‘Dream Come True’ – Brunner Embraces Left-Guard Transition
By Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Clothing, so the saying goes, makes the man.
Do beards make the player?
You be the judge.
Here is Joe Brunner, all 6-foot-7 and 313 pounds of him, shrinking the Don Croftcheck Team Room podium in a gray sleeveless Indiana football shirt, sporting an imposing dark-brown beard that, in some cultures, suggests power and strength.
Brunner, a Wisconsin transfer, aims to rock in what is likely his final college season on an offensive line that should rate among the nation’s best.
“He can play inside,” head coach Curt Cignetti says. “He can play outside. He’s a good player.”
Consider this recent practice moment on a sun-splashed late morning at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium. Action is winding down with special teams work. Offensive linemen line up for drills in groups of three behind the north end zone under offensive line coach Bob Bostad’s intense scrutiny.
It’s technique over force as Brunner works with fellow linemen Adedamola Ajani and Austin Leibfried to achieve game-ready consistency.
Brunner has spent his career thriving with minimal mistakes. Last season, in 316 pressure opportunities, he didn’t allow a sack. He’s committed just five penalties over four years and 1,541 career snaps, including just one last season. He’s also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten student.
Brunner is a key figure on an offensive line set to impose its will on defenses. Making that happen has him shifting from left guard, where he played the last two seasons at Wisconsin, to tackle.
It is, he says, no big deal.
“I think going from left to right -- especially interior -- is not really challenging,” he says. “You kind of bounce around as a young player, playing both sides, so I am used to that.”
Still, given all 24 of his starts as a Badger were at left guard (he played in 39 games overall) he adds, “going out to tackle, it is new. You are facing a different type of (defensive) player, a speed guy, not as much strength, not as big. But, it's also fun. It's a part of the experience of learning a new position and just learning how good of a football player you are.
“I have the confidence in myself to play tackle. I’m learning from Coach Bostad every day. I am getting better every day thanks to him and to the guys next to me. I’m here to do what is best for the team.”
As far as the last time he took consistent reps at tackle, Brunner says during his first two years at Wisconsin, he played both guard positions and occasionally would “bounce out at tackle.”
“In high school, I played right tackle only. The past two years I was only at guard. I played in a game one time at left tackle. I have the experience, just not at length.
“I know what I am doing out there, but it has definitely been a while.”
Moving Brunner to tackle, Cignetti adds, allows Ajani, a promising third-year player out of Indianapolis, to play guard.
“(Bostad) moves those guys around a lot. He wanted to start out that way. He thought it gave us our best five with Ajani being more comfortable at guard than tackle.”
Brunner is a Hoosier in part because he’s seen what it’s done for former Badger offensive linemen Drew Evans and Trey Wedig. Evans is now a fifth-year Hoosier lineman; Wedig is a former IU offensive line standout now playing in the United Football League.
“I haven’t talked to Trey about the tackle move,” Brunner says, “but I have talked to him about the transition to IU and how it was good for his game. He said it was the best thing that ever happened to him.
“Hearing that from him and then talking to Drew and seeing how well he’s done has been extremely helpful. It’s awesome to see.
“I’m glad I’m here, and seeing how they made the transition, and did it so smoothly. Being here for eight months, I can see why they did it so smoothly.”
Evans, and fellow offensive linemen Bray Lynch and Carter Smith have helped ease the transition.
“They’re super experienced guys,” Brunner says. “They’ve played multiple years on the offensive line and started multiple games. It’s seeing the way they approach the film room and the practice field and how they work together as a group.
“When I first saw that, I could tell why they were so good last year. They took me in and allowed me to step into that role with them. I couldn’t be more grateful. They made me a better player. They allow me to bounce ideas off of them, to learn and grow from them.”
Smith, who is in his fifth college season, has been an invaluable resource.
“When you have a guy like Carter in your offensive line room - one of the best players in the country – you’ve got to lean on him,” Brunner says. “For me, taking on a new role in this offense, to have that source there, it is every single day: in the film room, on the field asking him questions.
“We bounce things off of each other. We have two different play styles; it’s been really helpful in my development as a tackle.”
Brunner is expected to emerge as a leader as center Pat Coogan, a Notre Dame transfer, did in his one IU season.
“This is the time of year where a number of the older transfers step up,” Cignetti says, “but you’ve got to put them in that position.
“We’ve had the same five to six to seven guys in the spring to talk to the team. Now, there’s a handful of five to seven other guys who have the potential to lead the right way. (Brunner is) one of them.”
Brunner says he’s ready.
“It’s a credit to the guys in this program. When I came here in January and the way they welcomed me, it seemed like I’d been here before. It made it easy to grow as a person and a player and then take on that leadership role with the younger guys and lead with older guys in the offensive line room like Drew, Bray, and Carter.
“I give all the credit to the culture that’s been here. It’s like I’ve known these guys forever.”
Brunner says he can’t wait for the Sept. 5 season opener against North Texas at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium. He’s already experienced the energy from a sellout IU home crowd, and if it came from the opponent’s perspective as a member of the Wisconsin team that lost last November to the Hoosiers, 31-7, that doesn’t mean he didn’t appreciate the rocking atmosphere fueled by Cignetti’s 15-0 career home record at IU.
“It was super exciting to come into this environment and play that kind of team,” Brunner says. “That’s what you want as a kid. That’s what you want when you play college football. You want to play the best teams in the country.
“I remember that defense was the best in the country last year. They were so fundamentally sound.”
Nothing has changed. Brunner still goes against Bryant Haines’ attacking unit, this time in practice, which doesn’t make it any easier.
“Going against that every day,” he says, “it makes every guy on the offense better.”
That’s part of the thrill, he adds, of now being a Hoosier.
“To be here with these guys is like a dream come true. It was super fun last year and it’s even more fun now.”