There aren’t many believers in the IU defense.
Even a zealous fan will tell you the defense just has to play “good enough” to get the Hoosiers to a bowl this year.
But this hasn’t stopped defensemen such as sophomore linebacker Marcus Oliver and senior defensive lineman Adarius Rayner from harbingering their defense as potentially one of the best in the ?Big Ten.
There is a rift in this mindset, however, which widened into a fissure Tuesday when defensive back and leader Antonio Allen was arrested for charges of possession and dealing of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
The junior, who led the team in tackles last season, will spend the upcoming one behind bars if the charges hold.
He is the second defensive player, third overall, to be arrested since April 19.
This inundation of IU football players caught on the wrong side of the law echoes the IU basketball team, which saw two players dismissed from the program for repeated drug related infractions in May.
But this problem extends beyond the programs.
Exposure to drugs and alcohol is part of college culture. Engaging with them is the mark of a traditional college experience.
That doesn’t mean every athlete has to say yes, but most were not equipped with the tools growing up to ever learn to say no.
It takes a rare individual to cultivate these qualities on his or her own, and I am not of the belief blame is indivisible.
Somewhere an important lesson was not instilled, or the culture surrounding these athletes led them to believe their actions were justifiable.
Allen isn’t just a loss for IU football. His arrest is an unfortunate iteration in a burst of criminal activity among student athletes that has become too prominent to ignore.
What starts players on this path? Is it university culture? The hard realities of collegiate athletics?
Or something more grandiose, a result of a flawed societal structure which forces young men to grow up too fast, placing them in some of the most pivotal years of their lives when their sense of invincibility is the most unshakeable and financial, social and educational responsibilities the most unwieldy.
I don’t have the answer. But it is a question worth pursuing.
The “why” is left up to our own speculation. But I hope speculation leads us to a skeptic view of the pressures put on young athletes and the institutions responsible for them.
The “how” is more straightforward but thorny.
What can IU Coach Kevin Wilson and his staff do now, in the middle of summer, to get control of the team?
It comes down to accountability and discipline.
Summer might seem like the time to let loose, but just shy of three months away from the season, players need to be ramping up their focus now more than ever.
That means pulling out a cell phone and letting teammates and coaches know where they are every night, what they are doing, what choices they are making and if they need help.
And remember — before it’s too late — the silhouette of the IU Victory Flag against the dark sky, a sight which loomed over three IU football players in the moments of their arrests, which all took place within a block of Memorial Stadium.
Does the risk involved outweigh the value, time and effort of the team?
Some young adults don’t yet have the cognitive capability to ask and solve that question.
So coaches, ask it for them, talk it out with them.
Blame is divisible, and though I don’t believe a large chunk falls on Wilson, a culture can be established to foster better decisions.
Some, unfortunately, will come to the wrong conclusion anyway.
vziege@indiana.edu
