Two Months Later, Defensive Line Coach Kevin Peoples Finally Home at Indiana
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Football coaches are always good at multitasking and Kevin Peoples, Indiana's defensive line coach, is no different. He can juggle things with the best of them.
On Wednesday, more than two months after he was hired by Tom Allen to replace Mark Hagen in the defensive coaching room, Peoples was finally moving into his house in Bloomington. While all that craziness was going on, he also tried to sit down to do a 15-minute teleconference with the media, along with a myriad of other duties.
That's what coaching is like these days during the COVID-19 pandemic. People was hired March 2 and got to say hello to a few people. But then when practices were canceled and everyone was sent home, he went back to Texas to his family and has been working remotely from afar. Just this week he finally returned, and moved into his new home.
The work has never stopped, though.
Even remotely, Peoples has been getting to know his players and fellow coaches, and they've all developed new best practices to prepare for a season. It hasn't been easy, but it's getting done is various shapes and forms.,He's really looking forward to getting his players back on campus, whenever that may be.
"I think we've done a good job of adapting to the circumstances at hand, but the biggest thing is getting these guys back in shape and back in the weight room, then get back working on the skill set,'' Peoples said.
"We've got to get back in the weight room. A lot of these guys have been on their own maybe doing body weight lifting and all that stuff. So just getting them back in the ordinary grind of where you'd be in a normal college football season.''
Indiana's defensive line was a huge area of concern heading into the 2019 season, but the group exceeded expectations and, with a lot of young talent, helped the Hoosiers to an eight-win season. Peoples likes what he sees from that group, and is grateful to also add to the room since he's been hired, adding Stanford graduate transfer Jovan Swann.
"I'm very excited about a lot of the guys we have coming back. We've got good depth at all of the positions,'' Peoples said. "I think Jerome Johnson is a talented player that can stop the run and provide pass rush for you. Demarcus Elliott and Sio Nofoagatoto'a, both at the nose position, they both had meaningful snaps. and C.J. Person is a guy that we're excited about that played a few games last season and should be back healthy.
"And then at the ends position, James Head and Michael Ziemba are both guys that have had good success in this conference. Then Alfred Bryant, we're looking for him to be able to step up and provide some pass rush and do some things that showcase his ability. We're pleased where we're at, and really looking forward to getting back to it.''
Indiana only got four practices in before the pandemic pulled the plug on spring practice, and only two were in pads. Peoples doesn't have much to work off of yet, but he's been catching up quickly, watching a lot of film and doing as much as he can in teleconference sessions.
He likes what his group will be able to accomplish this season.
"I like playing a lot of guys, too, and we'l have the depth to do that,'' he said. "Some recruits and even current players asked me about that the other day. If you've got eight guys that can play over four positions or 12 guys that can play over four positions then that gives you an opportunity.''
Peoples likes the talent level up and down the roster.
"The young guys are impressive, too,'' he said. "Damarjhe Lewis — (a 6-foot-3, 291-pound freshman from Griffin, Ga.) — was a guy that was an early enrollee and was just trying to learn the ropes of what was going on (those first four days).
"First of all, he is an outstanding person with outstanding character, but he is also a dynamic player. He's got some explosivity, he's got some twitch and he's going to be a guy that we think can get in the mix next year. Those four practices were huge for him. We wish we would have had 15, but who doesn't? We think he has the ability to really be a dynamic football player. Strong explosive guy, and we're extremely looking forward to him."
Organized team activities have been suspended through the end of May, but Peoples is hoping his players can start coming back to Bloomington soon after that. After two months of chaos, he's glad to finally get his move done, too. He's thrilled to be on Tom Allen's staff.
"I'm like all of us. I miss being around people,'' he said. "But we've learned a lot from this and I've gotten to know the players pretty well, through Zoom chats and phone calls.
"I've been around a lot of successful football coaches, but I don't know if I've ever been around anyone that works harder and care about people more than Coach Allen.''
