Indiana true freshman running back Sampson James continues to work through growing pains in his first year on campus in Bloomington. Until then, his big game against Ohio State might need to wait.
But IU offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer and running backs coach Mike Hart both agree that " his time is coming."
When Sampson James arrived in Bloomington in January to begin his career with the Hoosiers, this week’s game against Ohio State was generally marked as a potential point of interest between the Buckeyes and James, since James was, at one point, committed to play at Ohio State.
Tom Allen and the IU staff commonly repeat that the next game is the most important game, and James told TheHoosier.com that will be how he treats the Ohio State game as well.
But it would be understandable for Indiana fans to get carried away with the prospect of James having a good game or being a key contributor in a game against Ohio State, before it became obvious that James, like most true freshmen running backs within any program, has areas he needs to improve on before he has any such game against any Ohio State team.
“I think just overall, his run reads and stuff like that,” IU running backs coach Mike Hart said about where James needs to improve. “Just being more patient. It just comes with time. It happens with every freshman. Stevie (Scott) just got thrown in with 40 carries in his first game last year, but (Sampson) just needs to continue to improve and he will.”
Clearly, Hart was exaggerating about Scott’s number of carries in his first game – the season-opener versus Florida International – of 2018. The starting running back carried the ball 20 times for 70 yards in a backfield that desperately needed a running back to take the reins.
James’ scenario is much different. Sitting squarely behind Scott, redshirt junior Cole Gest – who was injured most of the 2018 season – and redshirt freshman Ronnie Walker Jr., James can be eased into the college game by the Hoosier staff. He had one carry in his first game against Ball State, and then, since Allen and offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer wanted to get him more in-game experience, he became the feature back in the second half of a 52-0 blowout against Eastern Illinois, finishing his day with 12 carries, 22 yards and his first career touchdown.
“Sampson did a good job. It was good to get him in there,” Hart said. “He just needs to continue to improve week-in and week-out. He’ll be a good player. He just has a while to go right now. We’ll just get him in whenever we can because he’s a hard physical running back. He’s a hard guy to tackle out there.”
DeBoer expressed those same sentiments about James during Indiana’s weekly press conference Monday when asked about the true freshman running back.
“"Every rep he was out there, you could see him getting more comfortable,” the offensive coordinator said. “He's going to be a force. His time is coming."
When asked where he believes he needs to improve, James echoes his position coach – patience, slowing down the game mentally, not scrapping his reads too quickly, pass protection, improving passing routes out of the backfield. Catching the ball out of the backfield is a requirement within a Kalen DeBoer-led offense, and that's something all of the IU running backs are working to improve.
Throughout all of these efforts to improve, James said he’s been able to rely on Scott, who was in the same position just a year ago. Scott, who at one point during his recruitment was thought to be a better fit at linebacker than running back, needed to earn his way into the running backs room and then locked down the starting job. James said he is making some of the same mistakes Scott made early last season, and sometimes continues to make today as another young back in the room.
“He’s always encouraged me. All the time, he’s always encouraging me,” James said “He sees the potential in me, and that’s the important thing. It’s definitely a confidence-booster. As a young guy, the young mistakes he’s made, he shared them with me. Like I said, slowing the game down, getting your reads. With pass protection, with routes, anything. He’s definitely been a great role model to me, and a great mentor.”
While James continues to make those improvements in his game and a redshirt remains a potential result for his freshman season, his big game against Ohio State might need to wait another year.
That doesn’t mean he won’t see snaps against the Buckeyes or that he won’t eventually be the play-making back among the other young running backs also trying to improve upon themselves, it just means he’s in a process, and he said he understands that.
“You can really get to overthinking things, and that’s when you make mistakes,” James said. “But you take it one play at a time, give it your all, and that’s when you really start to see the improvement. Put a lot of those plays together, have a good day of practice, have a good week of practice, have a good game.”
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