The Class of 2011 is one of the most recognizable classes of Indiana’s last decade. It was Kevin Wilson’s first signing class with Indiana and featured six players who eventually played significant time in the NFL and Tre Roberson, who just signed as a cornerback with the Chicago Bears.
When Wilson was hired as Indiana’s head coach on Nov. 28, 2010, Indiana had 13 players committed to the class, including Cody Latimer, Zack Shaw, Nick Stoner, D’Angelo Roberts and Roberson. Those were the days before the Early Signing Period, which was implemented in 2018, so Wilson maintained those commitments for a couple months while adding 10 more, including Shane Wynn, Bobby Richardson, Michael Hunter, Adarius Rayner, Matt Dooley and Stephen Houston, in the same span of time.
Only a few of the contributors from this class would stay in the program long enough to play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, but in terms of building the program from where the class began in 2011, at 1-11, to begin the extremely gradual progression toward bowl eligibility and affording the program the figures that guide it now, the 2011 class must take some credit.
These are some of the key arrivals in that class that defined that era in Indiana football.
Shane Wynn
Shane Wynn and his speed became a well-known commodity of Indiana in the early-2010s. From the moment he stepped on campus in 2011, he had a role on the team and appeared in all 48 games as a Hoosier, starting 36 of them. He became the first player in Indiana history to record receiving, rushing, kickoff and punt return touchdowns. He currently sits third in career receptions (189), eighth in career receiving yards (2,198) and tied for third in career receiving touchdowns (20).
Wynn’s commitment and signing with Indiana was a massive recruiting victory for Wilson and Kevin Johns that signaled progression in Bloomington. The receiver out of Cleveland chose Indiana over offers from USC, Michigan, Ohio State, Miami, Tennessee, Illinois and others, but he never saw a bowl berth.
In the NFL, Wynn jumped around practice squads before finally signing with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the summer of 2016. He was released before the season began and was signed to the practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster in December 2016, when he got three touches for a total of 24 yards. He is currently unsigned.
Cody Latimer
Cody Latimer didn’t have nearly the offers list that Wynn had, but as the No 19 prospect coming out of Ohio, Latimer was a prospect Kevin Johns was excited about. His big frame translated well to the Big Ten and has held up during a fairly lengthy NFL career. Latimer, who stayed with Indiana for three seasons before declaring early for the NFL draft, also never saw a bowl appearance.
But if Latimer had remained at Indiana after his monster senior season – 72 catches, 1,096 yards and nine touchdowns – and simply hit the average between his junior and senior years, he would stand at No. 1 in career receptions (with approximately 197), No. 1 in career receiving yards (with approximately 2,993) and No. 3 in career receiving touchdowns (with approximately 25).
A case could certainly be made for Latimer being the best wide receiver in Indiana football history, and he was a three-star prospect out of Ohio.
Latimer played with both Peyton and Eli Manning in Denver and New York and won a Super Bowl with the Broncos. He primarily served a special teams role with Denver, but in his first season with the Giants, he found time at receiver due to injuries. He caught a career-high 24 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns in 2019-20.
Stephen Houston
Indiana was in dire need of a running back when Wilson took the head coaching job, even though Bloomington-native D’Angelo Roberts was committed to the program. Then-running backs coach Deland McCullough, who starred at Miami when Kevin Wilson was the offensive coordinator in the 1990s, found Stephen Houston at Independence Community College in Kansas, and Indiana was the only school to offer. Then began a string of successful running backs that helped propel McCullough to the NFL ranks.
Houston rushed for 802 yards as Indiana’s bellcow running back in 2011 during his second year of eligibility. He added two more seasons of 700-plus rushing yards in the years following, including a 2013 season of splitting carries with Tevin Coleman. He ended his career No. 10 in career rushing yards (2,304) and tied at No. 5 in career rushing touchdowns (25).
He would jump around NFL practice squads, joining the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens before his career in the NFL came to an end.
Bobby Richardson
Defensive tackle Bobby Richardson, a two-star prospect out of Tampa, was one of the pleasant surprises from the 2011 class and became one of the first Plant High School alumni – along with current Hoosiers Whop Philyor and Micah McFadden – to perform well at Indiana. He began as a backup defensive tackle as a freshman in 2011 before climbing the ranks to be a starter in six games. He would start the next three seasons along the defensive line as well.
Richardson was one of the best defensive tackles Indiana had seen in the 2010s and ended his career with 129 tackles, 11 sacks, 22 TFLs, three blocked kicks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and six pass breakups.
