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Indianapolis Star
3 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana football in preseason AP Top 25 college football rankings for 4th time
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football ranked No. 20 in the preseason top 25 AP rankings released Monday afternoon. It's only the fourth time in program history the Hoosiers made the top 25 in the AP's preseason rankings. Indiana ranked as high as No. 5 in 2024 — the program's highest ranking since 1945 — and spent five weeks in the top 10. The Hoosiers closed out the season as the No. 9 ranked team in the country after losing in the first-round of the College Football Playoff to Notre Dame. Indiana ranked No. 19 in the preseason US LMB Coaches Poll released last week. 'Like the NFL.' 7 things we learned from Indiana football's second week of training camp practices This story will be updated
Indianapolis Star
4 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana football: What we learned from Week 2 of fall camp
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football offensive lineman Carter Smith is one of the few holdovers from the Tom Allen-era that can speak about the program's remarkable turnaround under Curt Cignetti. Smith is one of just a dozen players Allen signed out of high school left on the roster. The offensive lineman was part of IU's 2022 signing class that had a record of 7-17 during their first two seasons of college with a 3-16 record against Power Five opponents. Those struggles made for some long offseasons that Smith wouldn't wish on anyone, but those gloomy attitudes are nowhere to be found in Bloomington this fall. "Not everyone is as depressed as they would be,' Smith said. 'I would certainly say that's accurate for me. There's a lot of smiles around the facility now." There's plenty of confidence too as fall camp rolls on with IU players looking to prove they weren't some one-hit wonder. Here's what stood out during the second week of camp: More: Indiana football safety Louis Moore sues NCAA over JUCO eligibility rules Indiana held its first preseason scrimmage Saturday behind closed doors. The Hoosiers weren't expected to go live, but it was their first time practicing in full pads during fall camp. While the NCAA allows teams up to eight padded preseason practices, Cignetti isn't expected to use the full amount. 'Never really used 25 (practices in the fall),' Cignetti said last year. 'Never used 20 hours in the week. Sometimes less is more. More isn't always more. That's the maximum amount they give you. That doesn't mean you have to use 'em all.' It's the same reason that Cignetti has all but eliminated live tackling during the offseason going back to his final year at JMU. The spring game is expected to be IU's only live preseason practice for a second straight year. 'They want guys to be available,' Indiana running back Kaelon Black said. 'You can understand his philosophy, when you have pads on you tackle and get more chances of being hurt.' Former Maryland running back Roman Hemby, who was a member of IU's most recent transfer class, immediately saw the benefit of Cignetti's approach back in the spring. "Every coach has their own philosophy, we like to get our players to the game,' Hemby said. 'We make sure we get efficient work, we're out there for the right amount of time to get what we need to get done. Hammer it home in the film room, it helps us play at our best. We need to play fast in the Big Ten and I feel like coach Cig's philosophy helps us do that." The results speak for themselves — Cignetti has a nearly perfect record (20-1) before October going back his debut game as coach for JMU in 2019. The Dukes lost their season-opener to West Virginia that season, but nearly pulled off an upset in Morgantown. Indiana jumped out to a perfect 10-0 start under Cignetti and never trailed through the first weeks of the season. More: Where Indiana football ranks in preseason US LMB Coaches Poll Top 25 Smith was the first person to predict defensive end Mikail Kamara would have a breakout season in 2024. He made the prediction after facing off Kamara on a near-daily basis last spring. He was right on the money — Kamara led the FBS with 68 quarterback pressures and was the first IU defensive lineman to earn All-American honors since 2007. The former JMU defender is now setting his sights on the program's single-season sack record and Smith isn't betting against him. 'He gets a bit better every day,' Smith said. 'He's always keeping me on my toes. It keeps on stacking, I think that competition has been really good for both of us.' Kamara agreed while predicting Smith will make his mark this fall. "In my opinion, he will be the best tackle in college football,' Kamara said. 'He's a great player, he's smart, he's quick, he's strong. He plays really well with his technique. He throws me a bunch of different sets and looks. He changes his stance, he does a lot of good things that keeps me thinking and keeps me guessing. When me and him battle, it's like the NFL, it's like I'm in the league." More: Indiana football announces first sell out for 2025 season Cignetti told reporters last week that Indiana has multiple true freshmen pushing for playing time this fall. He shied away from revealing any names, but his players weren't as reluctant to talk about the first-year players standing out. The guy most frequently mentioned through the first two weeks of camp is safety Byron Baldwin Jr., Baldwin was the team's highest rated prospect (and lone 4-star recruit) in IU's 2025 signing class. 