Indiana had been extremely healthy throughout the offseason leading up to the 2020 season. That is until last week when redshirt senior Marcelino Ball went down with a major injury. It was announced on Monday that Ball would miss the entire season due to a torn ACL.
Now, something that IU head coach Tom Allen has harped on for his entire tenure at Indiana will have to come into play. And that is depth.
"It is a legit concern that I think everyone is having right now in terms of how you handle the unknowns of the season," Allen said on Monday. "Both with the normal injuries that always occur throughout a year and, obviously, the COVID situation that we are all dealing with."
For the Hoosiers, while losing Ball is definitely significant, someone who has appeared in 41 games (38 starts) with 201 tackles, having two additional veterans ready to step in is something that is exactly what Tom Allen has been building his roster for.
Tom Allen didn't have to look far down the list for those two names. Bryant Fitzgerald and Jamar Johnson were first to mind for Allen when naming the safety-linebacker 'husky' role in Indiana's 4-2-5 defense.
