Jacob Robinson exemplifies this year’s defensive line for the Hoosiers.
The sophomore defensive end oozes potential and talent – just like the line as a whole.
Becoming a dependable unit come Saturdays is another question. The line has talent, just not consistent production.
Robinson only has five career tackles. Other projected starters junior Greg Gooch and senior Ralph Green III only have 14.5 combined tackles for loss in their five combined seasons playing for IU. Junior Nate Hoff only had four tackles last season in 13 games.
“I feel like as a line, we have it,” Green III said “It’s just a matter of bringing it out more and more. We would show flashes … we have to be more consistent.”
Consistency will be the key to replacing Zach Shaw, Nick Mangeri, Darius Latham and Adarius Rayner, who all departed. Many Hoosiers played behind those four, but haven't been counted on to make plays.
Green III was a pass-breakup machine last season, knocking down six passes. Now, he must be able to collapse the pocket and lead the defensive line.
“I’m a fifth year guy,” Green III said. “They are depending on me to be the leader and play at a high standard every play.”
New defensive coordinator Tom Allen, who is instituting changes that members of the defensive line say they love, is now setting that high standard.
“I love this defense,” Green III said. “The first step is forward instead of lateral. We are attacking the ball, play in and play out. Every play we are going to the ball carrier.”
Robinson agrees whole-heartedly with Green III and said the new defense allows them to just go out and make plays. Those plays — takeaways and tackles-for-loss — are the cornerstone of a successful defense and help out the offense greatly.
Those splash defensive plays flip the field and give the offense a better chance to score - something IU already does well.
With the new scheme, Robinson may become the beneficiary because of his athletic ability.
“I was behind guys last year and I learned from a great guy, Nick Mangeri,” Robinson said. “But you know, this spring and summer, I’ve kind of had a chip on my shoulder that I can improve myself. I feel like it’s my time, so I’m going to go into this fall camp absolutely with the open door and try to prove myself.”
The entire line has something to prove, but they all raved about the potential of this line. No one wanted to put a ceiling on what they could do as a group.
Robinson said he knows the great potential they possess.
“We saw a flash of it in the spring,” Robinson said. “We saw what we could do and that we had talent, but we had to keep doing the little things right.”
If the defensive line can develop into a disruptive unit, the entire team will benefit. What enters the season as the defense's biggest question mark, thanks to talent and Allen's scheme, could quickly become an exclamation point.
