When members of the IU football team checked their e-mail Friday, there was a message from coach Terry Hoeppner, who has not been present for spring practice due to health reasons.\n“He e-mailed us and talked about how he enjoyed the spring because he watched the tape, and how he thought we improved,” senior running back Josiah Sears said. “He was looking forward to the fall and getting back with us.”\nEven though he was not able to attend practice, Hoeppner has still been able to follow his team by getting practice films from assistant head coach Bill Lynch, who took over Hoeppner’s day-to-day duties during the spring session. Lynch said he plans to visit Hoeppner on Monday to deliver film from Saturday’s Cream and Crimson game.\n“As you go through the spring, there are a lot of mental notes you write down,” Lynch said. “I know he’s done the same thing as he’s watched practice tape. So we want to sit down and talk and share what we as a staff feel, basically personal stuff.”\nThe IU Athletics Department announced in March that Hoeppner would not be present at spring practice so he could rest to take care of personal health matters. The leave of absence is the third taken by Hoeppner since he had surgery in December 2005 to remove a tumor from his brain.\n“It’s been hard not having your leader,” Sears said. “But coach Lynch has done an excellent job making us focus on football and playing every day.”\nThe e-mail came on the eve of the Cream and Crimson game and was encouraging to the players.\n“It’s one of those things where he leaves a message like that, and with the type of guy he is, you’re not sure if he’s going to be in the press box or not,” sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis said. “Coach Hep and all the other guys are the type of guys that try to get you fired up.”\nLewis said he was worried that the intensity would be down during Hoeppner’s \nabsence.\n“I thought maybe we’d start off a little bit slower,” Lewis said. “But a middle-of-the-game brawl kind of pepped it back up. I like the enthusiasm we had. I feel it’s a reflection of him because that’s always what he had.”
Hardy studies former \ncollege standout on tape
While going through spring practice, junior wide receiver James Hardy has been trying to improve his game by studying one specific player.\n“As of right now I’ve been watching (former Georgia Tech wide receiver) Calvin Johnson the entire spring,” Hardy said. “That’s what I do at home. When I leave practice, I go and study him and see what he does. I just watch players that are better than me and just see what they have that I don’t and try to put it into my game.”\nHardy went to his coaches before spring practices to ask them for game tape of Johnson, the former Georgia Tech standout and projected top-five pick in this weekend’s NFL Draft.\n“He’s the number one receiver. That’s my goal and where I’m trying to be,” Hardy said. “Everyone else is irrelevant. I’ll go for the head honcho.”
