Curt Cignetti and Indiana took a swing at one of the top running backs in the 2027 class, but the Hoosiers came up short on Friday night.
Elijah Kimble, a 4-star back from Buffalo, NY, announced that he is headed to Syracuse, choosing the Orange over Indiana, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Syracuse’s in-state pull. Kimble, who plays at Canisius High School, is ranked by Rivals as the No. 1 player in New York and the No. 23 running back in the country. At 5'10" and 180 pounds, he gives Syracuse its highest-ranked commit in the 2027 cycle.
Kimble’s junior season showed exactly why so many programs chased him. He ran for 1,726 yards and 23 touchdowns last season, and his offer sheet grew past 40 schools.
He spent the spring making official visits to each of his finalists, including a trip to Bloomington over the weekend of April 17. Indiana made a real push, but Fran Brown and Syracuse won out for the Buffalo native.
The commitment also leaves Indiana with just one running back in its 2027 class for now. That player is 3-star Da'Jon Talley-Rhodes, who Rivals lists as the No. 32 running back in the country.
Even with the miss on Kimble, Indiana’s recruiting momentum under Cignetti remains obvious. The Hoosiers have already collected six 4-star commitments in the 2027 class: EDGE Myles Smith, LB Jalaythan Mayfield, OT Mason McDermott, DL Reinaldo Lopez, S Brady Scott, and WR Branden Sharpe. Scott recently picked up a fourth star from ESPN, while Sharpe earned 4-star status from 247Sports earlier this summer.
Indiana still sits at No. 29 in the Rivals Recruiting Rankings for 2027, and that number could move in the coming weeks. The biggest name still on the board is 5-star WR Monshun Sales, the No. 1 player in Indiana and the No. 8 overall prospect in the country according to Rivals.
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Curt Cignetti Is Chasing A Recruiting Breakthrough IU Has Never Seen
Indianas football rise under Curt Cignetti has started to show up in places the program has rarely been able to reach, and the pursuit of Monshun Sales is the latest sign. The 5-star wide receiver from the 2027 class is one of the sports premier young prospects, ranked by Rivals as the No. 1 receiver and No. 8 player overall, and Indiana has put itself in the conversation alongside the usual heavyweight suspects.
Sales has already worked through official visits to Indiana, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State and LSU, and his list of finalists says plenty about how far the Hoosiers have come in a short time. With Cignettis program fresh off a national championship run, Indiana is no longer just trying to get in the room with blue-chip recruits, it is trying to close on one of them, and Sales could become the kind of pickup that changes how the rest of the country views the Hoosiers on the trail. [Read more 🡒]
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What makes Osunsanmi so important is the ceiling that comes with that skill set. A Kansas State beat writer who studied him up close saw a player with Sunday-level potential, but also one who still has work to do when offenses come right at him, especially against the run and through heavy blocking looks. Indiana does not need him to be perfect, but it does need him to keep turning pressure into disruption if the defense is going to stay at a championship level. [Read more 🡒]