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Indiana football: Grading every position group after the 2022 regular season
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Indiana’s season is over sooner than it had hoped.
For a 2nd straight year, the Hoosiers won’t go bowling, ending their season instead with a 4-8 record. But not all was lost. The 4 wins doubled up the total from a season ago, and IU earned 2 victories in the Big Ten after going winless in the league in 2021. While those might be small steps — smaller than what coach Tom Allen expected — they are steps nonetheless.
As we put a wrap on Indiana’s 2022 season, let’s grade out the Hoosiers position-by-position:
Quarterbacks: D
Indiana’s quarterback play felt all too familiar this season. After injuries and inconsistent play led Allen into needing to rotate through 4 different starting QBs last year, he was forced to do the same — although only 3 this time — during the 2022 season. It’s not a good scenario, and probably the most telling indicator that the season hasn’t gone according to plan.
Missouri transfer Connor Bazelak failed to lock down the job, mainly because his own inaccuracy and inconsistency led to the Hoosiers’ greater inconsistencies, as they could not put together back-to-back solid halves, even in the games they were winning at the beginning of the year. Backup Jack Tuttle got a chance to start, as he did last season, but was almost immediately injured. Allen turned to 3rd-year sophomore Dexter Williams II, who might have a bright future, although right now is more comfortable as a runner than as a passer. And Williams, quite unfortunately, suffered a major right knee injury during Indiana’s finale with Purdue.
Indiana’s 4 quarterbacks — freshman Brendan Sorsby also played briefly — combined for only 2,609 yards on 54% passing with 16 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Running backs: D+
Indiana brought in transfer running backs Shaun Shivers (Auburn) and Josh Henderson (North Carolina) to help revive a running game that had suffered the year before.
The results were mixed. Shivers finished with 592 yards, while Henderson had 398, and they combined for 10 touchdowns. But their productivities might have been hampered by other factors, like a bulky offensive line that wasn’t great at opening holes and a passing game that lacked enough threats. The breakout star of the 2nd half of the season was freshman Jaylin Lucas, who finished the year with 271 yards and had a couple long TDs vs. Michigan State and Purdue in the last 2 games. He might not be an every-down back for IU — he’s only 5-9, 170 — but he can be a big play-maker when the Hoosiers get him the ball in space.
The Hoosiers finished 2nd-to-last in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 110.8 yards per game.
Wide receivers: C
The breakout offensive star for the Hoosiers was wide receiver Cam Camper.
Unfortunately, the transfer from Trinity Community College was injured in the 7th game of the season, ending his Hoosiers’ debut with a torn ACL. Here’s an indication of the value Camper brought: His 46 receptions for 569 yards both are both still tops among Indiana receivers, by a wide margin, even though others played 4 or 5 more games. First-year Hoosier Emery Simmons, a transfer from North Carolina, had 37 receptions for 408 yards.
Some of the IU returnees didn’t fare as well. DJ Matthews didn’t return to form following his knee injury, catching 23 passes but for only 224 yards. And Javon Swinton, who many thought would develop into a down-field threat, had only 12 receptions.
Tight ends: C
Junior AJ Barner moved in as a starter at tight end and was efficient, although he didn’t give the Hoosiers a big-play threat like others had there — mainly Peyton Hendershot — in the past.
Barner caught 28 passes for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns. The primary 2 backups, James Bomba and Aaron Steinfeldt, caught 11 more passes with a TD.
Offensive line: F
Nothing killed Indiana’s chances offensively more than the line.
It was bad, and that might be putting it nicely. So bad, in fact, that Allen was forced to make a positional coaching staff change midseason, bringing in veteran coach Rod Carey to replace Darren Hiller. IU might have experienced a fraction of a bump in performance afterward, but not nearly enough to change outcomes.
The Hoosiers gave up 38 sacks, only 1 better than Maryland in the Big Ten this season. And the O-line wasn’t much better in run blocking either. Sure, the season-opening injury to Matthew Bedford, arguably the team’s best lineman, was significant, but the Hoosiers should have had the depth to sustain a loss. But they didn’t.
Defensive line: C
Indiana felt it had built depth on the defensive line in the offseason, bringing in a bunch of veterans to give the Hoosiers a more physical front.
And IU was OK. It ranked 11th in the Big Ten against the run, giving up 175 yards on the ground. But where Indiana was significantly hurt was in a complete lack of pass rush from the front 4, a problem that plagued IU all season long. IU had only 20 sacks, good for 11th in the Big Ten. And only 6.5 of the sacks came from the front 4, including a team-high-tying 4 from Alfred Bryant, who is listed on Indiana’s website as an outside linebacker but frequently plays on the line of scrimmage.
Transfers JH Tevis (Cal) and LeDarrius Cox (Ole Miss) didn’t have the kind of impact that had been hoped.
Linebackers: C+
Indiana’s defense was nuked when Cam Jones was injured in the 5th game of the season.
The foot injury forced Jones to the sideline for the last 7 games of the year, although he still finished 6th on the team with 54 tackles. It was a gigantic loss. But the Hoosiers had others step up, mainly Aaron Casey, as the senior linebacker had an IU-high 86 tackles, including 10.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks. Bradley Jennings Jr., who transferred from Miami, was solid, with 55 tackles and 4.5 for loss.
But perhaps the biggest bright spot for the Hoosiers defensively was the emergence of freshman Dasan McCullough. The 4-star recruit was excellent, especially at the beginning of the season, and finished with 49 tackles, 6.5 for loss and 4 sacks. He has a bright future.
Defensive backs: D-
Maybe the biggest disappointment for Indiana’s defense was the secondary, a veteran group that didn’t live up to its preseason billing.
Obviously, the lack of pass rush didn’t help the back half of the defense, but the Hoosiers gave up a Big Ten-worst 274.2 passing yards per game and had only 7 interceptions, the 3rd-lowest total in the league. Cornerback Tiawan Mullen came back to Bloomington for his senior season, after an injury-plagued ’21, and turned in a statistically solid year, with 58 tackles, 8 breakups and 2 interceptions. Fellow corner Jaylin Williams had 7 breakups. Bryant Fitzgerald, Devon Matthews and Noah Pierre had their moments, but the group — as a whole — never meshed the way that was expected.
Kyle Charters, a familiar face at Gold & Black, covers Purdue, Indiana and college basketball for Saturday Tradition.