Indiana comes out of its bye week with a quarterback picture that still isn’t fully settled, and Curt Cignetti didn’t pretend otherwise on Wednesday night.
Speaking on a prerecorded edition of Inside Indiana Football with Don Fischer, the Hoosiers’ coach said Grant Wilson missed practice last week because of the flu, while Josh Hoover was kept out as part of a plan to let him recover from the injuries that have bothered him in recent games.
“Grant Wilson actually had the flu last week, couldn’t practice,” Cignetti said. “Josh, you know, the plan was to rest him the whole time anyhow.”
With those two limited, Tyler Cherry handled work with the second-team offense and Jacob Bell took third-team reps. Cignetti said Bell made the most of the chance.
“He went in there and did a real fine job,” Cignetti said. “He’s got a real rocket for an arm.”
The quarterback situation remains one of the biggest questions heading into Saturday’s top-20 matchup with USC. Hoover has been dealing with injuries and has struggled at times, while Wilson gave Indiana a lift in relief against Minnesota and helped the Hoosiers pull out an overtime win.
Cignetti still isn’t tipping his hand on who will start against the Trojans, but the bye week at least gave Hoover time to recover. He was not listed on Indiana’s initial availability report Wednesday.
The challenge waiting for Indiana is obvious, and Cignetti made sure to underline it. He often speaks highly of opponents, but his words about USC carried extra weight.
“This is more than a good football team,” Cignetti said. “I promise you.”
USC arrives in Bloomington with one of the Big Ten’s most dangerous offenses, led by quarterback Jayden Maiava and coach Lincoln Riley. Cignetti praised Riley’s offensive creativity and his history of developing productive quarterbacks, and he singled out Maiava for his accuracy, quick release and command of the offense.
“Really impressed with him and the way he operates,” Cignetti said.
He also pointed to the amount of production USC is getting from young players, noting that the Trojans are starting several true freshmen at key spots, including wide receiver, tight end and along both lines. And while the offense gets most of the attention, Cignetti said USC’s defense has taken a big step forward, too.
“They’re dangerous. They’re beyond dangerous,” Cignetti said. “We’re gonna have to play really well.”
Indiana’s defense has carried a heavy load during the Hoosiers’ recent run of tight games, but Saturday figures to demand more from the offense as well. USC has the kind of firepower that can change a game in a hurry, which puts even more pressure on Indiana to be sharper on both sides of the ball.
Special teams is another area Cignetti wants cleaned up fast. Indiana survived its issues against Minnesota, but the mistakes were costly - shanked punts and missed field goal chances helped keep the Golden Gophers in the game.
Cignetti said the kicking game hasn’t matched the standard Indiana has set in previous seasons, though he remains confident it will come around.
“We’re not kicking quite as well up to this point as we did last season,” Cignetti said. “But my confidence level that we can and will is still very high because I’ve seen these guys do it over a long period of time.”
He specifically backed kicker Nicolas Radicic after Radicic bounced back from earlier struggles to make a key 46-yard field goal against Minnesota. Cignetti said the position requires a short memory, and he believes Radicic can regain his form.
“Our special teams normally have been very highly rated,” Cignetti said. “We’re not quite as highly rated as we normally have been, so we got to get that thing going and be more clean on it.”
That matters even more with USC coming to town. Indiana has spent much of the past month finding ways to work around mistakes. After the bye week, the Hoosiers will try to cut them out.
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