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‘The pieces are here’: Kalen DeBoer has a good feeling about IU’s offense
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When you look at Indiana’s offensive makeup, it has everything a coordinator could possibly want. There’s depth at quarterback, led by a returning starter. The backfield is loaded and the receiver position has major talent. The offensive line boasts plenty of big bodies.
Those are the attributes that makes Kalen DeBoer excited about calling the shots on offense in Bloomington this season. He knows he has the players for the Hoosiers to produce a high-powered offense on a weekly basis.
“The pieces are here,” DeBoer told IUHoosiers.com. “I watched the guys this spring. I watched last year’s games again, and you just have a good feeling that another year of experience underneath all these guys’ belts, and a few tweaks here and there, and we could be off and rolling.”
Indiana’s offense was a middle-of-the-road unit in the B1G last season, but failed to produce in some of the bigger moments. The Hoosiers averaged 26 points per game on the season and ranked third in passing yardage. The run game was hit or miss last fall, not to be unexpected with some inexperienced players on the offensive line and at running back.
From a raw talent standpoint, Indiana has exactly what DeBoer needs to see his offensive system. It’s a matter of execution and creating more explosive opportunities for some of the playmakers on the roster.
“This spring we were completely focused on execution, executing the plays,” DeBoer said. “Because in the end they’re still going to come down to third downs where there is no tempo, to where you have to execute, the defense got lined up, you made a substitution, and so the official is holding the ball. So you just have to execute that play.”
DeBoer also says the Hoosiers plan to play at an up-tempo pace, hopefully catching defenses off guard and wearing them down throughout the course of a game. That should allow IU to convert on some of those explosive plays, as well.
Learning a new system can take time. There may be an adjustment period for the Hoosiers, as well. But the good thing for DeBoer is that Indiana has the talent and experience needed to run an effective and efficient offense.
It could lead to some big offensive numbers in Bloomington this fall.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB