Indiana’s win over Maryland sent the Hoosiers to 5-0 for the first time since 1967, and continued to fuel the massive excitement surrounding the program this year. The Hoosiers could now clinch bowl eligibility this week with a win at Northwestern.
IU had a number of players excel against the Terps on Saturday, in all three phases. The Hoosiers have so many guys playing well so far this year, it’s difficult to highlight all of them. But here are three standout performers we’ve identified from the Maryland game, who should all play important roles for Indiana the rest of the season.
Omar Cooper Jr.
Omar Cooper’s time has come.
The redshirt sophomore showed promise last season after redshirting in 2022, and he’s now become a crucial piece of Indiana’s offense. That was certainly the case on Saturday, with another strong performance. Cooper reeled in four catches for 83 yards and a touchdown; the score came in the third quarter on a highlight-reel catch over a Maryland defender.
“His big thing is day in, day out consistency, because he has talent. I really like him a lot,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said on Monday. “He’s an explosive player with good ball skills that has just improved from spring to fall camp throughout the season and that’s why we’re putting him in position to make the plays. He made a couple big ones on Saturday, couple nice throws, contested catches. I like him a lot.”
Cooper is tied for the sixth-highest Pro Football Focus receiving grade among all wide receivers in the country so far, and it’s easy to see why. His physical attributes are helping him stand out in a crowded IU receiver room. He has really good hands, he’s making difficult catches in traffic, he’s running crisp routes, and he has the dynamic playmaking ability that can set apart the best wide receivers from the rest of the pack.
It was surprising to see Cooper open the season as the starter over Donaven McCulley. And McCulley hasn’t been able to make a huge impact because of his week one injury. But nonetheless, it’s now easy to see why Cooper won the job. And if the redshirt sophomore keeps playing like this, he could wind up among the best receivers in the Big Ten by the end of the year.
CJ West
The Kent State transfer got off to a slow start this season. He didn’t start for IU’s first few games, and was on the shorter end of heavy defensive line rotations.
But West has picked it up the last few weeks, and he played well against Maryland. He recorded a third-down sack in the first quarter, forcing the Terps to punt. That was one of his five tackles on the day, but the defensive tackle’s impact went beyond those stats. He’s a big body in the middle of the defensive front, and he clogs up lanes. Maryland’s rushing game was largely ineffective on Saturday, aside from its one 75-yard touchdown run. The strong defensive line performance was a big reason for that, and West was consistently in the middle of everything.
“He’s just playing violent,” defensive end Mikail Kamara said after the game. “I think a lot of those guys are getting used to the playbook, especially since he wasn’t here in the spring. him coming in the fall, it was just getting used to the playbook and his teammates, and now, he’s on another level, which is going to make this thing really continue to blossom.”
This is closer to the version of CJ West the Hoosiers envisioned getting when they brought him in from the transfer portal. IU would probably like to see him perform even better, and if that happens, he and James Carpenter — who had two sacks against the Terps — could form a dominant interior defensive line tandem.
Elijah Sarratt
Sarratt is other half — and the centerpiece — of Indiana’s elite wide receiver duo. Both players earn shoutouts here.
The JMU transfer turned in another strong game against Maryland, with seven receptions for 128 yards and a touchdown. Sarratt is up to a team-high 378 receiving yards on the season, on 22 receptions, with two touchdowns. He’s fourth in the Big Ten in yardage.
Quarterback Kurtis Rourke is off to a great start this season, and that’s part of the reason why Cooper and Sarratt have played so well. But Sarratt is just a really good wide receiver. He gives the Hoosiers a pretty complete package at the position.
“He loves ball,” Cignetti said. “He’s very competitive. He’s got good talent. He’s got great ball skills. He’s really good at contested catches. He’s always up. He’s got a great personality, and he’s eager to practice, eager to play and loves ball.”
One strong element of Sarratt’s game that Cignetti didn’t mention is yards after catch. More than ⅓ of Sarratt’s receiving yards this year have been YAC. It just illustrates how good he’s been at all three levels so far this year. He can take shorter passes or screen routes and turn them into solid gains, he can turn nice intermediate pickups into bigger plays, and he can convert the huge plays into touchdowns.
Indiana’s wide receiver room is deep. As McCulley gets healthier, he could start making a bigger impact on games. The slot guys, Myles Price and Ke’Shawn Williams, are dangerous weapons. Miles Cross was quieter against Maryland, but he’s shown what he can do as well. But the starting outside duo in Cooper and Sarratt are the table-setters for Indiana’s passing game, and Sarratt, particularly, may be one of the most reliable playmakers the Hoosiers have had over the last several years.
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