Indiana University Football gets verbal commitment from Alabama Safety Keion Dunlap
Indiana beat a host of schools for 2024 safety Keion Dunlap, who visited Bloomington over the weekend. Dunlap announced his commitment on Monday, choosing Indiana over offers from Auburn, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Penn State and others. Dunlap is a three-star recruit in the class of 2024, ranked No. 55 among safeties and No. 28 in the state of Alabama, according to 247Sports. He’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds. Dunlap attends Enterprise High School in southern Alabama. During his junior season in 2022, he recorded 36 tackles and one sack across eight games, according to MaxPreps. He also plays basketball at Enterprise. Dunlap is the ninth member of the Hoosiers’ 2024 recruiting class and is ranked No. 52 in the nation and No. 13 in the Big Ten by Rivals.
Atlanta Dream end Indiana Fever’s two game winning streak
A valiant fourth quarter rally from the Indiana Fever (4-7) was not enough to overcome the Atlanta Dream in a 100-94 loss at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Sunday’s 34 points in the fourth quarter from Indiana was the highest scoring quarter of the season as a team and reduced a 16-point lead to four in the final seconds in the second of four regular season matchups with the Dream this season. In her fourth game this season finishing with at least 20 points, Aliyah Boston led the Fever in scoring with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, tying her career-high scoring output. In addition, Boston added a career-best four blocked shots. Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell also earned herself her fourth 20-point game of the season as she recorded a season-high 24 points, to go along with four assists. Erica Wheeler dished out a team-high eight assists in support of the scoring attack, while Kristy Wallace contributed 13 points and five rebounds off the bench for Indiana. Former Indiana University standout Grace Berger played 6 minutes scored on her only field goal attempt of the game along with a rebound and a steal.
Both teams opened the game with slow starts, as Indiana held Atlanta to 4-of-10 shooting from the floor within the first five minutes. The Dream improved quickly, ending the quarter shooting nearly 53 percent (9-of-17). Mitchell guided the Fever on the offensive end as she contributed seven points in the first quarter and shot 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Atlanta maintained and extended the lead to nine toward the end of the quarter, leading, 23-14. Indiana continued to chip away at the Atlanta lead throughout the second quarter. Boston found her rhythm in the quarter as she pitched in nine of her 13 first half points while shooting 3-of-4 from the court and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. Though outscoring Atlanta 27-25 in the second quarter and shooting 9-of-17 from the floor, Indiana trailed the Dream entering halftime, 48-41.
Boston remained steady out of the half as she added six points on 3-of-3 shooting to go along with four rebounds in the third quarter. Beginning with a completed layup from Boston, the Fever closed the third quarter on a 9-4 scoring run in the final four minutes. The Dream held on tight to the lead and Indiana entered the fourth frame down 71-60. In the fourth quarter, Indiana’s highest scoring quarter was highlighted by a 12-of-19 shooting performance. After trailing by 16 with roughly six minutes remaining in the game, the Fever were then down four points after Wallace drained a three-pointer in hopes of completing the comeback. Atlanta’s Allisha Gray was sent to the charity stripe immediately following, where she completed two free throws and sealed the wire-to-wire victory for the Dream.
Atlanta was led in scoring by Gray’s 25 points on the night. She was followed by 2022 Rookie of the Year, Rhyne Howard, with 21 points, Cheyenne Parker with 15 points, and Nia Coffey with 11 points. As a team, Atlanta shot 56.1 percent (37-of-66) on the night. Indiana allowed Atlanta only three offensive rebounds, the fewest by a Fever opponent this season. The Fever also made more free throws (24) and attempted more free throws (29) than any other game this season. Fever guard Victoria Vivians left the game in the second quarter and did not return to be evaluated for a concussion. The Fever hit the road to take on the Seattle Storm on Thursday at 10pm from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle Washington. Thursday’s game will be broadcast on the official Indiana Fever Facebook page and Amazon Prime.
