Hep, Hoosiers to be featured on ESPN

IU coach Terry Hoeppner has become a household name in Indiana.\nBut by the end of the month, coach Hep will be on more than just billboards and T-shirts.\nESPN will feature the IU football team in its mini-documentary "The Season," following coaches and players around during practices, games and off-the-field activities.\n"We're really excited," junior kick returner Lance Bennett said. "We really had no nerves about doing this, but we feel like just so long as we're winning, this finally gives us what we've been looking for these past few years grinding."\nCamera crews from Chicago-based Intersport began shooting the team during practice Tuesday. Senior Coordinating Producer Josh Wine said Intersport worked closely with ESPN, and both companies agreed IU fit the television program very well. \n"We pitched ideas to ESPN, and they pitched ideas to us," Wine said. "We looked at schedules and teams and look for unique stories. The main reason for choosing IU was the unique story with coach Hoeppner."\nWine said "The Season" has featured several former Mid-American Conference coaches in the past, such as Urban Meyer and Woody Hayes and shown their transition from a MAC school to more predominate programs. \nWhile Hoeppner was ESPN's main reason for choosing IU, Wine said several other reasons were factored in.\n"Nowadays, any network has access to practice, the field during games, etc. But what's rare is seeing the players and coaches off the field," Wine said. "If you have a bunch of unique guys on a team, it's really interesting for viewers to see what it's like to be on a Big Ten campus. Coach Hoeppner was the big reason initially, but the program and school is just a perfect fit for us."\nThe documentary, with two total episodes, will have several off-the-field segments with players. ESPN will go to class with junior defensive back Will Lumpkin, follow Bennett to the B97 radio station and join senior defensive lineman Russ Richardson and senior linebacker Kyle Killion on a hunting trip, among several other things.\n"You get to find out which guys really love the camera and which guys are a bit shyer," Killion said. "Some guys just like being in front of the camera."\nBesides the hunting trip and other activities with the Hoosiers, camera crews will put microphones on certain players and coaches during practices, including sophomore quarterback Blake Powers.\n"When a school is as excited as we are, it lends itself to great access for us," Wine said. "Shows such as this one are better with more access."\nPowers said he and the other Hoosier players see the show as a great opportunity to show the country how the program has evolved.\n"I think it's big for the future of the program and good for recruits and good to get the program that national attention," Powers said. "Plus, it gets everyone to practice a little bit harder, so it's a good thing."\n"The Season" will start at 11 p.m., Oct. 28. Footage of Saturday's game against Ohio State and the Hoosiers' Oct. 29 game at Michigan State will also be included in the documentary.\n"This is a tremendous opportunity not only for our football program, but for the athletics department and the whole campus," Hoeppner said in a statement. "It's going to be an electric atmosphere in Bloomington this week with Ohio State coming to town. Not only that, but the ESPN crews will be all over our campus in the next two weeks showing fans all over the country that IU is not a good school, but a great school"