Diving into Depth Charts – IU Defense

Subscriber Content A look at what Indiana’s defensive depth chart look like as we sit here in July… Today we’re taking a look at the defensive side of the ball and where it think the two deep will shake out when IU opens up vs. Old Dominion on August 28th in Bloomington. For the uninitiated, I keep a very comprehensive roster / depth chart (including scholarship and walk on numbers) updated whenever anything happens that includes walk ons. Last season, HC Curt Cignetti put out like one total depth chart all season so, as I said in my offensive depth chart piece, this is all speculation on what I’ve watched from each player who’s returning, their production and PFF grades either at IU or elsewhere, what I’ve heard from the message boards or insiders and a general assumption on the ascension I see some players making in the future. Hope you enjoy my take on the depth chart below and would love your feedback or who you think I should have where. If you’d like to see the entire roster, please feel free to check out the Google Sheets version here. This is a working document. I usually make a ton of notes about who and why I move players up and down (or off when they leave) but Google isn’t smart enough to let people who don’t have editing power actually see the notes…which is incredibly dumb and something that’s annoyed me for the 5 or so years I’ve been doing these on my own (rant over). On the Google Sheets version above, there are links to each players IU profile here and that’s the reason for the red, unclickable link looking things in the screen shots below. If a player doesn’t have a link, that only means IU hasn’t made a profile for them. On the final page with the specialists you’ll see a current roster total for scholarships and walk ons. Roster note: With all that’s happened with NIL, Revenue Sharing and roster construction, the breakdown for what a team can have scholarship wise has remained a constant. Now, however, if you go over the hard caps, you lose Revenue Sharing money. Sammy and I talked about the roster numbers and the guess is that IU gives some of the deserving scholarships to walk ons. That won't change the overall roster number, just add some scholarships for guys that are deserving. I wouldn't be surprised if guys like R-Sr DE Andrew Turvy or R-Sr WR Camden Jordan got one. They've both been valuable pieces of the roster that don't get almost any recognition. If they do get scholarships, I will add them to the full team depth chart. You can find the current walk ons on the final page of my Google Sheet roster/depth chart link above. Here is where I have IU at as of this writing: Cornerback: Sep 28, 2024; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers defensive back D'Angelo Ponds (5) celebrates after a defensive play against the Maryland Terrapins during the second half at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images Starting at CB, IU returns D’Angelo Ponds, the nations #7 graded returning CB by PFF. Ponds allowed just 32 catches on 60 targets (53.3 completion rate) to go along with his 3 INT’s and 22 Stops (what PFF quantifies as tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense) which was 2nd in in the nation. Ponds will have another chance to add to his already long list of accolades this year. IU returns Jamari Sharpe and brought in Ryland Gandy (Pitt) and Amariyun Knighton (NIU) to help bolster their secondary at CB. All four of the CB’s on my two deep have two more years of eligibility. We will see if Ponds’ last year gets used but the point still stands. I have Sharpe and Gandy splitting time opposite Ponds. Sharpe was really good in his 234 snaps in ‘24, finishing with an above average PFF grade (73 overall) to go along with just 7 catches against in 21 targets (an elite 33% completion rate). I’ve been a fan of Sharpe since he stepped on campus so I’m glad he stuck it out and even though Gandy comes in very highly touted with good numbers from Pitt, I see Sharpe as the starter out of the gate. If last year serves as any barometer, IU doesn't like to rest their starters at CB much but Gandy is probably too good to keep off the field in some capacity. I’m not sure this is a time share but something like 60-40 in favor of Sharpe make sense at least as we stand her in July. Knighton missed time in the spring and I see him as more of a depth option behind Ponds but he’s versatile and long enough to play Safety in a pinch so I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get a decent amount of meaningful snaps. He missed 9 games in his final season at NIU, but it was still his best graded season with an above average 71.2 PFF overall grade (tied for 170th out of 498), that included the game clinching INT vs Notre Dame. Safety: Indiana's Amare Ferrell (1) runs a drill during spring football practice on Thursday, April 10, 2025. A lot of changes here but the one constant is Amare Ferrell. I see Ferrell as a potential all B1G type of player and he’s a no doubt starter and is the 28th overall returning safety per PFF (78.2 overall grade). Opposite Ferrell should be NC State transfer Devan Boykin. Boykin missed last year with a knee injury but was one of the highest graded safeties in ‘23. He’s a true thumper and has a lot of traits similar to IU’s ‘24 starter Shawn Asbury. Smaller but loves to hit and not afraid to play in the box. At Rover, IU brings back Louis Moore from Ole Miss. He didn’t grade out the best in his one year there but I don’t really think he was put in a position to succeed. Anyone who watched the ‘23 IU defense knows that he was by far the best player in a that flawed secondary (finishing 2nd on the team with an above avg 73.3 