BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana State football team is entering a new era under coach Curt Cignetti, with a lineup that bears little resemblance to the one that ended its season with a 35-31 loss to Purdue.
The Hoosiers return only 10 of the 22 players who started in last year's regular season finale. In all, they lost more than 30 players by the time players transferred and exhausted their eligibility.
This means there will be competition for playing time up and down the roster this spring.
Outside of the high-stakes battle at quarterback, here are three position races the Herald-Times is watching as camp opens Thursday at Memorial Stadium.
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- departure: Josh Henderson, Christian Turner, Jaylin Lucas (Florida State)
- return: Trent Howland (R-Jr.); David Holloman (R-Jr.)
- transfer: Ty Son Lawton (R-Sr.); Elijah Green (R-Sr.); Judge Ellison (Sr.); Kaylon Black (R-Jr.);
- New students: Coby Martin (summer enrollee)
Trent Howland returned to a completely different running back room after removing his name from the transfer portal.
Thanks to a strong late-season showing, Howland was IU's leading rusher last year, gaining 354 yards on 75 carries (4.7 yards per carry). There's no guarantee he'll remain at the top of the depth chart as the new staff sorts out the group's strengths and weaknesses.
“We're good at running back,” Cignetti told the Herald Times. “We've improved our speed and quickness there so we don't have to take them off the field other than a standard rotation. The player needed to take it away between the tackles, catch the ball, get the ball on the edge and pass the pros. ”
In addition to signing two JMU transfers (Keiron Black and Tyson Lawton), Indiana signed two running backs from the ACC (Justice Ellison and Elijah Green).
Black's 2023 season probably best fits the description Cininetti laid out. According to Pro Football Focus, he had 411 yards after contact (3.1 yards per carry), 18 missed tackles, 18 runs of 10 yards or more, and 22 catches for 186 yards. That's what it means.
He was similarly effective in a smaller sample size (99 carries) in 2022 with 14 forced missed tackles and 14 runs of 10 yards or more.
At 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds, he was a three-star running back in the 2020 signing class out of Salem High School.
Ellison has more than 100 carries in each of the past three seasons at Wake Forest and has the most Power Five experience of the group. Teams liked to run him between the tackles, and he showed the ability to fight through contact.
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- departure: Noah Pierre, Louis Moore (Ole Miss), Phillip Dunham (FAU), Jordan Grier (Memphis), Jordan Shaw (Washington)
- return: Josh Sanguinetti (R-Sr.); Tyrik McDaniel (R-Sr.); Bryson Bond (R-Sr); Amare Ferrell (Soph)
- transfer: Terry Jones (Sr.); Sean Asbury (Sr.)
- New students: Dontray Henderson (early registrant)
Indiana is expected to run a 4-2-5 base defense that relies on two safeties and a rover position on the back end, a hybrid linebacker and a safety position, and is expected to run a 4-2-5 base defense that relies on former coach Tom Allen's huskies on defense. The position is not that different.
The Hoosiers lost all three of last year's starting safeties as Louis Moore (Ole Miss) and Phillip Dunham (FAU) entered the transfer portal and Noah Pierre exhausted his eligibility. They return only two safeties (Josh Sanguinetti and Amare Ferrell) who played more than 100 defensive snaps.
This was a rare position where Cignetti didn't sign a single player to JMU, but he did add some familiar names, signing former All-Sun Belt safeties Terry Jones and Sean Asbury from Old Dominion. brought together. They give IU much-needed experience at the position, but they need to prove they can handle Power Five competition.
It's just that the numbers don't add up.
Indiana's new defensive staff could choose to move some corners over here for additional depth or look outside the program for help in the spring portal window. The Husky position is one of the most open position battles on the roster.
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Will IU's new staff be able to establish an edge?
- departure: Andre Carter, Myles Jackson (Tulsa), Anthony Jones
- return: Ranelle Carr (Sr.); Trey Lane (R-Sr.); Benson Snead Jr. (R-S.O.); Tadelius Collins (R-France)
- transfer: Michael Camara (R-Sr)
- New students: William Depepe (summer enrollee); Daniel Ndukwe (early enrollee)
James Madison has had one of the most impressive pass rushes in the country over the past two seasons. The Dukes recorded 45 sacks last year (6th out of 132 teams) and 38 sacks (tied for 13th) in 2022, with defensive ends contributing greatly to their success.
Cininetti is changing his approach by splitting up the defensive line coaching duties.
Pat Kuntz, who was JMU's defensive line coach for the past two seasons, has also transferred to Bloomington, but will now only coach defensive tackles. He hired Budda Williams, who spent the past two seasons on Colorado State's staff, to be his defensive side coach.
I'm sure he'll get his job.
Production at Indiana's defensive end has been lacking in recent years, and he doesn't have a lot of experience to work with.
Kamara got off to a great start in the portal from JMU, but he worked as the opposite of Jaylen Green last year. He ranked eighth in the nation among defensive ends with 15.5 sacks and a 20% pass rush win percentage.
Kamara recorded 7.5 sacks and 41 quarterback pressures, but without the benefit of playing alongside an elite pass rusher, he will likely face some of the more physical offensive linemen in the Big Ten. . Carr showed some flashes last year, but his production didn't take off despite playing a career-high 494 snaps.
Collins might be the player to keep an eye on here coming off his freshman year, as a player the previous staff kept mentioning as a player on the rise late in the year.
At 6-foot-4, 242, he has decent size and showed signs of being an impact defender, recording 12 sacks and 24 tackles as a senior at Northwood High School (Louisiana). He had a strong offer list as a three-star recruit, including Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Louisville, and Texas.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for the Bloomington Herald Times. You can follow him at X @michaelniziolek Click here to read all of his articles.
