David Woods

Indiana at Iowa%2C noon Saturday%2C ESPNU

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. – He was born 10 weeks early and weighed 3 ½ pounds, small enough to fit in his mother's hand. Doctors gave him a 20 percent chance of survival.

They obviously didn't know the child, who was eventually nicknamed "Rock" for his strength. In the beginning, Tevin Coleman was closer to a pebble. No one could have foreseen him setting records in sprinting, jumping, weightlifting … and football, a sport foreign to his Liberian-born parents.

If not for the park near Coleman's home where young boys wore helmets and shoulder pads, he might have chosen baseball, the sport he loved first. If he had wanted to play for a college football power, he would have chosen Oklahoma or Nebraska or Michigan State, not Indiana University. If his grandparents hadn't chosen to emigrate from West Africa, he might have found himself in the midst of the Ebola crisis. Instead, he is running for yards, victories and Heisman Trophy votes.

"It would be a lot different," Coleman said. "Maybe I'd be playing soccer or something like that. I mean, I've never really thought about it like that."

His now-divorced parents, Wister and Adlevia, relocated from Liberia as teenagers, met in Chicago and married. Liberia was founded in 1847 by freed American and Caribbean slaves and established a government modeled after that of the United States. The capital city, Monrovia, is named after James Monroe, the fifth U.S. president.

Coleman's great-great grandfather is former Liberian president William David Coleman, according to Wister. William David, the president from 1896 to 1900, was born in Kentucky before emigrating as an 11-year-old in 1853. Coleman has another prominent relative, former IU basketball player Noah Vonleh, whose mother is a cousin of Wister.

Family history was taught to Coleman. Yet it is not his sole Liberian legacy.

"I'm glad that I was raised there because all the values and qualities and morals, that's what I instill in them," his mother said.

Quiet and humble are adjectives most often applied to Coleman. Heading into Saturday's game at Iowa, IU hasn't pushed the 6-1, 210-pound junior for the Heisman. That would be problematic even if the Hoosiers weren't absent from the national stage. He is so soft-spoken that the media are usually left with empty notebooks and tape recorders.

Thus it was shocking when he restated the obvious in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview last month: It's hard to get attention as an Indiana running back.

Nonetheless, Coleman's statistics speak for themselves.

RUNNING TO RECORDS

Last year he would have become the 10th Hoosier to have a 1,000-yard season but missed three games with an ankle injury and came up 42 yards short. This year he has 841 and ranks second nationally in yards per game (168.2). He has rushed for a touchdown in 14 straight games and gained 100 yards in seven straight, the longest such streaks in the nation.

Indiana has featured running backs who were Heisman Trophy contenders. Vaughn Dunbar was sixth in the voting in 1991, and Anthony Thompson was second in 1989.

"As the season progresses, I think people will see what we see in Tevin Coleman," said Thompson, an IU associate athletic director. "We don't jump up and down and beat our chest and do things like that. As we get into the thick of our schedule, they will know who Tevin Coleman is, if they don't already know."

The little Tevin his parents knew -- once the preemie was released from the hospital after seven weeks – was an energetic son who was always outdoors, even in cold winters. His father said he didn't need to spank him on the rare occasions he needed disciplining; sending him to his room was punishment enough.

Sundays were spent at Bethlehem Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey, Ill., where Tevin sang in the sunbeam choir. His devotion continues with sideline prayers before each Indiana game.

He was introduced to baseball, basketball, martial arts and guitar lessons, but nothing was an outlet like football. He joined the Mid-Crest Panthers, named for the towns of Midlothian and Crestwood, and excelled anywhere he was positioned. He was so much faster than other boys that he once outran them while tugging on oversized pants with one hand and carrying the ball in the other.

"He left everybody so far behind, it was incredible," his father said.

When Coleman enrolled at Oak Forest (Ill.) High School, his coach was as amazed by the newcomer's conduct as by his ability. Coach Brian McDonough was stricken with cancer necessitating two bone marrow transplants, and Coleman checked in on him regularly.

McDonough's favorite memory was one in which Coleman consoled a teammate whose fumbled kickoff return caused Oak Forest to lose.

Coleman never swore or received a detention, the coach said. "Nothing. His record is crystal," McDonough said.

Oak Forest featured an offense modeled after Navy's triple option. So Coleman, a wingback, didn't amass the stats of those who carried the ball more often. As a senior, he ran for 949 yards and an 11.4 average.

RECRUITERS CAME CALLING

No college recruiter needed to see anything more than film of his first game that season. In a 47-12 victory over Rich Central, he rushed for two touchdowns, returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown and an interception 80 yards for another touchdown. As a defensive back, he raced across the field to tackle a ball carrier at the 1-yard line as the first half expired.

"It was like a perfect game," McDonough said.

To improve grades and college entrance exam scores, Coleman attended 7 a.m. tutoring sessions before school with Jason Thormeyer, the defensive coordinator and an English teacher. Although such effort was expended because of football, Coleman wasn't consumed by the sport.

He "wasn't in a set clique," mingling with students who had other interests, according to older brother Wister II. McDonough said Coleman never watched a bowl game on television until they did so together. Coleman's father tried to coax him to the TV for Chicago Bears games.

"I'd watch for about a quarter," he said, "and then went and did some other stuff."