overall grade). He seems much better suited to be closer to the LOS, either in the slot or in the box (per PFF) and that’s what Rover allows. The back ups in this group are include long time Hoosier Bryson Bonds who will provide depth at each safety spot, Jah Jah Boyd and Byron Baldwin. Boyd was redshirted and Baldwin was the jewel of the ‘24 HS class. It’s too early to tell much with Boyd but he did everything in HS (on both sides of the ball) and is a really good athlete. He seems like a pure slot CB but I need to see what he looks like before I can really tell what IU has. Baldwin, on the other hand, comes in looking ready to play meaningful snaps right away. Listed at 6’2, 195, he reminds me of the guy I have him backing up, Amare Ferrell. Long, rangy, bigger free safety is all over the field on his HUDL videos while playing a national schedule. The sky is the limit for Baldwin. Linebacker: Indiana's Aiden Fisher (4) runs a drill during spring football practice on Thursday, April 10, 2025. Not much more you can say except thank god Aidan Fisher is back. The All American hopes to build on the season he had last year even if he lost his running mate (Jailin Walker). Speaking of Fisher’s running mate…Enter Rolijah Hardy. I loathe football speak like “he’s always around the ball” but that’s kind of the only way you can describe what we saw from Hardy last year and in the spring game. Hardy was an elite run defender in his 170 snaps last year but really needs to get better in coverage. Kaiden Turner and Isaiah Jones have both been at IU going on four years. Jones played a decent amount last year (74.8 overall PFF grade in 207 snaps) and will have a chance to play a lot again this year. He’s basically a third starter in a defense that starts just two. Turner has yet to play almost at all and he has a big opportunity to prove he belongs on this stage. Stud: All American Mikail Kamara returns but this year will be moving over to the “Stud” position. This the hybrid LB/DE position formerly held down by Lanell Carr. There isn’t really much to say about the guy who led the nation in pressures (68) and is the 10th best returning graded DE per PFF (86.4 overall). Behind Kamara, who should play all the snaps he can handle barring injury, I think true sophomore Daniel Ndukwe has the edge. He was trusted enough to be one of just three true freshman who didn’t redshirt last year (DL Mario Landino and WR Charlie Becker). He blocked two punts and, from the eye test, looks the part athletically. Sep 21, 2024; College Park, Maryland, USA; Maryland Terrapins linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II (4) and Maryland Terrapins linebacker Kellan Wyatt (45) celebrate against the Villanova Wildcats during the second quarter at SECU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images Defensive End: IU added Stephen Daley (Kent State) and Kellan Wyatt (Maryland) in the spring transfer window and both graded out well per PFF. I see Daley as the starter at this point but I think both he and Wyatt do a lot of time splitting. In their previous three seasons at their prior schools they combined for 14.5 sacks. Daley was seen by many as a huge add. IU turned this position from one that I looked at a bit nervously heading into the spring to adding two bonafide, B1G caliber pieces. Very nice work by the staff. Interior Defensive Line: With the additions at DE and Kamara moving to Stud, the four I’m rolling with on the interior are Hosea Wheeler, Mario Landino, Tyrique Tucker and Dominique Ratcliff. Wheeler is a rugged, thick DT transfer from Western Kentucky. He played 619 snaps and finished with a (fairly pedestrian) PFF grade 65.7. He did have 27 “Stops” including two and a FF against Alabama. I was sort of indifferent on his addition and figured I’d have Dominque Ratcliff (more on him in a bit) in this spot until I watched this BuffedInPrime YouTube breakdown on him. These guys changed my mind and I now have Wheeler as the starter on my depth chart. He’s going to have to step his game up but the tools are there to be a very good Power 2 iDL. I see Landino backing up Wheeler. Landino is one of the other freshman that played enough games to not keep his redshirt intact and he looked the part in doing it. He’s kind of a tweener and I think he’ll kick out and play DE against teams like Iowa but you rarely see a DL, especially a 2* DL, play at the Power 2 level as a true freshman. But Landino did just that, playing 140 snaps over 12 games on his way to a 69.7 overall PFF grade. It’s not going to be easy to replace 4th round pick CJ West but the two I have as the “-or-” starters at NT are Ratcliff and Tucker. Both are true PFF darlings. Overall, per PFF, they graded out as the 9th (Ratcliff — 82.5 overall) and 19th (Tucker — 78.2 overall) iDL’s among returners. It gets even better. Ratcliff graded out 1st in run defense (90.2 run defense grade) and Tucker is 15th (81.5 run defense grade). If you’ve read me before, I’m a diehard fan of Tucker. I think he was the most underrated player on the defense last year…a defense that was #1 against the run in the country. Both played just over 300 snaps and will likely be in a time share again to keep them fresh. But, to me, that's ideal. Regardless of the snaps, these two should anchor the interior against the run and be havoc makers in the middle. You can find this under the “Specialists / Walk ons / Scholarship #s” tab on the Google Sheets roster page. Subscribe to get access Read more of this content when you subscribe today. Log in

Diving into Depth Charts – IU Defense

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Diving into Depth Charts – IU Defense

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