Today marks the beginning of 2022 Big Ten Media Days from Lucas Oil Stadium with the conference at the center of major realignment and the sport’s biggest questions. The event will be the first time the Big Ten commissioner, Kevin Warren, will stand in front of a group of media members and answer questions about the conference adding UCLA and USC to its lineup in the coming years. In the 12th annual cleveland.com Big Ten Preseason Poll, the Purdue Boilermakers were picked by 36 voters to finish fourth in the West Division while Indiana was picked to finish in the basement of the east. Indiana’s Tom Allen will speak at noon on Tuesday along with three Hoosier players while Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm will speak at 11:00 am on Wednesday.
Santino Ferrucci is on standby to potentially replace Josef Newgarden for Saturday’s Indy Car race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Although all tests came back negative while he was in the hospital, the No. 2 Chevy driver still has to pass medical exams administered by the Indy Car medical staff. If Ferrucci replaces Newgarden, it will be his fourth Indy Car race of the season for a fourth different team. In two of his four starts, the driver turned in top 10 finishes coming at Texas Motor Speedway and May’s Indianapolis 500. Ferrucci was already scheduled to run in the Xfinity Series race in Indianapolis for Sam Hunt Racing. SHR has not yet announced whether or not he would still race for them if he is called upon to fill in for Newgarden.
Cathedral star and five-star prospect Xavier Booker has narrowed down his recruiting to 10 schools, and Indiana and Purdue both made the list. The No. 3 ranked player in the class of 2023, according to 247Sports, announced the 10 schools he is still considering for college on Monday headlined by Gonzaga and five Big Ten schools. On the list with Indiana and Purdue are Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State from the Big Ten. The 6’10 big man is described as a modern big with shot-blocking capabilities and 3-point shooting skills rare for someone with his skillset. Last season, Booker averaged 12.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots for state champion Cathedral.
The Indiana running back room just got thinner. Hoosier running back David Ellis ends his career with a medical hardship waiver. The waiver means he will keep his scholarship to the university but it will not count against the number of scholarships the program is given. He played just three games in 2021 due to an ankle injury that did not heal for spring practice and kept him out of the running back competition for the 2022 season. Now, walk on Charlie Spegal is the most productive returning back for IU with a room full of transfers, redshirt freshman and true freshman.
