Notes and Quotes from Curt Cigetti's Media Q&A at Huber Winery Event
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Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK
Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti met with the media prior to a fundraising event at Huber’s Winery in southern Indiana on Wednesday night. He touched on how the summer is going and what he expects out of an ever changing landscape of college football.
NOTES:
- All high school recruits are on campus now
Curt Cignetti Quotes:
On What Position Group He Feels Best About Heading into the Summer
“I think coming out of spring ball, our wide receiver corps looked deep, our running back corps looked deep. I think we've gotten seven or eight offensive linemen. We felt pretty good about development there.
The offense was ahead of the defense in spring, only because we had four or five key defensive guys out guys be back with us in fall camp. In the spring transfer portal we kind of took care of some defensive needs. Felt good about that, and so now it's time to put it together.”
On the Addition of Freshman All-American D’Angelo Ponds
“He had special qualities when he came in as a freshman in fall camp. There were some things in this game you had to clean up in terms of technique. We were struggling against the pass early in the season, and stuck him in as a starter about game three or four, and then put him in the boundary. We were feeling the boundary there, and when we did that, really a shot in the arm for our entire defense. He's a freshman All American. Great competitor, super intelligent, can really move, play the ball in the air. So he's a big get, I think, but you know, he's going to have to earn it here. Nothing's given. Everything Is earned.”
On Having a Quarterback Competition Heading into Fall Camp
“You know, there's competition in every position, so it makes you better. Kurtis is new to the program, but I have a lot of confidence in him. He's played a lot of games. He's executed a lot of tournament drives. You know, he's made a lot of critical touchdown passes. He knows how to throw the ball away when he's in a bad spot and get you back to manageable down and distance. And you know, he's an older guy. I think Tayven (Jackson) made strides in the spring, and there's some areas everybody's got to improve still, but you know, Tayven (has) got some areas that we're confident he'll progress. And you know, then we've got the young guys.”
On the Biggest Success so far at IU
“I think the biggest thing was we flipped the roster right off the bat. My first day on the job with 10 guys in the transfer portal, starters on offense and half of the defense. And we were able to keep about half the people we wanted to keep, and but I knew I needed to bring a lot of good faces in. And, you know, we were able to bring 22 transfers in, in December. All those guys are two-, three-year starters from winning programs and quite a few from JMU, which really wasn't the plan when I took this job. It just happened. But you're talking about a championship culture, or people think the way you want them to think and we kept the right guys in the program from last year's team and got rid of some dead wood, some guys needed to and those guys assimilated quickly. And we're not there yet, you know, but nobody in the country is there.”
On the House vs. NCAA Settlement
“I'm confident they'll have a positive impact. I think those percentages will probably be determined at the conference level. And the big issues out there right now, I think are roster sizes. You know, this is a settlement out of a court case that makes it illegal to have a scholarship minimum. So now what's the roster size going to be? Because that'll affect the game. And like you said, it's a pretty good chunk of change going to the student athletes and you know that athletic departments across the country will have to absorb that.”
On the Addition of DT CJ West from the Portal
“(He’s) a really big person that had good initial quickness, violent, made a lot of plays, the nose guard position and has potential to really help us.”