'He's definitely one of those young guys that are ready to play now,' Amare Ferrell said. According to Ferrell, Baldwin is vying for playing time at rover with the likes of Bryson Bonds and Jah Jah Boyd. Ferrell knows what it takes as one of the only members of Tom Allen's final recruiting class in 2023 who didn't redshirt as a true freshman. He echoed what fellow defensive back D'Angelo Ponds said at the start of camp about Baldwin doing all the right things since arriving on campus as an early enrollee. 'He has to do everything to the standard, do everything the right away,' Ferrell said, about playing early as a freshman. 'We want to make sure he comes in ready to play, ready to practice, ready to know the playbook and do everything right, so his chances of getting on the field are better." Indiana freshman receiver LeBron Bond is a name to watch on the other side of the ball. Running back Roman Hemby said that the 5-foot-9, 173-pounder regularly makes 'spectacular catches' in practice. Bond's stock has been on the rise since he had a team-high four catches for 29 yards in IU's annual spring game. He helped the offense close out a 31-23 win over the defense with a 7-yard touchdown catch from Alberto Mendoza. The biggest challenge for Bond will be cracking a rotation that features a mix of productive returners (Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr.) and talented transfers (Makai Jackson and Jonathan Brady).
Indianapolis Star
5 days ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana safety sues NCAA to play this season
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football safety Louis Moore has filed a lawsuit in Dallas County District Court against the NCAA seeking additional eligibility as a former JUCO player. Moore also filed an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would allow him to stay with the team once the academic term begins on August 25, 2025. He's being represented by Brian P. Lauten, a Dallas-based attorney who specializes in business and commercial litigation. Lauten told The Herald-Times on Saturday that he's expecting the court to schedule a hearing over Moore's TRO application on Monday or Tuesday. Moore has been a full participant throughout IU's offseason going back to the spring and was practicing with the team as recently as Friday morning, but his status for the start of the season is in doubt absent an injunction. More: Where Indiana football ranks in preseason US LMB Coaches Poll Top 25 The NCAA denied his initial waiver request for an additional year of eligibility in June and the organization has yet to rule on an appeal the university filed last month. Moore originally signed with the Hoosiers in 2022 after attending Navarro (Texas) College from 2019-21 (the 2020 season was canceled in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic). He transferred back to IU after spending last season at Ole Miss. While the NCAA typically allows athletes to compete in sports for four seasons within five calendar years, including time spent at junior college, there's been a recent series of lawsuits challenging those eligibility rules from former JUCO players. Most notably, a federal judge granted Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia an injunction for the 2025 season in December with his attorneys arguing the NCAA's eligibility rules were a violation of antitrust law. Moore entered the transfer portal after the NCAA Division I Board of Directors approved a blanket waiver in the wake of the Pavia case that granted athletes an extra year of eligibility in 2025-26 who "competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years." According the filing, Moore and Indiana believed he would be eligible for the 2025 season under that updated guidance. Inside Story of the Best Football Season in Indiana History 'The way the NCAA is discriminately applying that eligibility by-law to junior college play is wrong," Lauten said. "This isn't novel, a half dozen federal courts have already found this exact same situation violates antitrust laws.' Moore's attorneys made a similar argument that Pavia did, but at the state level — the Texas Antitrust Act has nearly identical ruling to the federal statute — in a filing submitted in Dallas County on Friday afternoon. 'The effect of the Five-Year Rule is to discourage student-athletes from attending junior college to prepare for four-year college and to punish those who do so, even though junior colleges provide student-athletes with necessary academic and other opportunities,' the filing states. 'Just as the student-athletes are deprived of the beneficial junior college experience, the junior colleges are deprived of elite athletes, reducing their ability to compete with NCAA schools.' According to the filing, Moore would lose out on a 'one-in-a-lifetime' name, image, and likeness contract worth $400,000, and miss an opportunity to 'enhance his career and reputation by playing another year of Division I football at an NCAA major conference university that likely extend beyond the direct financial returns.' He's also seeking compensatory damages and attorneys' fees. 'There shouldn't be one set of rules for quarterbacks at Vanderbilt and a different set of rules for defensive backs at Indiana,' Lauten said. 'The rules need to be applied consistently, and that should be the case whether you win a case in federal court. They haven't changed the rule, and that's not fair.'
