Extra Bowl Practices Invaluable to Indiana's Young Defense

Having 15 practices to prepare for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl game against Tennessee on Jan. 2 accelerates the curve for all the youngsters on Indiana's defense.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's late December, and the kids are smiling. It has nothing to do with Christmas either, because for Indiana's young football team, just being out and still playing football is a wonderful thing.

Indiana has gone through a week of practices so far, bonuses for qualifying for a bowl game this season, something they haven't done the past two years. Getting to play another game is wonderful, but so is being able to practice for another three weeks.

It helps so much for a team as young as Indiana that relies heavily on freshmen and sophomores, especially on the defensive side of the ball. 

"These bowl practices are so valuable for us as a young team, a young defense,'' Indiana defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said. "Guys that you see a year from now when we walk out on the field against Wisconsin (in the 2020 season opener on Sept. 5) are going to take a more vital role in our defense. To see these young guys experience these reps they are getting right now is invaluable. 

"I mean, when you really get another spring ball, that closes the gap between your regular season with the first practice in spring, there is a lot more carryover. Then the spring ends up being a lot cleaner because of that. It is a compound positive thing that happens from these bowl practices."

Because Indiana went 5-7 two years in a row, they weren't allowed to practice from the end of November until the spring workouts in March. This is dramatically better. And it's these practices that make coaches so happy once they get bowl eligible every year.

"It really is a rich-get-richer mentality when you get these extra bowl practices because of the things we just talked about,'' Wommack said. "You want to keep the momentum going from what you have already done, and what you have already built off of.

"The longer that you stay away from the game when you are out there on the field, the rustier you are going to get, especially for these young guys. Every single rep is so critical for them. For us, this was gold for our defense. It really is."

Wommack said the first six practices were "focused inward on us,'' and a lot of work was done on technique and such. Now it's a few days of working on preparing for Tennessee, with the rest of the work done when they arrive in Jacksonville on Dec. 28 to prepare for the Jan. 2 game. 

"As you get closer to the game, obviously you focus more on Tennessee,'' he said. "What we are trying to do, what we are trying to get, is the first six practices were much more spring ball-like in terms of the flow, with the individual time.

"We''' try to get a week's worth, or a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday worth, of practice the next couple of days to use as a game-week preparation like we would in a normal week. We will then do the whole thing over once we get to the bowl site. That is pretty valuable. That is really more than what we get even in a bye week. We will be very focused on Tennessee for basically two whole weeks from a practice perspective."