Indiana’s tight end room enters 2026 with almost no carryover from last season, and that’s the biggest storyline here. The Hoosiers are replacing every bit of production at the position except for 10 snaps, which leaves this group as one of the clearest unknowns on the roster.
The departures tell the story. Riley Nowakowski, who handled the heavy lifting in 2025 with 32 catches for 387 yards and four total touchdowns while starting all 16 games, is gone after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round.
He also brought real value as a blocker, earning second-team All-Big Ten honors from the media and third-team honors from the coaches. Holden Staes played in all 16 games last season, starting two, and added seven receptions for 62 yards and two touchdowns.
James Bomba saw some action too, but never caught a pass.
What Indiana has now is a room built around youth and fresh faces. There are three redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen in the mix, and only two returners remain at the position.
Of those returners, only one has game snaps for the Hoosiers. That makes this group the program’s biggest question mark when it comes to proven production.
The player most likely to step in as TE1 is Brock Schott, a redshirt freshman who transferred in from Miami. Schott is a Fort Wayne native out of Leo High School and was a consensus four-star recruit in the 2025 class from 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals.
In high school, he piled up 1,717 receiving yards on 101 catches with 19 touchdowns, while also making 184 tackles, 69.5 tackles for loss and 41.0 sacks on defense. He appeared in two games for Miami in 2025 and caught his only two passes of the season for 24 yards against Bethune-Cookman.
He also dealt with a hip labrum injury that required surgery, though he has recovered. 247Sports ranked him the No. 35 transfer portal tight end, but Indiana clearly isn’t chasing labels here.
Schott has the tools to become a star; now he has to show it on the field.
Andrew Barker is the one tight end in the room who has already logged snaps at Indiana. The redshirt freshman from Kokomo High School appeared in one game in 2025 against Kennesaw State and kept his redshirt intact. He was a three-star recruit in the 2025 class and split his high school time between offense, defense and punting, catching 37 passes for 435 yards over his junior and senior seasons combined.
Blake Thiry is another redshirt freshman, and unlike Barker, he has yet to see game action for the Hoosiers. The Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin product was a three-star recruit in the 2025 class and a top-50 nationally rated tight end. At 6-foot-4 and 236 pounds, he has the frame and upside to work into the rotation.
The freshmen add more intrigue. Parker Elmore, a 6-foot-4, 239-pound tight end from Columbus North, was a three-star recruit and a consensus top-30 tight end nationally. As a senior, he led his high school in receptions with 58, receiving yards with 927 and receiving touchdowns with 13.
Trevor Gibbs brings a different kind of profile. The 6-foot-2, 241-pound Crown Point product was a three-star recruit and a top-15 prospect in Indiana.
He played middle linebacker and defensive end in addition to tight end, and some services listed him as a linebacker. That kind of versatility gives him real athletic upside.
For now, Indiana’s projected depth chart at tight end is as unsettled as it gets. Fall camp is going to do a lot of the sorting.
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