National signing day has come and gone, which means we can begin to fully evaluate the recruiting haul each team collected. This week on the Big Ten blog, we’re looking at which player or position group has the potential to make an instant impact for each conference team in 2017.
Up next: Indiana
Player: DB Bryant Fitzgerald
The Hoosiers didn’t need to go far to find someone to shore up their improving secondary in this recruiting class. New head coach Tom Allen signed a couple of potential early impact players in the defensive backfield. He said himself on Wednesday that Fitzgerald might have the best chance to help his defense next fall. So, who are we to argue?
“The guy that stick out to me … is Bryant Fitzgerald,” Allen told the Indianapolis Star. “He’s a guy to me that kind of has that -- he’s a football player.”
Allen compared Fitzgerald, who attended high school about an hour north of Indiana’s campus in Avon, Indiana, to 2016 freshman Marcelino Ball when introducing him last week. Ball finished third on the team with 75 tackles last year as a hybrid linebacker/secondary player.
The Hoosiers have return a good deal of experience on the back end of the defense, but that doesn’t mean there is no room for a high-performing rookie to work his way into the rotation. Fitzgerald will have some competition from classmate Juwan Burgess, the team’s highest-rated addition in this class. Burgess is the 19th best “athlete” in the 2017 class according to ESPN’s rankings He committed to USC at one point in the recruiting process. He will certainly be a factor as Allen looks to continue to building a stronger defense in his first season as head coach, but for now it appears Fitzgerald is the one who caught his coach’s eye.
