2025 Countdown to Kickoff: #35 Brendan Franke
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 230 pounds
Hometown: Gretna, Nebraska (Texas State)
Class/Position: RS Senior+ / Kicker
Since we started our site, we’ve been committed to covering every aspect of the Indiana Football program. We’ve already broken down the long snapper depth this offseason, and now turn our attention to kicker with just over a month until the opener against Old Dominion on FS1.
Brendan Franke was one of the first portal commits for IU this winter, joining the program from Texas State with teammate DT Dominique Ratcliff. Franke is a sixth-year senior that is expected right away to slot in as IU’s kickoff specialist. Nico Radicic had a phenomenal first season as a starter last year, missing only one kick, but they were conservative with his range and he did not handle primary kickoff duties.
Last year Derek McCormick from UL Monroe was planned to be the kickoff and long field goal guy to form a 1-2 combo with Radicic, but McCormick hurt his leg early in the season and just couldn’t get going after that. IU tried multiple options once McCormick went down, and the kickoff game did take a noticeable step back after he did.
Coach Cignetti will look to follow the same plan that he had in place last year with the addition of Franke. This will actually be Franke’s fourth D1 school, as he’s played two seasons at Nebraska and one season at both Georgia Southern and Texas State, where he’s been the primary kickoff specialist when he’s played. He’s got a big leg and has improved greatly as a kickoff guy as his career has gone on.
At Nebraska during his sophomore and junior seasons in 2021 and 2022, he had kickoff percentages of .613 and .667, respectively. After only playing in four games at Georgia State, he put together a strong season for Texas State last year, playing in all 12 regular season games, and was 64/78 on touchbacks (82.1%). He didn’t kick a ball out of bounds last year (was a problem for IU) and only had 10 of his kickoffs returned. His starting field position after his kickoffs was the 24.67 yard line, which led the Sun Belt and was 14th nationally.
Franke definitely fits the mold of an “under the radar” pickup, but IU places a premium on special teams and he’ll be tasked to see the field multiple times every single game. He may be the first person to touch the ball for IU this season when the season kicks off at home against Old Dominion.