Peyton Hendershot remembers his "Welcome to the Big Ten" moment.
Every athlete at this level has one. You go from being the most athletic or biggest player on your high school team to a major FBS conference, and now you're not only surrounded by great athletes at all positions, but some teammates are 3-4 years older than you.
Hendershot said the transition in his rookie season really hit him - literally - when he got nailed by veteran linebacker Reakwon Jones during a play in practice.
“Once you get to college, you can’t take any plays off," he said. "Anybody could come up and hit you.
"When you’re in high school, if I took a play off everyone is smaller than me and wouldn’t mess with me. I got hit one time hard here and I was like ‘Whoa – this is bigtime.’
“That and knowing my plays…it’s a lot different than high school. In high school you only have so many plays.”
Hendershot was one of IU's more versatile pickups in the 2017 cycle, choosing the Hoosiers over a handful of Group of Five offers, plus Syracuse and Wake Forest among others.
He played in the first four games of IU's season as a true freshman before suffering a season-ending injury, earning a medical redshirt.
So the redshirt freshman is still working his way back in the weight room - noting he hasn't maxed out reps yet - but he originally arrived to IU at 240 pounds.
Now he's up to 246, and wants to be at 250 by the time the season begins.
"I did good at first but once I got injured, that was hard on me because I’m used to be the most athletic person on my team," he said of his transition to IU. "And when I got here, I was still one of the more athletic guys - but once I got injured that was hard on me, not being able to do on what I usually do."
IU offensive coordinator Mike Debord has Hendershot focused on one specific area - blocking.
"That’s something Coach DeBord really wants me to do is get lower with my blocking since I’m so tall," Hendershot said. “He’s a really good coach.
"When I was in high school I mainly played receiver, so I wasn’t used to blocking like this. So when I got here it was good to have him and [former IU tight end] Danny Friend.”
Hendershot also picked up some lessons from former IU tight end standout Ian Thomas, who projects as a second or third round pick for the upcoming NFL Draft, according to NFL.com.
“Big thing I learned from him is he was athletic like me, but he could block really good," Hendershot said. "So if I can block, I can be good like him.
"I want to be like him, because he can block really good even at his size, he can move really well.”
With Thomas ranked as one of the top five tight ends in the upcoming NFL Draft (CBS), Hendershot modeling his game after him is certainly a good place to start for the redshirt freshman.
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