Published: November 14, 2008 05:21 pm         

Indy linebacker Brackett can relate to ISU woes

INDIANAPOLIS — Gary Brackett knows exactly what players in the Indiana State football program have been going through the last few seasons.

Brackett played four seasons at Rutgers, a program that had its own share of problems in the recent past. While the school has seemingly turned its program around — going 11-2 in 2006, 8-5 last season and 4-5 so far this year — the Indianapolis Colts’ middle linebacker remembers a time when the picture wasn’t quite so rosy.

In the four seasons that the former collegiate walk-on played at Rutgers, the won-loss records weren’t very pretty: 1-10 (1999), 3-8 (2000), 2-9 (2001) and 1-11 (2002). That translates into a 7-38 mark, including a 1-27 record in Big East play. In fact, prior to 2005, the Scarlet Knights had suffered through nine straight losing seasons as well as 10 of the previous 11 campaigns.

“My first year [at Rutgers] was tough. We were 1-10 and it was pretty bad. It was tough going to practice. The next two years, we won a couple games each year under [then head coach] Terry Shea and then they decided to get rid of him and bring somebody else in,” Brackett recalled this week.

“In comes [former University of Miami assistant coach] Greg Schiano and he just brought a different mentality into the program. First of all, he tried to set a foundation. Fundamental things, such as education, to make sure that the players were going to be eligible the next couple of years so they could help us win. So that’s when he took a step back and looked at their grades, looked at their classes, and things like that. Getting study halls and tutors and everything involved just so we could have a team that was going to be there for four or five years. He wanted to graduate players. And that got accomplished. Then the on-field success followed a little bit after that.”

While Rutgers didn’t win immediately, the groundwork was set.

“Even his first two years, I think it was still a growing process. We went from the first two years losing by 30, 40, 50 points to the second year we were losing by 21, 30, 14, seven. We were just missing things, plays here and there. And then as of the last couple of years, Rutgers has been hot. We’ve played in bowl games. One year [2006], we were high on the national scene and ranked as high as No. 5 in the polls. I think it’s just that type of philosophy that got those players to believe that this thing could get turned around,” he said.

“It starts from within. We had some great leaders. Myself, [future Philadelphia Eagles tight end] L.J. Smith. Even when guys like [Baltimore Ravens running back] Ray Rice and [St. Louis Rams running back] Brian Leonard stepped up and led that [2006] team, everyone else had to follow.”

When told of the Sycamores’ difficulties over the last few seasons, Brackett said that he understood and offered a few words of advice to ISU players.

“I would say that it’s never a good time to quit. It may seem dark now, but that’s when your character comes in. What type of guy are you? Are you going to skip workouts? Are you going to skip classes? That’s when you really have to start focusing on all the little things. If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves,” he said.



• Injury list — Injuries aren’t expected to be a major problem as the Colts gear up for Sunday’s home game with the Houston Texans.

Thirteen Colts players missed Wednesday’s work, although five were given normal days off in order to rest old injuries. Four of the five — defensive ends Dwight Freeney, cornerback Tim Jennings, strong safety Bob Sanders and Brackett — returned for Thursday’s workout.

Defensive end Robert Mathis, meanwhile, missed a second day of work in order to rest a sore foot. Four others — wide receivers Reggie Wayne (ankle) and Anthony Gonzalez (hamstring), free safety Antoine Bethea (ankle) and cornerback Keiwan Ratliff (quadriceps) — are expected to play despite seeing limited work in practice this week.

“We hope [the injuries] aren’t [serious],” Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. “You always feel they’re going to improve and be ready to go by game time. I think we will get our receivers back for sure. Then we have some guys like Tim Jennings and Robert Mathis just getting their normal day off. So I think we’ll be OK by [Friday] for sure.”

Having such a high number of players sitting out Wednesday was tough, practice-wise.

“It’s not bad on defense. Offensively, it’s tough,” Dungy said. “We didn’t have our receivers who are going to be playing in the game. So we had to put different guys in those spots and work on some different personnel packages. But we should be better [as the week progresses].”

Ratliff has played well the last two weeks as he has filled in for injured starter Kelvin Hayden (hamstring). He was able to go through Thursday’s practice.

“I think he’ll be all right [injury-wise]. It’s just a matter of how much he’ll be able to practice and get the timing and understand what we’re doing,” the Colts’ coach said.