Indianapolis Star
04-08-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Where is IU football ranked in preseason US LMB Coaches Poll Top 25?
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football will open the season in the top 25 of the US LMB Coaches Poll for only the second time since 1991. The Hoosiers ranked No. 19 in the preseason poll released Monday. Indiana closed out 2024 ranked No. 10 in the coaches poll after going 11-2 and losing to Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff. The only other time IU cracked the preseason top 25 over the last three-plus decades was in 2021, but the program ended up going 2-10 and finishing at the bottom of the Big Ten. The Hoosiers brought back key returners on both sides of the ball and filled key vacancies with high-profile transfers including Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza as they look to avoid that same fate this fall. Indiana will face three teams ranked in the preseason top 15 this year — No. 12 Illinois (Sept. 20), No. 7 Oregon (Oct. 11) and No. 3 Penn State (Nov. 8). Indiana football: What we learned from the first week of fall camp Re-live Indiana football's memorable run to the College Football Playoff with our commemorative book The preseason US LBM coaches poll Top 25 with team's records from last season in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year's final poll and first-place votes received. Dropped out: No. 20 Missouri (10-3); No. 21 Army (12-2); No. 22 Syracuse (10-3); No. 23 Memphis (11-2); No. 24 UNLV (11-3); No. 25 Colorado (9-4). Others receiving votes: Oklahoma (6-7) 221; Missouri (10-3) 142; Louisville (9-4) 126; Southern California (7-6) 116; Utah (5-7) 86; Baylor (8-5) 76; Auburn (5-7) 50; Iowa (8-5) 49; Memphis (11-2) 34; Army (12-2) 33; Tulane (9-5) 31; Georgia Tech (7-6) 27; TCU (9-4) 24; Nebraska (7-6) 19; Syracuse (10-3) 16; Washington (6-7) 15; Navy (10-3) 14; Arkansas (7-6) 14; Duke (9-4) 12; Colorado (9-4) 12; Minnesota (8-5) 11; UNLV (11-3) 8; Florida State (2-10) 8; Kansas (5-7) 6; Vanderbilt (7-6) 3; Buffalo (9-4) 1. The US LBM Board of Coaches for the 2025 season: Tim Albin, Charlotte; Dave Aranda, Baylor; Tim Beck, Coastal Carolina; David Braun, Northwestern; Jeff Brohm, Louisville; Fran Brown, Syracuse; Troy Calhoun, Air Force; Jason Candle, Toledo; Ryan Carty, Delaware; Jamey Chadwell, Liberty; Bob Chesney, James Madison; Curt Cignetti, Indiana; Chris Creighton, Eastern Michigan; Spencer Danielson, Boise State; Ryan Day, Ohio State; Kalen DeBoer, Alabama; Manny Diaz, Duke; Dave Doeren, North Carolina State; Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri; Sonny Dykes, TCU; Jason Eck, New Mexico; Mike Elko, Texas A&M Luke Fickell, Wisconsin; Jedd Fisch, Washington; James Franklin, Penn State; Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame; Hugh Freeze, Auburn; Willie Fritz, Houston; Alex Golesh, South Florida; Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois; Blake Harrell, East Carolina; Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky; Charles Huff, Southern Mississippi; Brent Key, Georgia Tech; GJ Kinne, Texas State; Zach Kittley, Florida Atlantic; Tre Lamb, Tulsa; Dan Lanning, Oregon; Rhett Lashlee, SMU; Clark Lea, Vanderbilt; Lance Leipold, Kansas; Pete Lembo, Buffalo; Sean Lewis, San Diego State; Mike Locksley, Maryland; Chuck Martin, Miami (Ohio); Joey McGuire, Texas Tech; Bronco Mendenhall, Utah State; Jeff Monken, Army; Jim Mora, Connecticut; Eric Morris, North Texas; Billy Napier, Florida; Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh; Brian Newberry, Navy; Ken Niumatalolo, San Jose State; Jay Norvell, Colorado State; Gerad Parker, Troy; Brent Pry, Virginia Tech; Matt Rhule, Nebraska; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Jay Sawvel, Wyoming, Willie Simmons, Florida International; Kirby Smart, Georgia; Mark Stoops, Kentucky; Jon Sumrall, Tulane; Lance Taylor, Western Michigan; Jeff Traylor, Texas-San Antonio; Scotty Walden, Texas-El Paso.
