Darren Hiller Looking For More Physicality From Indiana Offensive Line in 2022
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Darren Hiller didn't shy away from addressing Indiana's offensive line struggles in 2021.
"Last year I just think we were a little bit soft in our protection," Hiller, Indiana's offensive line coach, said on Thursday.
Indiana allowed 29 sacks in 12 games last season, which was the third most in the Big Ten and tied for second on a per-game basis. The Hoosiers' passing attack gained 175.5 yards per game – 10th in the Big Ten – and their run game generated 3.2 yards per carry, which tied for 13th in the conference.
When Hiller evaluated the offensive line's areas of weakness from last season, he said it started with physicality.
"We have to be physical and it's not just in the run game," Hiller said. "I always try to tell these guys that pass protection, the word is passive, but the mentality can't be that way."
For Hiller, improvements from his position group start with embracing the boredom of consistency and repetition. Hiller said offensive line is a developmental position and one where strides can only be made through constant work.
"They have to understand that they have to do things over and over," Hiller said. "Today, we'll go up and watch film and I'll be in meetings with them this afternoon and there will be guys that still aren't taking the correct step and they know what the step is, but again, it's the muscle memory."
Throughout the spring, summer and now into fall camp, Hiller has been preaching three pillars of both run-blocking and pass-blocking. In the run game, Hiller wants his linemen to focus on leverage, base and balance. In pass-blocking it's set, punch and play basketball.
Hiller uses the basketball analogy with his linemen to depict the pass-protection technique of mirroring the pass-rusher with their feet like a basketball defender would.
"We're not playing basketball, we're defending in basketball," Hiller said. "And we get unlimited fouls."
"You can smack 'em, you can throw both hands on 'em, you can snatch 'em," Senior offensive lineman Matthew Bedford said. "All these different things you can do to defeat a defender in pass protection ... It's just mirroring the guy with your feet, and then the fouling part is just being aggressive with your hands and throwing them on em."
Indiana lost two offensive line starters to graduation, including Caleb Jones, who started all 12 games at right tackle and Dylan Powell, the team's starting center. Bedford is back for his senior season, and he'll kick outside to right tackle to replace Jones after making 12 starts at right guard in 2021. Bedford started seven games at right tackle in 2020, eight games at left tackle as a freshman in 2019 and said on Thursday that playing tackle was his 'first love.'
With Bedford moving back to tackle, the starting right guard position is up for grabs. Redshirt junior Tim Weaver played this role in Indiana's season opener at Iowa in 2021, but it was his only start of the season despite appearing in all 12 games. Khalil Benson – a 6-foot-6, 313-pound three-star recruit from Southaven, Miss. – is listed behind Weaver in Indiana's first depth chart, and could make the case for playing time as a redshirt sophomore.
Redshirt junior Zach Carpenter is a candidate to take over for Powell at center. Carpenter transferred from Michigan to Indiana before the 2021 season, making three starts at right guard for the Hoosiers. He started the Wolverines' final two games at center in 2020.
Redshirt junior Luke Haggard returns with 11 starts at left tackle under his belt from last season when he won Indiana's Chris Dal Sasso Award, given to the team's most outstanding lineman. The left side of Indiana's offensive line appears to be secured, as redshirt junior Mike Katic returns after making nine starts at left guard and missing three games with an injury. Katic won IU's Offensive Newcomer of the Year Award in 2020, appearing in six games.
Indiana coach Tom Allen also dipped into the transfer portal to help the depth of the offensive line room with Parker Hanna. After redshirting as a freshman in 2017, Hanna started 33 games for West Texas A&M. He was an honorable mention for All-Lone Star Conference honors in 2021, helping an offense that averaged 34.3 points and 205.1 rushing yards per game. Hanna and the West Texas A&M offensive line allowed 1.3 sacks per game in 2021.
But no matter how the playing time shakes out, Indiana will need its offensive line to be far more reliable in 2022 in order to bounce back from a 2-10 season last year. Under new offensive coordinator Walt Bell, that certainly seems to be the plan.
"[Bell] harped tremendously when he first got here that big men lead the way," Bedford said. "This offense goes nowhere without the o-line."
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