After leading the Wildcats in nearly every defensive statistic his senior year, Ben Polk is starting to make some noise in practice at Indiana University, and the coaches are listening.

Making up one half of a monster defensive end tandem that every offense they faced had to account for, the 6'4", 245 pound Polk had a team leading 58 solo tackles, 25 of which resulted in a loss of yards for opposing teams, six sacks, and three forced fumbles last season which saw the west side powerhouse come up one game short of a repeat trip to the Class 2A state title game when they lost at home against Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter.

Those stats combined with his size were enough to get the attention of IU coach Kevin Wilson and his staff, who convinced Polk to turn down scholarship offers from Indiana State in Terre Haute, and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and join their squad as a walk on.

In an interview with the Evansville Courier and Press during the annual Big Ten Media Day, Coach Wilson said, "...I think he’s a tight end, defensive end guy who is going to grow into maybe a defensive tackle or offensive tackle; a 290-pound guy who can run. He doesn’t run as well as you want your tight end to run, but he’s big-boned enough that when he quits playing all these other sports he’s going to fill out and be a reasonably large, hopefully strong, athletic big guy.”

Coincidentally, the Hoosiers open their season at home on August 29th against one of the schools who had hoped to retain Polk's services, Indiana State. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network at 6pm Evansville time.

Watch Highlights From Polk's Senior Year

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