Richardson, like some of the best and most recognizable names in the 2011 class, didn’t make it to 2015 to play in the bowl game, but he was signed by the New Orleans Saints, where he recorded 40 tackles, 0.5 sacks and an interception before being waived in 2016 and jumping around practice squads until the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats signed him for 2018. He was also playing for the XFL’s Tampa Bay Vipers until the league suspended operations due to COVID-19 and then declared bankruptcy.
Michael Hunter
Michael Hunter was a low-tier three-star prospect out of Louisiana when he committed to Doug Mallory and Kevin Wilson in January 2011. He made his way into the cornerback rotation as a freshman in 2011 and then redshirt the 2012 season due to a hernia injury. Over the next two seasons, he started 24 games and recorded 78 tackles, two interceptions and 11 pass break-ups.
After the 2014 season, Hunter transferred to Oklahoma State in order to play for a promising Oklahoma State team that eventually went 10-3 in 2015 and lost to Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.
Hunter was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Giants in 2016 and spent two seasons on the roster before being waived. He ended the 2019 season on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice squad.
Zack Shaw
A four-star linebacker out of Ohio, Zack Shaw was one of the most anticipated prospects in the 2011 class, rated the highest Indiana commitment by Rivals. He was the No. 232 national prospect and the No. 14 inside linebacker in the country, but he wasn’t exactly the dominant force often associated with that rating at Indiana.
One of the primary concerns with Shaw is that he was between a defensive end and a linebacker. He made the transition from linebacker to defensive end during the spring of his redshirt freshman season, and he later played the bandit position, which was designed to be a hybrid defensive end-linebacker position.
Once his responsibilities were designated to the bandit position in 2015, Shaw had his best statistical season, recording 52 tackles, 11.5 TFLs, four sacks and four pass break-ups. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten. He was one of the few 2011 signees who were able to play in th eNew Era Pinstripe Bowl against Duke in 2015, and he recorded seven tackles and a tackle for loss in that game.
Tre Roberson
A talented quarterback out of Lawrence Central, Tre Roberson possessed a skillset that made it difficult to keep him off the field. Coming off winning the 2010 Indiana Mr. Football Award, Roberson became the first ever true freshman to start at quarterback in 2011. His freshman year was the closest Roberson came to being the primary quarterback at Indiana, though.
After injuries to both No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks, Edward Wright-Baker and Dusty Kiel, and the de-commitment of Gunner Kiel, the brother of Dusty, Roberson was named the starter and became a major crutch for Kevin Wilson’s first offense in Bloomington. Starting the last five games, Roberson totaled 937 yards, three touchdowns and six interceptions on 57-percent passing. He was Indiana’s second-leading rusher, though, behind Stephen Houston, carrying the ball 109 times for 426 yards and two touchdowns.
The additions of Cameron Coffman and Nate Sudfeld in 2012, combined with a broken leg two games into the 2012 season, made it difficult for Roberson to find opportunities at quarterback for Indiana, so he transferred to Illinois State after the 2013 season. During Roberson’s final game for Indiana, against Purdue, he threw for six touchdowns.
Roberson played two seasons at Illinois State and went undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft. He was eventually signed as a cornerback by the Minnesota Vikings before the Vikings cut ties in 2017. He signed with the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL for 2018. In January, Roberson signed the largest CFL-to-NFL deal (two years, $1.16 million) since Cameron Wake, when he signed with the Chicago Bears as a cornerback.
Adarius Rayner
Mark Hagen proved, in both stints with Indiana, that he can spot and develop defensive tackles. In addition to the two-star Bobby Richardson, Adarius Rayner, out of Largo, Florida, was one of the lowest-rated commitments Indiana received this decade. Another two-star at the position, Rayner contributed to 11 games as a redshirt sophomore and stayed with the program long enough to play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in 2015.
Mark Murphy
Safety Mark Murphy might be one of the most forgotten staples of Indiana’s secondary during the 2010 decade. Murphy came into Bloomington in 2011 and immediately made a difference, recording 76 tackles (leading all Big Ten true freshmen that season), the most by an Indiana true freshman since Will Myers in 2003. He was a Penn State killer, too, recording 21 tackles, three pass deflections, a pick-six (2014) and his first career fumble recovery (2012) in four games. He started 42 of the 47 games he played in and became the third Hoosier to be named Academic All-American twice in his career.
