SportsLine wire reports
March 31, 1999

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Sunday's football practice ran from 2 p.m. to about 5:45 p.m., but there was one moment when the action stopped. Coach Cam Cameron said he heard some mumbling on the field and when he looked over to the gate, he saw senior defensive back Curtis Randle El.

Randle El was released from Bloomington Hospital, 601 W. Second St., Saturday evening and made a brief appearance at Sunday's practice.

"When he came out there it kind of gave a boost to the whole practice in general -- just to see him smiling and walking around," said senior wide receiver Terry Kramer. "It was a very uplifting and emotional time for the whole team and staff in general."

Randle El was one highlight from Sunday's practice -- the others were three impressive throws, one each by three different Hoosier quarterbacks.

Sophomore Antwaan Randle El completed a 40-yard pass to junior wide receiver Tyrone Browning in "Red Ball," a two-minute drill. Redshirt freshman Gibran Hamdan threw a 60-yard bomb to sophomore Derin Graham during 11 on 11 drills and redshirt freshman Tommy Jones threw a touch-pass on a rollout to redshirt freshman tight end Bobby Brandt.

WINTER REWARDS

Most of the players on the IU football team came to last weekend's practices bigger, stronger and faster. Senior running back Frankie Franklin looked like he had baseballs for calves, and junior wide receiver, Browning sprinted like he was on the track team. Most of the guys on the roster beefed up by about 10 pounds since the end of last season. The improvements didn't come from the first two spring practices -- they came from an entire winter's worth of work.

"I've seen dramatic improvement in my conditioning," Kramer said. "And all of my times dropped significantly while maintaining my weight and improving my strength. I'm at optimal weight, and we did body fat testing and I'm right where I want to be."

Before the first spring practice, Cameron and his assistant coaches gave each player points for his performance at each station during winter conditioning. The stations included tests of agility, speed, strength and endurance. The following players received awards for winter conditioning and are listed in order of performance:

1. Adewale Ogunleye, Sr./DE

2. Derek Barnett Fr./DE

3. Derin Graham, So./WR

4. Tony Brown, Jr./LB

5. Brad Gecina, Sr./LB

6. Vince Lidy, Sr./LB

7. Patrick Shaw, Sr./S

8. De'Wayne Hogan, Jr./RB

9. Terry Kramer, Sr./WR

10. Gordon Bramel, Jr./DE

11. Antwaan Randle El, So./QB.

"You've got to take two things into consideration in the fact that Antwaan was 11th," Cameron said. "He was practicing basketball at the same time. He was doing the winter workouts in the morning and going to basketball, and there was one station he couldn't do because of his broken wrist, so he couldn't get points for that one -- and he still finished 11th."

The Hoosiers began with a mat drill, which consisted of explosion-type tests. They also worked on bending and staying low by going under a metal cage, and the final station was 20-yard sprints.

Barnett said the winter made him stronger, a little quicker, and a bit more mobile.

"Winter conditioning helped you on your mental aspect of the game and physical too," Barnett said. "It was team oriented. Coach Bomba and all the coaches were great with us and worked with us a lot."

HOOSIER CHALLENGE WINNER

Junior fullback David Ballou bench-pressed 435 pounds and won the Hoosier Challenge contest, which is based on running, lifting and agility tests. Ballou shadowed graduate Chris Gall last year and will compete with sophomores Andrew Kaiser and Kyle Enright for playing time this year. He might also help out on special teams.

TODAY'S PRACTICE

The Hoosiers will resume practice Wednesday at 3 p.m. It will be the first practice in full pads and will include a scrimmage. Cameron said Friday's practice will also consist of a scrimmage that should last for the majority of the practice.