Indiana wide receiver Charlie Becker is walking into the 2026 season with a very different kind of spotlight on him, but he’s not letting the attention turn into something bigger than the job in front of him.
That wasn’t the case for much of 2025. Through Indiana’s first nine games, Becker had only seven catches for 157 yards, and most of his snaps came in lopsided finishes or scattered opportunities.
He was buried behind Elijah Sarratt, Omar Cooper and EJ Williams, a trio he described as “Three NFL players. Two All-Americans.
Fourteen combined years of college football experience.”
Then Sarratt got hurt, Becker moved into the starting lineup before the Penn State game in Happy Valley, and everything changed. He responded with seven receptions for 118 yards in a performance that helped Indiana beat the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium for the first time. From that point until the national championship seven games later, Becker finished with 27 catches for 522 yards and three touchdowns.
“Last year I put in the work, and I’m just happy that I was able to get that opportunity,” Becker said Thursday. “Coach Shanahan does such a great job of making sure that everyone in the receiving room knows what to do at every single position so that when their number does get called, they’ll be able to go out there and make plays. I’m super thankful to Coach Shanahan for that.”
His rise has made him a familiar name in college football circles and pushed expectations for 2026 into a much louder place. Becker, though, says the outside noise hasn’t changed much about who he is.
“I wouldn’t say my life has necessarily changed,” Becker said. “I think I’ve always been the same person before or after football.
I think I will always be the same person. I’m extremely blessed that I’ve been put in this position.
I actually have to remember that I’m one of 11 out there.”
What has changed, at least inside his own game, is the confidence he carries and the way he sees himself as a leader.
“I think as I get older and as I continue to grow and know more about the offense and am able to read defenses and just seeing kind of how I’ve improved, I think my confidence has also gone up and just being able to trust myself and trust my teaching,” Becker explained.
That confidence has fed directly into the way he approaches the younger players around him. Last season, he was the one learning from the veterans ahead of him on the depth chart.
“I feel like yesterday I was sitting there with Elijah and EJ and Coop and all these guys that were teaching me how to become a leader and just kind of getting bits and pieces from each one of them,” Becker said. “They were such great leaders and they taught me so much, so just being able to take pieces from them and put it into my own leadership and kind of help out these younger guys and try to make them as good and the best men that they can be.”
Indiana’s receiver room looks a lot different now. Sarratt, Cooper and Williams are gone to the NFL, but the Hoosiers have reloaded with talent around Becker.
Nick Marsh is set to line up opposite him after arriving as one of the top transfer portal additions in the country. Shazz Preston brings speed and versatility, Tyler Morris adds slot electricity, and Indiana also has younger wideouts who could follow the path Becker took a year ago.
“We’ve got weapons all over now,” Becker said. “With Turbo [Richard], Khobie [Martin], and Lee [Beebe Jr.], our running backs, I mean, shoot, those guys are some studs.
Our O-line, just a bunch of dogs, ballers. Josh [Hoover] is a beast.
I mean, really look at our offense. Where do you see a hole?”
That’s the version of the conversation Becker seems comfortable having now: not about what he’s become individually, but about how much Indiana can throw at an opponent with him as one piece of it.
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