BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti told reporters Thursday night's spring game at Memorial Stadium was the first to be broadcast live during spring practice.
Quarterback Curtis Rourke, who ran the first-team offense for the entire second quarter of the game, scored the go-ahead touchdown to Andison Covey with 45 seconds left, giving the offense a 34-25 victory over the defense. contributed to. The offense scored five touchdowns, and the defense had one interception and seven stops for points.
This may be the only time the Hoosiers have a full tackle (other than the quarterback) until their Week 1 game against FIU on Aug. 31. IU's other two scrimmages during spring training were thump practices. The defender should make contact at full speed, but do not knock the opponent to the ground.
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“This was the first practice we worked on. It's kind of a national trend,” Cininetti said. “I saw the others, and even in their spring game, they were thumping.”
Cininetti took a similar approach last year at James Madison.
He also hasn't had his team participate in a live scrimmage during fall camp since the season opener against Bucknell. Coach Cininetti has not yet made a decision on how the Hoosiers will handle scrimmages during the fall.
“I think there were some missed tackles tonight,” Cininetti said. “If you miss a tackle, it could be a variety of issues, including athleticism, balance, body control, what you want to do, and toughness.”
One of the important things for Cininetti was getting through the spring without losing any players to significant injuries. Indiana had no injuries Thursday night, which was the first thing he mentioned in his opening statement from the podium.
Cininetti pays particular attention to quarterbacks who are never active in the offseason.
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Indiana had many of its key defenders limited throughout the spring while recovering from various injuries, including defensive tackle James Carpenter, linebacker Jaylin Walker and defensive end Ranel Carr. They were all sitting outside on a Thursday night.
Cininetti is keen to have them all back in the squad.
“If we have four or five key players injured in the fall and we have a great summer and can be productive the second time through offense, defense and special teams, we will look different, and hopefully some. If we can make some roster additions in the field, we'll get some help,” Cininetti said.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for the Bloomington Herald Times. You can follow him at X @michaelniziolek Click here to read all of his articles
