Bloomington Leader

Indiana Hoosiers Football recently issued the following announcement.

‘Seamless’ – Growth Dominates IU’s Spring Practice

Indiana's new offensive coordinator is installing a new offense and developing his quarterbacks, which is what you'd expect for spring practice.

 

He's also working with the wide receivers and getting heavily involved in the run game.

 

Welcome to Hoosier football as improvisation, the result of receivers coach Grant Heard leaving shortly before spring practice started, which left IU down a coach, but not a sense of urgency.

 

Head coach Tom Allen has targeted a receiver-coaching candidate with the hope he'll be officially on staff after spring break.

 

In the meantime, Bell has taken on receiver-coaching duties along with receiver graduate assistant Kyle Schmidt.

 

It's worked well, Allen says.

 

"It has been pretty seamless, kind of shockingly. The big reason is that Walt is really a receivers guy, as well as a quarterbacks guy. He played the position. He knows it inside and out, and is extremely gifted in that area, more so than guys I have worked with."

 

Bell earned four letters as a receiver at Middle Tennessee State. He also coached receivers for a year at Southern Mississippi.

 

"He has been meeting with (quarterbacks and receivers) together," Allen says. "It has been a combined (meeting). Kyle Schmidt was already going to be working with them, so he is with them and kind of their technical coach until we get (a new receivers coach hired)."

 

It's early, but the receiver development has been noticeable.

 

"With (Bell) being able to be so involved with the receivers," Allen says, "it has sped up their learning curve and the things he wants to see them do and their reads and different things we are doing with that, which has been really super positive. Then, obviously, with the running backs and a new coach (Craig Johnson) there, it has been pretty seamless."

 

Bell hasn't short-changed the quarterbacks. He also has had one-on-one sessions with them.

 

"Coach Bell has done an excellent job with that," Allen says.

 

"We're making use of our coaching staff and letting these young (graduate assistants) get a chance, which is good for them, too."

 

Bell was hired to boost an offensive unit that struggled in every area last season.

 

He will do it with run-pass balance, with pushing the ball down the field, with misdirection and keeping defenses guessing.

 

"The vision that he has for what we are trying to do on that side of the football, it is multiple things he is trying to get accomplished," Allen says.

 

The difference in the speed that things got done from the first practice to the second practice was noticeable, Allen adds.

 

"The speed with which we were doing things and the execution on offense and the knowledge they have gained, I thought was huge."

 

IU will have plenty of newcomers at running back and receiver to go along with a new offensive coordinator, a new running backs coach (Johnson), and a new receivers coach.

 

Through it all, Bell seeks to maximize teaching and development time.

 

It starts at quarterback, probably the most important position in any sport.

 

"It's getting them comfortable with the verbiage and the reads and the ability to work through that process, which is a daily thing and a lot of extensive film sessions," Allen says.

 

"You can't do it to the high level until you start practicing. Now that we have practices under our belt and the film from that and then the evaluation with the players after you break it down as a staff, that is where the growth comes."

 

Bell also has put a lot of time into the running game.

 

"He's putting his entire personality on our run game," Allen says. "I have not had a coordinator since I have been here that has been this involved in the run game.

 

"It's in the way he approaches it and teaches everything. It has been really good. He is super involved on inside run. He has a high level of energy and attention to detail. He is extremely bright and understands (the whole offense). He could coach every position on that side of the ball, which is a really rare thing to have. I have really been impressed with that."

IU had three practices before spring break, and the rest afterward.

"There is a whole checklist of things that we are going through," Allen says. "We have an install that we are working through and there is a whole lot of details and everything through the process of learning the offense. It's the verbiage and the ways we are going to make adjustments and how we are going to communicate with those adjustments. We are working our way through that checklist of items.

 

"It's obvious we made some real growth."

 

Original source can be found here.