Game Preview: Indiana State University Sycamores
Curt Mallory is in his second year running the Sycamore program. He has seemed to change the culture around Indiana State. They have been at the bottom of the MVFC for a long time but have begun to make some headlines with recent recruiting "wins" and there just seems to be a better feeling around the program, even if it hasn't translated to the field yet. It may take some time but I expect Indiana State to be more competitive soon.
Offense:
The Sycamores are young offensively with just three seniors on the two-deep. They have scored nearly 28 points per game and have rushed for 250 yards per game while passing for just 117. Last week against a rebuilding UNI defense they rushed for 158 and passed for 136. One area where ISU is strong is in the redzone having converted on 15 of 16 opportunities, with 13 being touchdowns. However they have struggled on 3rd down conversions having just a 35.59% rate.
At Quarterback ISU starts with #10 Ryan Boyle who has a 56% completion percentage and 345 yards passing. The junior is in his first year of seeing significant playing time after transferring from Iowa. #2 Jalil Kilpatrick played the first two weeks of the season and is listed as the number two quarterback on the depth chart. He appears to be more of running threat than a pure passer. On the season he has 24 rushing attempts for 89 yards. Boyle is also a capable runner with 58 yards of his own.
The running backs appear to be a talented group and are lead by #3 Ja'Quan Keys (5-10, 220). Keys, a senior, has rushed for 492 yards on a 5.9 ypc avg and has scored 6 touchdowns. His backups are #31 Christian Covington and #30 Titus McCoy who have 167 and 145 yards rushing and 4 and 2 touchdowns a piece. Covington and McCoy are part of the ISU youth movement and are a freshmen and sophomore.
The wide receivers are also young. #8 Dante Hendrix, a redshirt freshman, is the leading receiver with 12 receptions for 202 yards. Opposite him is #87 Joe Wildt who has just 3 receptions for 37 yards. Both receivers are 6'3 so they have good size. Hendrix has a long reception of 50 yards this year which leads the team. #18 Michael Thomas, #4 Morgan Rontrez, and #19 Dante Jones II also have made contributions to the passing game this year and will be players to watch when the Sycamores pass the ball. The Sycamores also start two tight ends in #7 Zach Larkin and #82 Tynan Williams. Larkin doesn't have a reception yet this season and Williams has just 2 for 13 yards so I don't think they are very involved in the passing game at this juncture of their careers.
The offensive line is the most experienced unit on the entire Sycamore team starting one senior and four juniors. From left to right they go #77 Tate Leavitt (6-6, 325), #55 Isaiah Edwards (6-7, 360), #68 Wyatt Wozniak (6-3, 290), #62 James Lang (6-3, 290), and #65 Kevin Kcehowski (6-10, 295). This group has surrendered just 5 sacks so far and appears to be adept at opening running lanes for Keys. I'm interested to see Edwards move as 6-7, 360 is HUGE. He is a transfer from Independence Community College and was part of season three of "Last Chance U." Leavitt is a transfer from Kentucky and was a Second Team All-SEC selection before transferring. Wozniak, Lang, and Kcehowski are back as starters for a second consecutive season.
Defense:
As noted in the intro, the ISU offense has been pretty inconsistent. However, the ISU defense has been consistent, but not in a good way. They've given up at least 31 points in three of their first four games. They appear okay against the run while surrendering 147.8 ypg and more susceptible to the pass at 228.75 ypg. Against UNI they gave up 265 yards on the ground and 218 passing. This isn't surprising as UNI typically tries to grind its opponents into the ground. They have registered 8 sacks already this season with 3 coming against FBS Louisville. They appear somewhat opportunistic having forced 7 turnovers (6 fumbles, 1 interception).
The defensive unit is lead by a pair of outstanding linebackers in #40 Katrell Moss and #46 Jonas Griffith. Moss was an Honorable Mention MVFC selection in 2017 after registering 101 tackles. So far he has 37 tackles this season. Griffith is right behind him with 36 tackles. Griffith has an interesting story as he was homeschooled until his senior year of high school and only played one season of organized football. He was named to the Second Team All-MVFC last season after recording 107 stops and 5.5 sacks in 2017. The Jacks will have to pay attention to where these two are at througout the course of the game. The other linebacker is #6 Clayton Glasco who has made 16 stops of his own this season. #35 Dayveon Higgs is a true freshman who has 10 tackles and a sack on the season from his reserve OLB position.
Indiana State is a bit undersized across it's defensive line with #98 Stephon Mayes (6-2, 245) #53 Pishon Powell, (6-2, 270), #93 Rex Mosley (6-2, 290), and #81 Cade Peratt (6-3, 235) getting the start. The group has 35 tackles and 2.5 sacks between them.
The secondary has some decent experience with #1 Rondell Green and #11 Kaelub Newman. Green lead the MVFC in pass break ups in 2017 with 12. This season he has 15 tackles, a 1.5 tackles for loss. Newman transfers in from the Dupage Community College and is third on the team in 2018 with 22 tackles, a sack, 2 forced fumbles and a 3 pass breakups. The safeties are #26 Jamal Jones and #22 Denzel Bonner. Jones and Bonner have 21 and 15 tackles a piece and each have a pass break up. Both are community college transfers with Bonner coming from East Mississippi Community College which is featured in "Last Chance U."
Special Teams:
The kicking game starts with #38 Jerry Nunez who has connected on 2 of his 3 attempts this season with a long of 25 yards. He also handles the kickoff duties and has forced 2 touchbacks on 21 attempts entering this week. The average kick return for Sycamore opponents is 25 yards and they have allowed one kick return for touchdown.
Punting is the responsibility of #16 Travis Reiner who holds a 39 yard average with 3 touchbacks and two fair catches but has landed 7 inside the 20 on his 22 attempts. ISU has allowed a 55 yard punt return that was taken to the house.
The kick returns are done by #83 Dakota Caton who has a 24 yard average on his returns and a long of 49. He has also returned one punt but returned it 71 yards for a touchdown. The primary punt return duties are handled by #4 Rontrez Morgan who has a 5 yard average on 8 attempts.
The forecast for Saturday looks cool and gloomy. However, there should be plenty of fireworks inside the Dana as I expect the Jacks to dominate in all phases of the game. This will hopefully be another week where the starters can get out of the game early and an opportunity for the Jacks to get reps for their depth. I'd like to see both the offense and defense start fast and for all three units to score. With that being said, I don't expect Mallory and his team to come to Brookings and lay down. They will compete and try to show that they belong in the MVFC. The Jacks will need to come in focused and ready to play. I think they do. Jacks win 45-10.
Go Jacks!
Matt
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