Hoosiers Excited to be Back on the Practice Field
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The John Mellencamp Football Pavilion is usually a pretty quiet place around the holidays, but not this year. The place is buzzing this weekend thanks the the Indiana football team being bowl eligibile for the first time in three years.
The Hoosiers are getting their first three bowl practices in this weekend as they prepare for their Jan. 2 meeting with Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., their first-ever Florida bowl game. The players are excited to be back out on the field and adding another month to their season.
"It feels really good to be out here. The last couple of years, right about this time, I'd be heading home,'' Indiana senior center Hunter Littlejohn said. "I'm ready to get to work a little bit more and hone in on my craft a little bit more and make this last game my best game.
"I'm glad to still be here. This is much better,''
Junior wide receiver Whop Philyor agreed. He's all about football, so being back in practice mode was right up his alley.
"It means a lot, because I love football so much. It's real good to be back out there,'' Philyor said. "We were a little rusty the first day back, but we'll get it. We had a long layoff there after that last game.''
Indiana will get another half-dozen or so practices here in Bloomington before heading south right after Christmas for the bowl game. The Hoosiers finished the season 8-4, their most wins since 1993. They would love a ninth, so getting back to work and feeling refreshed, both physically and mentally, means a lot.
"I'm feeling great. I had a couple of nick-ups, but they're gone now,'' Littlejohn said. "Getting out on the field again is great and it's nice with classes basically done. We can spend more time in the training room when he need it.''
Indiana's offensive line has played well all season despite a bunch of injuries. Starting left tackle Coy Cronk was lost for the season with an ankle injury in September, and his replacement, true freshman Matt Bedford, went down in November and missed a couple of games. Bedford is hoping to be ready by game week, but it's a wait-and-see thing.
Littlejohn, a senior who will be playing his final game at Indiana in a few weeks, said it doesn't matter. Their group is deep, and versatile.
"I think we've practiced every combination possible all year,'' Littlejohn said. "Just with the experience we've had all season, everybody's going to be comfortable when we get to game time, no matter who's out there.''
