California Wide Receiver Orlando Greenlow commits to Indiana University Football for 2023
Indiana picked up its second commit of the day on Monday when class of 2023 wideout Orlando Greenlow announced his verbal pledge to the Hoosiers. The 6-foot-5 and 210-pound Greenlow was in Bloomington over the weekend for an official visit and quickly pulled the trigger for IU. Greenlow is not ranked in the 247Sports Composite. He is the No. 214 receiver overall in the class according to 247Sports’ own rankings. A versatile prospect, Greenlow has also played tight end and linebacker this year, along with running back, safety and defensive end at the prep level in the past. He has also played basketball and ran track in high school. The Los Angeles area (Lawndale H.S.) product also had offers from Colorado State, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State, and Wyoming. Greenlow is IU’s tenth commit in the 2023 class.
Indiana University Men’s Basketball to host first ever Pro Day on Hoosier Hysteria weekend
The Indiana men’s basketball program will hold its first ever Pro Day on Friday, Oct. 7. Representatives from all 30 NBA teams will be invited to the event. The pro-style combine workout will take place early in the afternoon. The team will then make its first public appearance, along with the women’s team, that evening at Hoosier Hysteria. The event is part of Homecoming Weekend. The IU football team will host Michigan the following day.
“I think it will be a great opportunity for the players in our program, said IU coach Mike Woodson in a release. “All of them aspire to play at the highest level.” Woodson was a head coach in the NBA for nine years with Atlanta and New York. Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas and other men’s basketball programs have held pro-days in recent years, following a longstanding model utilized by college football programs. The Hoosiers will open their exhibition season on Saturday, Oct. 29 against Marian. The regular season opener is Monday, Nov. 7 against Morehead State.
Former Indiana University Football Player Caleb Jones makes active roster with Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are signing rookie offensive lineman Caleb Jones from their practice squad to the 53-man roster. The transaction was announced Tuesday by General Manager Brian Gutekunst. The move comes as the Packers contend with multiple injuries on their offensive line. Moreover, there were several significant tackle injuries across the league in week one, which could have led to Jones being signed by another team if the Packers didn’t move him up quickly.
Undrafted out of IU, a slimmed-down Jones made a strong impression at Green Bay’s training camp. The club released him to get down to 53 players, but then resigned him to the practice squad. If he sees the field for Green Bay, Jones will immediately break a record. At nearly 6-foot-9, he would become the tallest player to ever play for the Packers. He has already earned the respect of future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. “I thought Caleb had a great camp and deserved to be on the 53,” Rodgers said. “Lucky to get him back on the p-squad. Looks like he has a bright future in this league. You can’t teach that kind of size. But take the 6-9, 340 out of the way, the way that he worked from spring to fall camp and then throughout fall camp, he has what it takes to be a player in this league. I told him that a couple weeks ago.”
Jones’ size was always a topic of conversation since his arrival in Bloomington in 2017. At more than 6-foot-8 he has always stood out above the crowd, even in football circles where almost everyone is above average size. But Jones’ weight was much of the story at IU, and for him it had been the aspect of his massive frame that was always a challenge. He was listed at as much as 370 pounds on Indiana’s official roster since he came to Bloomington from Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, but that figure was north of 400 when he first arrived and yo-yo’d up and down since. Jones weighed 370 pounds at IU’s pro day, a contributing factor to why he went undrafted. But by midway through training camp at Green Bay, he was down below 340 pounds.
Jones originally signed with Green Bay on May 2 as an undrafted free agent. At IU, Jones appeared in 41 games for the Hoosiers and started the final 30 contests. He made 24 starts at right tackle and six at left tackle. In 2019, Jones earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors from the league’s coaches after making 12 starts at right tackle and one at left tackle. In 2020, he helped Indiana lead the Big Ten in fewest sacks allowed per game (1.25), which tied for No. 17 nationally. Jones becomes the eighth former IU player on NFL active rosters, joining Nate Sudfeld, Dan Feeney, Micah McFadden, Rodger Saffold, Ian Thomas, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and Peyton Hendershot.
Indianapolis Colts waive Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship
The Indianapolis Colts moved quickly to address their unreliable kicking situation. The team waived Rodrigo Blankenship Tuesday. The decision comes two days after Blankenship missed what would have been a game-winning 42-yard field goal in overtime at Houston that resulted in the Colts settling for a 20-20 tie with the Texans. Blankenship also knocked two kickoffs out of bounds, including one to open overtime. After the game, coach Frank Reich stood behind his kicker. “In my mind,’’ he said, “he’s our kicker.’’ That support seemed to wane Monday.
“Everybody gets evaluated at every position,’’ Reich said. “Then what are we going to do? Are we going to bring people in? Going to stay pat?’’ The Colts signed kickers Chase McLaughlin and rookie Luke Havrisik to the practice squad with the intention of elevating one to the active roster for Sunday’s game at Jacksonville. Indianapolis is familiar with both. In 2019, McLaughlin was brought in to replace Adam Vinatieri for the final four games after Vinatieri was placed on the injured reserve list with a knee injury. McLaughlin converted 5-of-6 field-goal attempts, with a long of 50, and all 11 of his PATs. McLaughlin then lost a training camp competition the next summer to Blankenship.
Havrisik participated in the Colts’ rookie minicamp on a tryout basis in the spring after spending five seasons as a kickoff specialist and long-distance kicker at the University of Arizona. Havrisik converted 34-of-52 field-goal attempts (65.4%), including 7-of-14 on attempts of at least 50 yards. He twice knocked down school-record 57-yarders. On kickoffs, he generated touchbacks on nearly 74% of his 311 attempts. As it turned out, Blankenship’s 42-yard attempt at Houston was one miss too many for him to survive.
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