Other stuff for Coleman included track and field. He was twice a Class 2A state runner-up in the long jump and finished fourth in the 100 meters. He had such a strong arm that McDonough, the throws coach, tried to persuade him to try the discus.

Coleman set school records of 10.5 and 21.4 seconds in the 100 and 200 meters, respectively, and 24 feet, 3 ¼ inches in the long jump. Track coach Tom Monahan recalled spectators surrounding the long jump pit and responding with "a lot of oohs and aahs" on each attempt.

As a senior, Coleman didn't have a chance to win what his coach thought could be three state titles. A family trip coincided with the dates, so he went on a cruise instead of to the state finals.

"That was the first time I really saw emotion come out of him, honestly," Monahan said. "When he realized he wasn't going to get that state championship."

FATHER AND SON

Coleman was recruited, but some schools were waiting on grades and others wanted him as a defensive back. Oklahoma offered him a scholarship, but he didn't want to be that far from home. Michigan State had location and tradition. Indiana had Deland McCullough.

McCullough, 41, a Miami (Ohio) graduate who played in the NFL and Canadian Football League, is the Indiana running backs coach. He built rapport with Coleman and, perhaps as importantly, with Wister. Father and son have an "extraordinary bond," Wister said. Father and son both called McCullough a father figure, and they can call or text the coach at any time.

"With how many coaches can you do that?" Coleman's father said.

Moreover, the father said he didn't want his son to attend a school that wanted him. He steered him to a school that needed him. McCullough said Coleman is "more on a mission" this year, but he is as he has always been.

"Since the moment he got here, he kind of was low-key, saying, 'Look, I want to do great things at Indiana and for Indiana,' " McCullough said.

Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said Coleman had the best practice habits of a freshman running back he had witnessed since Adrian Peterson, who was a freshman at Oklahoma in 2004 when Wilson was there. Coleman conceded he had trouble learning Indiana's offense that first year. But he showed a glimpse of what was to come when he returned a kickoff 96 yards for a TD at Northwestern, delighting a busload of former classmates in attendance.

Irrespective of nickname, Coleman sculpted himself to resemble a rock. He and teammate D'Angelo Roberts use FaceTime on Mondays, each doing 500 push-ups so they know the other is training. Coleman has done a clean – moving a barbell from floor to rack – of 365 pounds, an IU record for all positions. He has set running back records by bench-pressing 405 pounds once and 225 pounds for 24 repetitions.

That explosiveness is manifested in Coleman's 14 gains of 40 or more yards since the start of the 2013 season, most in the nation. Thompson said Indiana has never featured a back who can accelerate like that.

"When you're talking explosiveness and quickness, I think he can separate as quickly as anyone in this country," offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said.

NFL: STAY OR GO?

Coleman has the burst desirable to the NFL, and he inevitably would be chosen in the 2015 draft. But running backs aren't as valued as they once were, and various rankings suggest he wouldn't be drafted as high as wide receiver Cody Latimer was a year ago. Latimer left IU after his junior season and was selected in the second round, No. 56 overall, by the Denver Broncos.

McCullough and Coleman haven't addressed leaving school early, focusing on the present. Coleman's mother said she would support whatever her son decides but wants him to graduate. The father said resolution would come later and that he would "let the Lord guide us in that direction."

After the season, Coleman was going to travel to Liberia for the first time and spend Christmas with family, but the Ebola outbreak canceled those plans. There are no reports of relatives stricken, but so far more than 2,000 have died from the infectious disease.

Coleman forges ahead with the work ethic ingrained in him by his Liberian heritage, affirming his pledge to make a difference at Indiana. He doesn't need reminders of how hard it is to make it big. His life started small.

Call Star reporter David Woods at (317) 444-6195.





INDIANA (3-2, 0-1) at IOWA (4-1, 1-0)

Noon Saturday, Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa

ESPNU

IU radio network (107.5 FM and 1070-WFNI)

Line: Iowa by 3 ½.

Three storylines:

>> Indiana is seeking an elusive successive victory. The Hoosiers haven't won on back-to-back Saturdays since 2012, beating Illinois 31-17 on Oct. 27 and Iowa 24-21 on Nov. 3. The Hoosiers have been 4-2 or better through six games only three times in 19 years.

>> Jake Rudock's streak of 17 consecutive quarterback starts for Iowa ended Sept. 27 at Purdue because of a hip injury. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz hasn't said who will start but that Rudock (67 percent, 798 yards, 5 TDs) and C.J. Beathard (54 percent, 363 yards, 1 TD) both will play.

>> Although the Hoosiers are third in the Big Ten in rushing offense (300.0 yards), they might have to pass to loosen the defense. Tevin Coleman is second in the nation in rushing (168.2). Iowa is third in the Big Ten in rushing defense (93.2).

Key stats: Indiana has five turnovers, fewest in the Big Ten, but is last in penalties and penalty yards per game (seven for 63.6). … Iowa is second in the Big Ten in third-down conversions (45.6 percent). Indiana is fourth in third-down defense (32.5 percent). … Iowa is 3-0 when trailing or tied at halftime. … Iowa is 11-3 on homecoming since 2000. … Iowa kicker Marshall Koehn leads the nation with a .792 touchback percentage (19-of-24).

Coaches: Indiana, Kevin Wilson (fourth year, 13-28); Iowa, Kirk Ferentz, 16th year, 112-80).