Indiana's backfield just got thinner. Cignetti told reporters that Khobie Martin will be out "a little bit" with an injury, and Adam Rittenberg confirmed Martin sat out entirely while Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. absorbed the carries in his place.
Indiana to be without RB Khobie Martin. Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. handled most of the carries today.
This isn't unfamiliar territory for Martin. The third-year back out of Fishers, Indiana entered the season as part of a crowded, talented rotation, and Cignetti had specifically praised him in preseason for taking a step forward and improving as much as anyone in his recruiting class.
That makes the timing sting a little more. Martin had already dealt with an upper-body injury in the season opener that knocked him out for stretches of that game, and now he's back on the shelf for an undefined chunk of time, with Cignetti keeping the timetable vague rather than committing to a number of games.
Indiana RB Khobie Martin will be “out a little bit,” per Curt Cignetti. t.co/y5fP6cNMoc
The good news for Indiana is the cupboard isn't bare. Richard arrived this offseason as a Boston College transfer who led the Eagles in rushing last season, and Beebe has been part of this rotation from the jump. Cignetti built this room with exactly this kind of depth in mind, and Indiana's ability to survive a Martin absence without missing a beat will say a lot about how real that depth is.
For a Hoosiers program riding real national relevance under Cignetti, losing a piece of the backfield rotation is a manageable problem, not a crisis, as long as Richard and Beebe keep producing. Martin's return timeline is the thing to watch here, since "a little bit" from a head coach can mean anywhere from a week to a month.