Indiana University Football gets a verbal commitment from Maryland Cornerback Judah Jenkins
Cornerback Judah Jenkins took an official visit to Indiana on Friday, and he became the eighth member of the Hoosiers’ 2024 recruiting class on Monday. Jenkins, a three-star recruit, announced his commitment to Indiana on Twitter. Jenkins chose Indiana over Power 5 offers from Boston College, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia, plus a long list of mid-major schools. At 5-foot-11 and 175 pounds, he’s ranked No. 984 in the nation, No. 84 among cornerbacks and No. 24 in the state of Maryland, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Jenkins is entering his senior season at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Md., where he made 20 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery during his junior year in 2022. He also has experience on special teams, returning two punts for touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. Jenkins is the second defensive back to commit to Indiana in the class of 2024, joining fellow three-star recruit Christian Peterson from Carmel High School in Indiana. As it stands, Indiana’s top-ranked recruit in 2024 is offensive lineman Adedamola Ajani from Speedway High School in Indiana.
Bloomington North Girls Basketball Head Coach Jeff Turmail steps down
Bloomington North Girls Basketball Head Coach Jeff Turmail has stepped down to take the next step in his career, accepting a position as assistant principal at Cloverdale Middle School. Turmail picked up his master’s in school administration from Ball State in 2018 hoping it might open more doors for him in the future. In the meantime, he became well ingrained in the Bloomington community. At North, he moved up from assistant for the girls’ team under Jason Speer to head coach in 2017. He went 50-89, culminating with a 17-7-mark last season.
Being a man of many hats as made it very hard to continue on at the school. Turmail was teacher, assistant athletic director and head girls’ basketball coach, as well as father to two young boys under age 3. Turmail started out with MCCSC teaching at Jackson Creek Middle School before being an Assistant coach for two seasons at Bloomington North from 2015-17. For now, coaching and overseeing various sporting events is on the back burner, giving him more time at home. North athletic director Andy Hodson said the school will try to find a replacement as soon as possible, without rushing the process and that it’s not a given that just one person would fill both spots.
Two Indiana University football players named Pre-Season All-Americans by Phil Steele
College football analyst Phil Steele released his 2023 preseason All-America and All-Big Ten teams which included five Hoosiers. Steele named Indiana kick returner and running back Jaylin Lucas a second-team All-American and long-snapper Sean Wracher a fourth-team All-American. The first-team All-Big Ten included Lucas and Wracher, while the second-team All-Big Ten featured Indiana linebacker Aaron Casey, wide receiver Cam Camper and punter James Evans.
Lucas returns to Indiana for his sophomore season after being named a first-team All-American return specialist as a true freshman in 2022. He returned 21 kicks for 591 yards and two touchdowns, coming at Rutgers and at Michigan State. Lucas also carried the ball 49 times for 271 yards and two touchdowns which is good for 5.5 yards per carry along with 16 receptions for 82 yards. Wracher has been a mainstay at long-snapper for the Hoosiers, starting all 45 games since the beginning of the 2019 season. Steele has named Wracher an All-Big Ten long-snapper each of the last four seasons.
Casey has missed just one game since the beginning of the 2019 season, and he made a big jump in production in 2022. After making 25 tackles as a junior, Casey led the Hoosiers with 86 tackles and 10.5 tackles for a loss as a senior. Pro Football Focus named Casey a third-team All-Big Ten player in 2022, and he has an extra year of eligibility for 2023 due to COVID-19 rules. Camper joined the Hoosiers for the 2022 season after beginning his career at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas. Despite playing just seven games due to a torn ACL, Camper led the Hoosiers with 46 receptions and 569 yards, and he more than doubled every Indiana pass-catcher with 81.3 receiving yards per game. Coming to Indiana from New Zealand, Evans has started all 24 games at punter for the Hoosiers across the last two seasons. He’s already Indiana’s all-time punting average leader at 43.1 yards, and he owns 17 career punts inside the 10-yard line.
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