Anderson makes a name for himself on Indiana defense during spring
Tom Allen and the Indiana coaching staff already knew plenty about grad transfer Ryder Anderson.
The former Ole Miss defensive lineman terrorized the Hoosiers in the Outback Bowl, and when Anderson put his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal, Indiana's coaches jumped at the opportunity to welcome Anderson to Bloomington.
The decision paid dividends as Anderson earned the Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award with Micah McFadden. As great as his play was, it was his attitude that captured the attention of the coaches the most, including Allen.
"I've been impressed with his attitude. You know the mindset that he brought here. He would jump in and be on the scout team, I mean, like, we'd say 'hey we need some guys to step in here and give us a look', and he just always jumped in there immediately," Allen said.
Allen said Anderson bought into everything the coaching staff threw at him during the spring and made the most of his opportunities.
"He practices super hard. We haven't officially given them yet but we're going to give out awards here at our post spring luncheon, we're going to have next week. For all the players that practiced all 15 practices, that's going to be one group and then all the guys that had the most reps for their position group during our live periods, just to reward those guys for man just being tough, hard nosed gritty guys for all 15 days no breaks and never miss anything. So he's going to be one of those guys. He was out there every practice busting his tail, going hard as a guy that's not not a young guy," Allen said.
Anderson has had a pretty productive career playing for Ole Miss and totally 99 tackles in 37 games including 14 starts.
As excited as Allen and the coaching staff are, Anderson is equally as excited about being with the Hoosiers.
"I like it a lot. Played in 4-2-5 before lot of fun, like it. I am really excited, talking to coaches and guys and I am fitting the piece of the puzzle. Big reason for me wanting to come here. I am towards the end of the collegiate career, wanted to go somewhere I could fit and just build off of last year. That’s what we are getting ready to do here," Anderson said.
While he is getting accustomed to his teammates and Indiana's goals, he notes that he has bought in already on helping the Hoosiers go further than last year and contend for wins.
"The whole message has been we didn’t finish out the season after having a lot of success. Everything up to this point has been finish and that will be the same line as we head into spring ball and do all the little things right," Anderson said.
And, that includes buying into and learning all about Allen's LEO movement.
"I had no clue where I would transfer to, but you did notice a lot of stuff on tv and ESPN about their success and relationship and Coach Allen was followed a lot. I didn’t know what LEO meant but as soon as I got here, I noticed the relationships and they all brought me in the same way and felt good to become a part of it."
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