After tasting success and experiencing back-to-back January bowl games for the first time in program history, Indiana offensive lineman and former Lawrence North standout Caleb Jones still had to answer a nagging question.
"As a local guy, I wear the pride of the university on my sleeve. When I go home, I am going to hear about the results of our season and what I did as a personal player. Makes me extremely excited and proud to know we did so many great things while I have been here. The last two seasons haven't ended the way we had hoped and I definitely heard about that from guys I went to high school with and others, “What happened? What happened?” Why didn’t you guys … ? Why didn’t you guys … ?” I think it brings about a level of focus and tenacity toward what we want to do next season and the goals we want to achieve. Two years in a row, we didn’t finish. And this year, it can’t be that same way.”
Meeting with the media Tuesday, Jones said he has taken personal steps to ensure this season ends differently for him and the Hoosiers, as the 6-foot-8, 355-pound offensive tackle noted he is down 40 pounds from January. He added he is at a manageable weight but wants to get between 345 and 350 by the time the season opens Sept. 4 at Iowa.
“Now that I’ve gotten to a weight that I kind of feel good at, it’s about refining my technique and making sure I’m just taking every opportunity and every advantage that I can in spring ball. Just trying to make sure I can be the best me I can be next season,” Jones said.
The junior, who started five games last year for Indiana, admitted that his weight ballooned as a result of the impact Covid-19 had on Indiana's season and training, adding it was one of the toughest off-seasons he had been a part of.
"The COVID offseason was definitely one of the toughest off seasons I’ve ever had as a player,” Jones said. “Not having the structure that you’re used to during my off seasons here, it definitely threw everybody off. It threw me off, as well, trying to make sure I was getting the work done. It was just a real tough offseason, but this year is a lot different. We’ve got structure, we’ve got a great strength staff, our coaching staff is here, and we’re really trying to get better out here," he said.
This season, the Hoosiers have quite a bit of talent back on the offensive line.
Jones has experience, as does tackle Matthew Bedford, who also started last year. Luke Haggard saw quality time, while Dylan Powell, Mike Katick and Mackenzie Nworah are all back and Indiana added University of Michigan transfer Zach Carpenter.
For Jones, having the experience coming back is a weight off his shoulders, he said.
“We do have a lot of guys coming back that have a lot of game experience and, of course, that’s going to help when it comes to crunch time … and you have to have guys that know what to do out there. It’s definitely going to be a big advantage for us, knowing we have so many guys coming back," he said.
And with the experience back, Jones admits he is ready to put an end to the nagging questions at the conclusion of the 2021 season.
“It’s definitely a certain level of excitement that’s just expressed throughout the whole program. But at the same time, more than there is excitement, there’s a level of focus because, at the end of the day, we did a lot of good things the last two years, but neither of the last two years did we finish the way we’ve wanted to. There’s still goals we need to attack and there’s still games we need to win," Jones said.
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