Young IU wide receivers look to step up in 2005

If there is a position that sticks out like a sore thumb for lack of experience on the IU football team, it well could be wide receiver. But don't tell them that.\n"We got talent. We got dominant players," said junior return man/wideout Lance Bennett. "But we got to be dominant." \nDominance is not something this receiving corps has over the past few years with the exception of former Hoosier Courtney Roby, IU's all-time leading receiver. \nOnly 26 catches are coming back and 23 of those are by senior Jahkeen Gilmore. \n"He lives at the stadium," Bennett said about Gilmore. "He's working everyday because he saw Courtney get (in the NFL) and he knows he can too."\nPre-season magazines aren't giving IU much respect on the offense, let alone the wide receiving corps. Despite only two receivers coming back to this season, the Hoosiers have some untapped potential. And now, with the season looming a little less than two months away, IU football coach Terry Hoeppner is hoping to find it.\nThis year's receivers have all sorts of strengths and weaknesses, but it's the strengths, according to Bennett and the coaches, that are going to separate this set of receivers apart from other units in the Big Ten.\nRedshirt freshman James Bailey, injured in the spring in a car crash, is back to working out with the team and has picked up right where he left off in the 7-on-7 drills. At 6-feet-3-inches and 190 pounds, Bailey looms large not only as a deep threat but someone who the quarterbacks can loft the ball to in red zone situations. When he originally committed to IU he said he came here because he wanted to break every receiver record. \nMarcus Thigpen is one of Hoosiers' brightest young talents. A redshirt last season, Thigpen has been called "one of the fastest players I've ever coached" by Hoeppner. In the spring, Thigpen worked his way up the depth chart to be on the first team as a third receiver option. His blazing speed makes him a tough match-up for just about most defensive backs.\nJames Hardy, a big target at 6-feet-7-inches, is the receiver that can go right over the top of a defensive back and make the tough catches. He worked almost exclusively with the first team in the spring and has added some worthy strength and speed since last fall. \nEvery team needs a possession receiver and senior Rhett Kleinschmidt is that guy. He, along with Gilmore, represent the only two current Hoosiers that have ever had a reception in the Division I level.\n"On a tough third down ... I'll be that guy," Kleinschmidt said. \nIt didn't take long for him to voice his role as a receiver on next year's team. \n"We're really organized and we're getting stuff done," he said. "We have big play talents and people will enjoy watching"