Defense rules the day in spring scrimmage

In the IU football team's scrimmage Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the defense dominated the offense. Yes, the same defense that has been scrutinized, criticized and demoralized in recent years completely controlled the offense in the team's first full-contact scrimmage of the spring practice schedule. \nWith both sides of the ball split up into two teams, the Hoosier offense dealt with interceptions, dropped snaps, missed field-goal attempts and downfield fumbles leading to only two scores during the two-hour scrimmage. In fact, the offense went the first 20 drives scoreless, with many of those drives being three-and-out. \nMeanwhile, the defense was just having fun playing football. With every hard hit, cheers and screams were heard coming from the crimson squad, and that's something coach Gerry DiNardo said he was happy to see. The Hoosier coach said the defense finally showed "personality" in the scrimmage, but he made note that the offense was playing with somewhat of a handicap. \nBecause of shoulder problems, senior quarterback Tommy Jones wasn't able to throw more than 15 yards downfield, allowing the defense to play closer in when Jones was taking snaps for the first team. \nSenior strong safety Joe Gonzalez said that wasn't something the defense took advantage of. With the defense only blitzing on third downs, Gonzalez gave credit to the defensive line for causing a majority of the problems on the line of scrimmage.\n"When (the defensive line) can cause destruction -- cause a back to take a shuffle step, or a side step here -- when they can disrupt the rhythm of an offensive play, it makes it so much easier for the guys in the back because we can come in and take shots," Gonzalez said.\nAlso hampering the offense was the absence of senior quarterback Gibran Hamdan. Hamdan was playing first base for the IU baseball team's contest against Iowa during the scrimmage, giving junior Patrick Thompson a chance to lead the second team. \nBut the offense's problems started at the snap of the ball -- literally. Both Jones and Thompson lost the handle on numerous snaps, resulting in several turnovers. DiNardo said those are problems that shouldn't be happening after eight days of practice.\n"We do have a new center in there, but he wasn't always in there," DiNardo said. "We've got to get that fixed. It was (sophomore Brandon Hatcher's) first scrimmage in center, and even when he was in there it may not be his fault."\nDiNardo said something else that needs to be fixed is the offense's lack of consistency. Several players have stepped up to fill positions on the line, and DiNardo said the Hoosiers will eventually need to stick with the same five.\n"It's been slow to come on the offensive line," DiNardo said. "Keep in mind, in the spring what typically happens is next time the offense will come back and compete. It goes back and forth."\nThe offense did produce two scores with runs by senior running back Brian Lewis, but the defense produced one of its own as defensive end Eli Radke picked up a loose ball and ran it in to the north end zone for the defensive score.\nThe dominance of the defense and the ability to finally lay the pads on an opponent is just what Gonzalez wants when he takes the field. \n"Comparing last week to this week, it was still kind of a new thing for us," he said. "It was our first scrimmage last week. We kind of got a sense of learn the coaches' styles and try to make a name for yourself. This time it was just turn it loose. \n"Everybody was off on the sidelines, there was nothing out there except for the field and the players. It was football, and that's what made it so fun." \nBut the theme for today's scrimmage was an educational one as the new coaching staff continued to implement its system into the Hoosier program. Defensive coordinator Tim Kish said that's something that is coming along quite well. The defense has been installing more new fronts and covers with each week of practice. Kish said his defense is right on schedule. \n"(The systems are) nothing that really is overly demanding in any way, shape or form," Kish said. "We want to certainly introduce all of our concepts. We've had a chance to do that in the first half of the spring, and we're going to continue to do that throughout the spring."\nDungy Speaks\nThis weekend the IU football program held a clinic for football coaches throughout the Midwest. The clinic was highlighted with informational speeches from football coaches across the state, including new Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy. \nIntroduced by DiNardo as a "defensive genius," Dungy addressed the coaches and four rows of IU football players on the defensive strategies he used as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the ones he plans to implement in Indianapolis when the Colts have their first team meeting today. \nDungy stressed three things in his defensive philosophy: It's not what you do, it's how you do it; it doesn't have to be complicated to be effective; and systems don't win -- players believing in a system and performing well equals wins. \nKish, who spent some time with the defensive staff in Tampa Bay during Dungy's tenure, said the Colts head coach reiterated the same things that he and his staff have been telling their players ever since they arrived in Bloomington. \nThat's something that captured Gonzalez's attention.\n"There's no magic to it," Gonzalez said. "We could line up there in any way we wanted to, but you've got to have 11 guys out there that believe in it. The scheme is something you can believe in, and we're really starting to believe in it"