TimesLeader.com

November 12, 2008

Indiana can feel Lions’ QB pain

Injuries at quarterback have turned high hopes into nightmare for Lynch’s Hoosiers.

By Derek Levarse dlevarse@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter

Penn State has had to deal with the issue of Daryll Clark’s health after the quarterback suffered a concussion against Ohio State and missed the fourth quarter.

You’ll forgive Bill Lynch if he doesn’t have much sympathy. Because of injuries, Indiana’s coach has dealt with nothing but nightmares at quarterback for the past month.

He rattled through his injury list on a Tuesday teleconference while trying to stay positive that both Kellen Lewis and Ben Chappell were getting back to full strength.

“Kellen’s better,” Lynch sighed. “He played a little bit last week, but he had kind of tweaked his ankle the week before. He was much better (Monday). So we’re anxious to watch him practice as we go through the week.

“Ben, we expect to be able to play,” Lynch continued. “He was much better (Monday). We practice on Mondays and he was out there and we’re anxious to see him get some more contact work. We expect him to be there.”

“Anxious” being the operative word to use with both players.

Things got so bad last week in a 55-20 home loss to Wisconsin, the Hoosiers were forced to turn to a third-string quarterback named Mitchell Evans, who has only moonlighted as a signal caller this season.

And he was dealing with a nerve issue in his back at the time.

It’s gotten to the point where the Hoosiers have stopped asking “What else can go wrong?” if only because fate keeps showing them.

A year ago, quarterback was the least of Indiana’s problems.

Thanks in large part to the arm and legs of Lewis, the Hoosiers finished the regular season 7-5 and went to the Insight Bowl for their first postseason appearance in 14 years.

Then a sophomore, Lewis threw for 28 passing touchdowns and racked up 37 total scores, passing for 3,043 yards and gaining 3,779 total yards – good for second-team All-Big Ten honors.

But he was held out of spring practice and now has been battling a bum ankle for the past month, severely limiting his mobility when he has been able to play.

Backup Chappell has shown some flashes, including helping lead the Hoosiers to an upset of Northwestern for their lone conference win of the season. He suffered a head injury on a hard hit last week against the Badgers and had to be replaced by Evans.

Lynch is hopeful he won’t have to press Evans into action again, but he’s not sure just yet who will start under center against the Nittany Lions on Saturday.

“I don’t really know right now because we have to see exactly where they are from a health standpoint,” Lynch said. “We need to make sure we do the smart thing with them and also what gives us the best opportunity against a really good Penn State defense.

“I would think going into it (like) we’re gonna get ’em both prepared as we go through the week.”