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Indiana RB Devine Redding declares for NFL draft

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

It’s a positive trend, but it was one that Indiana didn’t necessarily want to continue in 2017.

Each of the last two years, an Indiana tailback left early for the NFL draft. Two years ago, it was Tevin Coleman. Last year, it was Jordan Howard. The hope was that IU would avoid losing yet another talented tailback to the NFL.

But Devine Redding continued that bittersweet trend.

The junior tailback announced his intentions to leave Bloomington early for the NFL draft:

The loss of Redding is a significant blow after the tailback was IU’s steadiest source of offense in 2016. He reached 1,000 yards the last two years, first as Howard’s backup and in 2016 as the lead back.

Redding finished his IU career with 2,252 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He rushed for 100 yards eight times in his final 16 games for the Hoosiers.

With Redding gone, the Hoosiers will turn to a combination of Ricky Brookins, Mike Majette, Tyler Natee, Alex Rodriguez and potentially others.

Indiana also announced its hire of Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike DeBord earlier in the week.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.