This is the final installment of our position-by-position look at Indiana football leading up to the Sept. 2 season opener this Thursday night at Memorial Stadium against Towson. Today we look at special teams.

One note that should be made is that Tandon Doss is listed as the No. 1 kick and punt returner but because of his sore groin injury he is expected to see limited action Thursday against Towson. He may be held out all together. He did not practice Sunday afternoon and the best guess is that since there's 16 days between game 1 and game 2 on the schedule, they won't play him much in the opener, if at all, and then have plenty of time to get him healthy before the second game which is Sept. 18 at Western Kentucky.

Here's a look at IU's special teams...

Special Teams

Placekicker
Nick Freeland 5-11 198 So., 1L
Mitch Ewald 5-11, 168, Fr., RS

Punt
Chris Hagerup 6-5, 206, Jr., 2L
Adam Pines 6-0, 183, So., 1L

Long Snap
Jeff Sanders 6-4, 245, Sr., 2L
Josh Keyt 6-1, 235, Fr., RS

Holder
Teddy Schell 6-5, 227, Jr., 1L
Dusty Kiel 6-2, 227, Fr., RS

Kick Return
Tandon Doss 6-3, 195, Jr., 2L
Darius Willis 6-0, 225, So., 1L

Punt Return
Tandon Doss 6-3, 195, Jr., 2L
Matt Ernest 6-2, 190, Jr., 2L

Position Coach: Dennis Springer and George Ricumstrict have the specials teams along with other responsibilities on the staff. Springer is the assistant head coach and also coaches running backs. Ricumstrict coaches IU's defensive ends. Springer is in his third season with IU, while Ricumstrict is in his sixth season with the Hoosiers.

Strengths: Having Doss as the kick and punt returner always has the Hoosiers that much closer to good field position. A year ago, Doss was close a few times but didn't break a kickoff return in 25 attempts. He averaged 21.3 yards. He only had four punt return chances and averaged 11 yards per return. Hagerup averaged better than 40 yards in 58 kicks. Freeland was 14 of 25 on field goals.

Weaknesses: Freeland was solid inside of 39 yards a year ago, hitting a respectable 14-of-20. But he didn't make a kick outside of 40 yards in five tries. In camp, both he and Ewald have gone back and forth and Bill Lynch said Friday the competition is still too close to call. He said Freeland will have the kickoff responsibilities for sure in the opener.

Watch For: Hagerup to have his best season yet. In summer camp, he was kicking the ball extremely high and still getting good distance. This could become a big weapon for the Hoosiers in 2010.

Bottom Line: IU needs to settle on a place-kicker and not have that person looking over his shoulder as the season begins. Indiana has had some electrifying return guys in recent years including Antwaan Randle El and Marcus Thigpen, and Tandon Doss has that same element of potential to his game.

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Kosuke Fukudome hit a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth but also made an error in the Reds' half of the frame that led to Cincinnati's 7-5 victory Sunday over Chicago.

What James Russell and the other Cubs' rookie relievers have gone through this season is a roller-coaster ride.

Blake DeWitt and Kosuke Fukudome led off last week. On Sunday, Jeff Baker was batting first for just the sixth time in his big league career.

Cubs manager Mike Quade prepares for his first home game against the Pirates -- and the ticket requests sure to come from his family.

Andre Dawson, 56, recently enshrined into baseball's Hall of Fame, will be celebrated prior to the Cubs' game Monday night against the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

Xavier Nady hit a solo homer and Kosuke Fukudome belted a two-run shot Saturday to lift the Cubs and birthday-boy Randy Wells to a 3-2 victory over Bronson Arroyo and the first-place Reds.

Carlos Zambrano rejoined the Cubs on Saturday, did his normal side session and is on schedule to start Monday, opening a three-game series against the Pirates.

Alfonso Soriano was not in the Cubs' starting lineup Saturday against the Reds, giving him a chance to freshen up. He's batting .259 this season, brought down by a .235 August.

Starlin Castro remembers the last time he was in Cincinnati. It was May 7, when the Cubs' rookie shortstop made his Major League debut and hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat. He finished that game with a rookie-record six RBIs.

Jay Bruce belted three homers for the first time in his career to power the Reds to a 7-1 victory over the Cubs on Friday and hand manager Mike Quade his first loss in four games at the helm.

Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster underwent Tommy John surgery in August 2003 and said he feels better than before he had the procedure done. Hopefully, the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg will bounce back [from his impending surgery] as well.

Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano was expected to rejoin the team Saturday in Cincinnati, in plenty of time for his next start Monday against the Pirates.

Mike Quade has heard that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry is interviewing other candidates for the managerial job and just shrugs.

Manager Joe Girardi fulfilled his promise on Friday to briefly discuss the rumors linking his name to the Chicago Cubs' managerial opening for 2011.

It's a good thing the Indiana basketball team has Cook Hall to handle all of its practice time from now until Midnight Madness/Hoosier Hysteria on Oct. 15.

The Hall has been undergoing work on the roof for several months and tall cranes have been seen to the side of the arena.

But yesterday and today, there was the sound of workers hitting the floor with a pick axe and tearing up the hardwood from baseline to baseline.

J.D. Campbell, IU's director athletic media relations, said this afternoon that the floor was under repair because of condensation issues.

"Due to high humidity during the past few weeks, some parts of the Assembly Hall floor were damaged by condensation,'' Campbell said. "The plan is to remove those boards, replace and refinish the floor in time for basketball season, October 15.''

**************

With Assembly Hall not being used, Cook Hall will play host on Saturday to the Indiana Basketball Preseason Skill Development Camp.

The camp will run from 1-4 p.m. with registration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The cost is $45 and is open to any and all seventh graders or above. According to a flyer in the IU basketball office, the camp will include instruction and coaching provided by both IU coaching staff and players. The brochure also read that "This camp is designed to teach and critique high level basketball skills in a variety of advanced competitive situations.''

For more information log onto www.Hoosiersportscamps.com or call 812-855-2238

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Three spots appears to be locked up on the offensive heading into the final week of preparation before Thursday's opener against Towson. That would be the two tackles and the center. But the guard spots will go right down to the wire with four players competing for two spots. And in both cases the players who came out of December in the lead are running a close second. Here's a look at the IU offensive line for 2010.

Today: Offensive Line. Tomorrow: Special Teams

Offensive line

LT
Andrew McDonald 6-6, 304, Jr., 2L
Josh Hager 6-9, 301, Jr., 1L

LG
Aaron Price 6-4, 298, Fr., RS
Justin Pagan 6-5, 332, Jr., 2L

C
Will Matte 6-2, 295, So., 1L
Jordan Marquette 6-3, 290, Sr., 1L

RG
Marc Damisch 6-6, 315, So., 1L
Cody Faulkner 6-5, 315, Sr., 3L

RT
James Brewer 6-8, 335, Sr., 2L
Colin Rodkey 6-4, 285, Fr., RS

Position Coach: Mo Moriarity is back for his second stint as an IU assistant coach. He was the tight ends coach under Gerry DiNardo from 2002-04, and returns to coach the offensive line. The past five years, Moriarity was the head coach at Carmel High School where his teams were 58-14.

Strengths: The tackles, McDonald and Brewer, are both good pass blockers which is good news for Ben Chappell. Matte is also a solid player at the center position. Those three players in particular anchor this group.

Weaknesses: I'm not sure I would call it a weakness, but the guard spots are still up for grabs heading into the weekend. Price, a redshirt freshman, may have edged out veteran Pagan for the starting job but we won't know for sure until game time against Towson Sept. 2. At the other, Damisch has had a really strong camp and appears to have taken the lead at right guard over Faulkner. Faulkner was one of Terry Hoeppner's seven blocks of limestone in that particular recruiting class.

Watch For: Brewer to have a break out season in his fifth season with the Hoosiers. He has always had the size for the position but has been hampered by nagging injuries. He has been healthy throughout camp.

Bottom Line: It's a better pass blocking group than blocking for the backs, but that could play right into IU's gameplan with Chappell having lots of receivers to throw it to. For the offense to be completely multi-dimensional though, the run blocking has to improve.

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The Cubs' managerial search has brought them to Eric Wedge, according to a report, which reported on Thursday that general manager Jim Hendry had a face-to-face interview with the former Indians skipper as he begins the formal process of selecting Chicago's next field general.

The Indiana basketball schedule has been done with the exception of finalizing the exhibition games for more than two weeks. But IU being done wasn't enough. The Big Ten had to finalize all of the details with the various networks and the result was a waiting process that just went on and on.