Perhaps the biggest contribution by Murphy in terms of the rise of the Indiana program was his ushering in of safeties that would not only make their own marks at the position in significant ways but would bridge the talent from Murphy to the talent that is there today. As a senior, Murphy left his fingerprints on the development of safeties that spanned half a decade of Indiana football, stretching from Antonio Allen, to Chase Dutra and Ben Bach, to Tony Fields.
Ralston Evans
Ralston Evans might have been the next pro in this class had he not suffered a gruesome knee injury before his freshman year that followed him throughout his days at Indiana, actually preventing him from continuing his career past college or even into his senior season in 2015. He served as Tevin Coleman’s right tackle in 2013 and 2014 but was replaced by Dimitric Camiel in 2015.
Nick Stoner
A two-sport athlete (football and track), Nick Stoner came to Indiana as Mr. Football at defensive back, along with a slew of other high school awards, as well as offers from Illinois and Penn State. He was a strong contributor in the locker room and also found his role at receiver but was primarily a special teams contributor for the majority of his career. His highlight play was against No. 18 Missouri in 2014, when he reeled in a 47-yard catch to help Indiana defeat the eventual SEC West champions during a season the Hoosiers missed out on a bowl appearance.
D’Angelo Roberts
A three-star running back out of Bloomington North, D’Angelo Roberts was a career back-up running back to Stephen Houston and Tevin Coleman, but he somehow found his carries in that backfield. He averaged 75 carries per season, and he ran for 100 yards on three occasions. He also ushered in eventual starting running back Devine Redding. Roberts’ highlight games came in 2013 against Purdue – 113 yards on 14 carries – and in the win over No. 18 Missouri in 2014 – 85 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns.
Jake Reed
Jake Reed’s development at offensive line will always be one of the more remarkable accomplishments of Kevin Wilson and Greg Frey’s time together in Bloomington. Recruited into Indiana as the No. 27 tight end in the country and Mr. Football at his position, Reed began his career at defensive end before moving back to tight end during his freshman year – both being positions he was understood to play at the next level. During spring practice of the 2012 season, he moved to offensive line and redshirted the season. He then started five games at guard the next season and four games at center in 2014. During Indiana’s run to the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, he was the team’s starting center.
David Kaminski
Indiana’s first commitment in the class, David Kaminski joins Adarius Rayner as one of the lowest-rated signings of Indiana’s decade, as the two-star guard didn’t see much action in his first two years on campus. But he eventually helped pave the way as a depth contributor for Tevin Coleman’s record-breaking 2014 season.
Peyton Eckert
The two-star offensive lineman accepted his lone Power Five offer to Indiana and quickly became the starting right tackle as a sophomore. He helped lead the way for Stephen Houston’s best seasons in Bloomington, but a back injury suffered during camp before his junior year left him sidelined for 2013 and opened the door for Ralston Evans at the position.
Bernard Taylor
A three-star lineman out of Macomb, Michigan, Bernard Taylor came on strong in his freshman year in 2011, switching from defensive line to offensive in the preseason and then starting the last 10 games at left guard, ultimately being named to BTN.com’s All-Freshman team. A season-ending injury left him unable to play after six games in 2012. He started nine games at guard in 2013, but David Kaminski and Collin Rahrig shared the load at guard opposite Dan eeney in 2014.
Matt Dooley
A two-star tight end/lineman out of Phoenix, Matt Dooley was not a splash commitment, but he served a vital role in his four years at Indiana, starting all 48 games at long-snapper. Dooley spent the 2016 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Forisse Hardin
A promising, big-bodied safety out of Louisville, Forisse Hardin began his career at safety, getting one start and recording an interception at Penn State in 2011. He made the switch to linebacker before his sophomore year and eventually became an experienced voice in a linebacker room with a ton of promising, young talent, like Tegray Scales, Marcus Oliver, Chris Covington, T.J. Simmons, Dameon Willis and Clyde Newton. Hardin eventually finished his career with a big 2014 season – 53 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, two sacks and six pass deflections.
In a similar mold as Mark Murphy, Hardin was one of the first voices felt in the position room for some crucial linebacking contributors of the future.
Kenny Mullen
The two-star Fort Wayne-native cornerback spent time as an on-and-off starter at defensive back, spending the majority of his time at nickel. He suffered an ACL at Missouri in 2014 that ended his career as a Hoosier.
Other additions to the class:
Kyle Kennedy
Jay McCants (transferred to FAU after one year at Indiana)
Mike Replogle
Gregory Lewis
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