Numerous times during the 2020 season and into the offseason, Indiana head football coach Tom Allen has said a main priority of his is to fix the rushing attack.
In order to do that, Allen is reaching into the past and hiring a familiar face in Deland McCullough, who spent the last three seasons in the same role with the Kansas City Chiefs.
McCullough, who served as running backs coach from 2011-2016, coached the likes of Tevin Coleman, Stephen Houston and Devine Redding, three of the program's top 12 all-time running backs.
In 2015, Redding and Jordan Howard each surpassed 1,000 yards, and Coleman's 2,036 yards in 2014 remains the program's all-time record.
McCullough will take over a running backs room that has Stevie Scott leaving, but will feature Sampson James, Tim Baldwin, David Ellis, Charlie Spegal and incoming freshmen David Holloway and Trenten Howland.
In eight games in 2020, the Hoosiers rushed for 869 yards on 278 carries and found the endzone 12 times. Scott was the featured back, accounting for 561 yards and 10 touchdowns, including two in the Outback Bowl out of the wildcat position.
Only one time this season did Indiana put together something that resembled a strong running attack and that was against Maryland, as the Hoosiers went for 234 yards on the ground.
Baldwin had 141 yards on the season, of which 106 came against the Terrapins, and James finished the year with 96. Neither scored a touchdown, as Indiana's other two rushing touchdowns came from Penix.