That said, the conference released the schedule on Thursday and the non-conference portion in particular appears to be user friendly for an IU team that is going to be hoping to gain some confidence early.

I was asked to predict IU's record which seems a little crazy given that it's August but ... I'll at least give my two cents worth on the non-conference portion of the schedule.

The first six games are all at home. IU doesn't leave the friendly confines of Assembly Hall one time in the month of November. And the six games come in machine-gun order. IU will play those six opponents in 14 days.

Here's the way that plays out:

Nov. 12 Florida Gulf Coast
Nov. 14 Wright State
Nov. 16 Mississippi Valley State
Nov. 21 Evansville
Nov. 23 North Carolina Central
Nov. 26 Northwestern State

In the old days, that would be a 6-0 start. For this team, it had better be a 6-0 but there have been too many Northeastern/Lipscomb/Boston University/Loyola (Maryland) type opponents out there the last two seasons to take any team for granted. Still, my guess is that IU will be 6-0 heading to Boston College for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Let's say IU falls there, loses at Kentucky, wins the other non-conference games and finds a way to go 3-1 in the Las Vegas Invitational. That would mean wins against SIU Edwardsville at home, South Carolina State at home, and then either Northern Iowa (probably not), and then the winner/loser of New Mexico/Colorado. If IU were to lose to Northern Iowa, it would probably play Colorado and that's game the Hoosiers could be competitive in.

That would be 10-3 in the non-conference. I'm guessing Tom Crean and his staff would take that. Now I'm not going to try to predict beyond that. Predicting that far at this point in August is crazy enough. But I'm curious about what you think.

Do you like the looks of the schedule? Is this the kind of schedule an Indiana program in this stage of its development should be playing, or are you one of the people that believes they need to be battle tested more for the Big Ten? I can go either way on that issue. But I think a softer schedule at this point makes a lot more sense especially for a program that hasn't had much success the last couple of years. The only way you can expect the Hoosiers to perform at a high level in Big Ten play is to let them have some early success. And if you want a few reality checks, Kentucky will be that and probably Northern Iowa or New Mexico.

So, we have a long time before an official predictions column but go ahead and weigh in today and we'll see what everyone thinks.

We have three of these installments remaining, and then a little later in the day I have will blog about the Big Ten basketball schedule that was released today.

Today we look at wide receivers and tight ends. Tomorrow is the offensive line and Saturday will be special teams.

Wide Receivers/Tight End

WR
Terrence Turner 6-3, 210, Sr., 3L
Dre Muhammad 5-10, 185, Jr., 1L

WR
Damarlo Belcher 6-5, 215, Jr., 2L
Duwyce Wilson 6-3, 200, Fr., RS

WR
Tandon Doss 6-3, 195, Jr., 2L
Jamonne Chester 6-1, 205, Fr., RS

TE
Max Dedmond 6-5, 255, Jr., 2L
Brad Martin 6-4, 245, Sr., 3L
Ted Bolser 6-6, 252, Fr., RS

Position Coaches: Billy Lynch is in his sixth year with the Hoosiers, all six as the wide receivers coach. The son of head coach Bill Lynch, Billy has had some good receivers at IU including James Hardy, Andrew Means and Ray Fisher, along with the three returning receivers this year in Doss, Turner and Belcher. Lynch is also the lead recruiter on players in the state of Indiana. Kyle Conner is in his fourth year at IU's tight ends coach after spending four years at Butler as an assistant coach.

Strengths: Where do you begin? Doss, Belcher and Turner combined to catch 184 passes for 2,175 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. Duwyce Wilson comes in as a redshirt freshman and people believe he will become one of Ben Chappell's favorite targets as well. Mix in three solid tight ends, including Max Dedmond who caught 18 passes a year ago and IU is loaded at the receiver position.

Weaknesses: There isn't a real visible weakness in this group. Belcher has been inconsistent at times seeing the ball into his hands but he's also one of IU's true highlight film performers who consistently makes acrobatic grabs.

Watch For: Doss to have an even bigger season than he did a year ago. Last year he caught 77 passes for 962 yards and people feel he has only scratched the surface of his ability. Look for Doss to break all of IU's career receiving records before he's done.

Bottom Line: If Chappell can distribute the ball and keep everybody happy, the wide receivers/tight ends have unlimited potential.

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