Peyton Hendershot is on pace to be one fo the most productive Indiana tight ends during the 2010 decade, and he's only a redshirt sophomore.
Peyton Hendershot would describe his performance Saturday against Ball State – four catche for 69 yards – as “glamorous,” but many IU fans have been yearning for more production out of the tight end position, especially as the position in general continues to expand into a more explosive and dynamic factor within passing games.
It’s been since Ian Thomas in 2017 that an IU tight end has entered a season with as high expectations as Hendershot has in 2019, but in one game, Hendershot has been what IU hoped he would be.
His season-opening game was good enough to earn him co-offensive player of the week for the Hoosiers, next to Ronnie Walker Jr.
“Thought Peyton just had four big catches,” IU head coach Tom Allen said Monday. “Boy, that one across the middle took a big lick, and just did some really good things and run blocking, as well, and just running his routes and the two-point play and all that.”
There’s plenty to unpack from the way Allen described Hendershot’s performance, just as there is a lot to unpack from an offensive performance that featured key plays from a tight end that accidentally scored his only two points of the game.
What Allen and offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer emphasized to their team Monday morning while watching film was Hendershot’s toughness. The play that the staff played for its players wasn’t particularly outstanding in any way – a seam route up the middle of the field that is typically seen from teams with athletic tight ends – but it was the fact that after nearly an entire game of tough run blocking and physical play, Hendershot continued to put his body in harm’s way. This coming during a contest that featured weak tackling and stacked boxes.
“He played a lot of plays and just kept coming back for more,” DeBoer said. “Specifically. what I remember, he made a catch on a vertical seam. He knew he was going to get hit. The ball was where it needed to be, but it was over linebackers so it was up higher. He caught it. We watched that play over and over this morning as an offensive staff to just show what tough football players do, not just physically but mentally, because you know you’re going to get hit.”
That doesn’t sound “glamorous,” like Hendershot said about his box score Monday. But the skillset Hendershot has combined with his style of play and DeBoer’s new offensive philosophy in Bloomington, his performances will continue to lead to glamorous box scores.
He already has 232 yards receiving, just 172 shy of Ian Thomas’ career mark, though Thomas suffered several injuries that limited him throughout his years at Indiana.But in Hendershot’s lone game in Indianapolis on Saturday, he already passed the single-season total of Danny Friend in 2016 – 65 yards.
Before Thomas and Friend, it was Anthony Corsaro and Michael Cooper, who combined for 411 yards in their careers, and before them, it was Ted Bolser, the most productive tight end of the 2010 decade for the Hoosiers. He caught 117 passes for 1,337 yards and 15 touchdowns.
Hendershot – if he remains healthy – will likely see his name in some place among that group of tight ends by the end of his career at IU, but that isn’t anywhere near his mind. When he sat down to talk to the media Monday, he didn’t mention the passes he caught, save for the 2-point conversion from David Ellis – he talked about how he wants to improve his run blocking, even though Allen and DeBoer complimented him on his efforts in that department.
“It’s very intriguing,” he said about catching more passes as a tight end. “A lot of people came up to me and said it was my best game, but it wasn’t. I did some of the glamorous stuff, like catching the ball, but I didn’t block as well as I wanted to. I want to be a dominant blocker.”
In fact, Hendershot shouldered some of the blame for Mike Penix’s first interception, a pass he wasn’t targeted on. On a five-yard pass to Ty Fryfogle on second-and-three, Hendershot said he moved in motion and got himself out of pass-blocking position, leaving Penix exposed to the Ball State pass rush. Even though Penix completed the pass for the first down, Hendershot said his mistake led to the forced pass by Penix on the next play.
“Coach DeBoer is always on us about not messing up the momentum, so I knew that was going to be my fault because I had messed up the play before,” Hendershot said. “They had changed coverages and Mike got the wrong read, so that’s why he threw that.”
Hendershot said he just wants to be a consistent presence in the IU offense, no matter which role he’s required to serve. He said he understood why he only caught 15 passes in 11 games as a redshirt freshman in 2018. The IU staff didn’t know whether to trust him with the ball or not.
Doing the not-so-glamorous tasks, such as climbing the ladder in the middle of the field even though he hears footsteps has earned that trust from his coaches and teammates. The product on the field was his four catches with an average of just over 17 yards per catch.
Those performances, past, present and future, are fueled by his desire to maintain his teammates’ and coaches’ trust.
“This year, I’ve made an emphasis in catching so many balls because I don’t want to let the team down,” he said. “When they throw the ball to you, you need to catch it. With time and more experience, I think they trust me more, and that’s why I have more of a chance.”
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