Ohio 5-Star wide receiver Commit Stuns College Football World with Decision to Flip and Indian Hoosiers over.
Ohio 5-Star wide receiver Commit Stuns College Football World with Decision to Flip and Indian Hoosiers over..
Curt Cignetti’s Indiana football defense got some big boosts for 2025 in the last month of 2024, when impact players like Aiden Fisher and Mikail Kamara decided to run it back for one last year in college.
That didn’t plug every hole, though. Cignetti and his staff did important work along the defensive line, in the secondary and on special teams, shoring up a defense that was among the best in the Big Ten last season.
How will that defense look on the field in the fall? Here’s an early projected two-deep going into spring practice:
Indiana edge rushers
Stud
Mikail Kamara, r-Sr., Daniel Ndukwe, So.
Mario Landino, So., Ta’Derius Collins, r-So.
There have been persistent suggestions Kamara will move to the stud position Lanell Carr occupied last year, working as more of an end/backer hybrid. Wherever he plays, it’s unclear who his opposite number is right now.
Speaking of unclear, Landino split his time between end and tackle last year. It seemed like his long-term future was in the latter spot, but IU has need at the edge and Landino impressed in bursts as a freshman.
Cignetti and his staff remained in the portal window until late on last winter looking for more edge help. Don’t be surprised if they comb the field after the spring season to see if there’s a quality player to add here, not unlike what they did with C.J. West at tackle last year.
Indiana interior defensive line
Tackle
Tyrique Tucker, r-Jr., Dominique Ratcliff, r-Sr.+
Tackle
Hosea Wheeler, r-Sr. OR Marcus Burris Jr., r-Sr.
The arrivals of Wheeler and Ratcliff address both experience and depth concerns here. Burris’ return helps too.
But don’t sleep on Tucker. He finished last season one of the 10 highest-graded interior defensive linemen in the Big Ten, per PFF. And that wasn’t on a small sample either — Tucker played 306 snaps. For comparison’s sake, West, the only IU interior DL graded higher, played 420. Tucker could be a breakout candidate in 2025.
There are some really promising young players, particularly in the incoming freshman class, here. If possible, Cignetti and position coach Pat Kuntz will probably want to hand them time to develop first.
