It’s opening day of fall camp for Indiana, and the reigning national champions are stepping back into the spotlight with plenty already in place under Curt Cignetti.
The Hoosiers are entering year three with Cignetti, and the run so far has been as strong as any in the country: a 27-2 record over the past two seasons, a Big Ten championship, two College Football Playoff trips, and a 16-0 national title season in which they never trailed in the playoffs.
Indiana’s 2025 résumé was loaded with marquee wins, too. The Hoosiers posted six victories over teams that spent time ranked in the top 10 during the season, including No.
1 Ohio State. They also beat two teams that climbed as high as No.
2, Oregon twice and Miami. Those six top-10 wins came by a combined score of 227-86.
At Big Ten football media days, Cignetti laid out the formula he wants to keep intact, even as the roster turns over.
"It's different people, so there's going to be a little bit of a different team, but it's going to be more same than different. All of our teams have been successful because they're more similar than different," Cignetti said at Big Ten football media days.
"We don't turn it over. We play smart.
All three phases play off each other. We stop the run.
We run the ball. We're good in the red area, in touchdown percentage, in third- and fourth-down percentage.
Those are things I want to continue to do. The faces just change a little bit."
The biggest new face is quarterback Josh Hoover, the transfer from TCU who ranked second among FBS quarterbacks in passing yards per game in 2025 at 289.3. Hoover takes over for Fernando Mendoza, who became Indiana’s first Heisman Trophy winner and delivered the diving touchdown in IU’s 27-21 national title win over Miami on the Hurricanes’ home field.
Indiana also dipped into the portal for help at several other spots, bringing in edge rushers Tobi Osunsanmi and Chiddi Obiazor, receiver Nick Marsh, running back Turbo Richard, and lineman Joe Brunner. Brunner arrives with a strong pass-protection track record, having allowed zero sacks in 747 career pass blocking snaps according to Pro Football Focus.
Even with the changes, the Hoosiers bring back plenty. Carter Smith returns after earning Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year honors, while linebackers Rolijah Hardy and Isaiah Jones, defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker and receiver Charlie Becker are back as well. Hardy, Tucker and Becker were all included in preseason Big Ten media honors, and Smith plus Tucker landed on the Outland Trophy Watch List.
Indiana’s roster stability runs deep, with 61 returning players overall. That group includes five offensive starters and seven defensive players who made multiple starts during the national championship season.
One more key piece is staying in the fold: Stephen Daley announced Tuesday that he will return for a fifth season after recent court rulings. Daley dealt with a knee injury after IU’s Big Ten Championship win over Ohio State, but is expected to be available at some point during the season. In 2025, he led the Big Ten with 19 tackles for loss despite opening the year as a backup.
In Other News...
Curt Cignetti Just Gave Indiana Fans A New Reason To Brag
CBS updated Big Ten head coach rankings gave Indiana fans another banner to wave, with Curt Cignetti climbing to No. 1 ahead of names like Ryan Day, Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley and Kirk Ferentz. The move is striking not just because of the company he passed, but because it underscores how quickly Cignetti has changed the conversation around the Hoosiers since arriving in Bloomington.
In two years, he has taken Indiana to an 11-win regular season and a national championship, doing it without the kind of long Power Four head-coaching rsum many of his peers brought to the table. The rankings were shaped by recent performance and head-to-head results among Big Ten coaches, which makes Cignettis rise feel less like a novelty and more like a statement about where Indiana sits in the league now. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Is Betting Indiana Fans Will Accept This Tradeoff
Indiana footballs rise under Curt Cignetti has come with a clear philosophy attached: if the Hoosiers are going to keep chasing the sports biggest prize, they may have to be selective about the path they take to get there. Indiana has gone 27-2 over the last two seasons, with both losses coming against teams that ended up playing for the national championship in 2024, a run that has changed how the program is viewed and what it can reasonably demand of itself.
The latest sign of that approach came when Indiana backed out of a two-year scheduling agreement with Notre Dame and moved toward a slate built around less traditional, lower-profile opponents. It is the kind of tradeoff that can test fan patience, especially in a state where big games carry obvious appeal, but Cignetti appears to be betting that Hoosiers supporters will accept the short-term hit in schedule glamour if it helps keep the program positioned for a longer stay among college footballs elite. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Defense Suddenly Has New Faces Fans Need To Watch
Fall camp has opened for Indiana football, and the early story on defense is the influx of transfers who could reshape that side of the ball right away. The Hoosiers brought in a mix of proven experience and upside, headlined by EDGE rushers Tobi Osunsanmi and Chiddi Obiazor from Kansas State, cornerback AJ Harris from Penn State, safety Preston Zachman from Wisconsin and EDGE Joshua Burnham from Notre Dame.
For a defense looking for immediate help, that group gives Indiana several new names to monitor as camp unfolds. The appeal is obvious: more depth at key spots, more competition across the back end and the edge, and the chance for a few newcomers to step into meaningful roles before the season even begins. [Read more 🡒]