Like many athletic teams, the Indiana football team has used the mantra “next man up” whenever a player goes down.
For Luke Haggard, his time to be the “next man up” was Saturday at Michigan State and the 6-foot-7-inch, junior college transfer made the most of his opportunity, starting against the Spartans and drawing praise from both players and members of the coaching staff.
For Haggard, the opportunity to start up front came with nerves, but the former Santa Rose Junior College team captain and All-Bay 6 Conference honoree quickly overcame any issues. Haggard’s opportunity came as a result of Mike Katic and Caleb Jones being out.
Perhaps, his pregame talk with starting running back Stevie Scott played a role in Haggard’s performance, as Scott told the media this week he let Haggard know his teammates were behind him.
“I spoke to Luke before the game to let him know I got his back, and to go out there and play hard, play your game, don’t let anyone get in your head," Scott said. "Wanted to let him know it would be a dogfight but his teammates have his back and make sure he was good."
And, was he ever.
Haggard held his own against a very physical and large Michigan State defensive line for four quarters, drawing praise from head coach Tom Allen after the game.
“I thought Luke did a great job," Allen said. "It’s next man up and Luke came here to play, he came here to compete and have opportunities, and now he’s got one. So the bottom line is, that’s how we have to approach this every single time we take the field, whatever position it is, the guys have got to realize that if the guy in front of you goes down and can’t play, then it’s your time so what are you going to do with that opportunity."
Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan echoed those sentiments.
“Thought Luke did a nice job. There’s always things we can get better at and improve on, but Luke did a nice job, had to play the whole game. Proud of how he competed and think he was coached and prepared for the moment and that’s credit to him and Coach Hiller," Sheridan said. "We address the unit, the expectation is for the position and not the player. Our tackles have an expectation and standard to play at a certain standard here at Indiana, and we obviously feel like Luke did a nice job. There’s things Luke needs to work on, and he knows that. It wasn’t perfect, whole group, myself included, needs to improve. Happy he was able to contribute and help us win. Thought those guys battled and competed."
Battling is one thing the offensive line, including Haggard, has done all season after a rough start to the season against Penn State.
Since then, offensive line coach Darren Hiller has seen improvement from his unit.
“Every single day is a challenge to get better. Every guy has strengths and weaknesses and it is a matter of every guy identifying them. We have to continue to get better individually and that collectively will carry over to the unit playing better. I think we’ve gotten better from game one. We’ve been a little bit of a work in progress," Hiller added. "I told the guys the cream will rise to the top and the guys who are playing the best are the guys who are getting the most snaps."
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