten - a nice feat when you compare to how the other coaches did in their first year.
Also have to note recruiting is ramping up in the league. Brad Underwood (Illinois) and Chris Holtmann (Ohio State) both finished with nice rookie classes themselves.
…
The class of 2021 is shaping up to be an impressive one in the state. One of the early names to know in that group is Brownsburg wing Pierce Thomas (https://indiana.rivals.com/news/indiana-basketball-2021-wing-pierce-thomas-on-iu-s-radar)
His athleticism is off the charts, as you can read in the story. If his skill can catch up with that, his potential is through the roof.
IU’s already tracking his progress and they had him on campus this year. He looks up to Romeo Langford, so the Hoosiers signing the 2018 five-star is a nice, early in.
---------------
Stu Jackson / Basketball Beat & Recruiting News
Big news this week was the announcement that Indiana will be hosting Marquette in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Marquette could very realistically be a Top 25 team next season, if not right off the bat. They return 9 of 13 starts from a year ago and have several pieces added via transfers and recruiting that will make a difference. On paper, it's a team that, if it lives up to expectations, could end up being a good win for Indiana's NCAA tournament resume.
--------------
Stu Jackson / Football Beat & Recruiting News
Recruiting:
As we reported earlier this week, the next two weekends are expected to be big ones for in-state visitors. 2019 4-star Carmel (Ind.) High DE Beau Robbins is going to be unofficially visiting this weekend, along with 2019 Florida WR/TE Brett Seither. The following weekend, 2019 3-star Brownsburg (Ind.) High WR Bryce Kirtz will be taking an official visit to Indiana.
Kirtz has an official to Northwestern this weekend, so Indiana would be the last visit he takes before making his decision assuming he sticks with plans made at the beginning of this month to commit "within the next month." He has a final four of Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern and Duke.
Team:
Had the chance to sit down one-on-one with IU head coach Tom Allen today and touched on a number of topics. Some of the highlights:
-- With spring official visits now ingrained in the recruiting process, expected them to occur in June at the earliest. The philosophy Allen said he and his staff have is that any earlier and it feels like it's too far away from when most of these kids make their decisions, whether it be in the fall or November/December. June is also when IU has several of its team camps, so that month will shape up to be a big one for the program from recruiting standpoint.
-- Redshirt junior wide receiver Nick Westbrook is progressing well and remains ahead of schedule in his recovery. Additionally, sophomore running back Morgan Ellison is expected to be "full-bore" at the beginning of next month while grad transfer center Nick Linder is expected to be cleared in two weeks. Allen said redshirt junior wide receiver Donovan Hale is still progressing.
-- One surprising injury update was J-Shun Harris. Allen said Harris is recovering faster from his current ACL injury than he did from his previous two. Harris at full strength will be big for IU's special teams.
-- Players aside from the spring individual award winners who have stood out to Allen in the weight room/benefitted from the new strength staff: Ellison, defensive tackle Michael Barwick, defensive end Nile Sykes, offensive lineman Mackenzie Nworah and offensive lineman Britt Beery.
-- Allen wants to have a Top 25 offense and Top 25 special teams in addition to having a Top 25 defense. Those are his expectations heading into 2018. (I'll have stories with his thoughts on how each phase fared in 2018 in the next couple of weeks).
