The Indiana Hoosiers are entering the final week of fall camp and the start of the 2025 season is creeping closer. IU has been progressing and getting better according to head coach Curt Cignetti, but the coach isn’t satisfied with that.
“Making progress but never satisfied, and that is sort of the theme right now.” Cignetti said at the open of his Monday press conference.
Entering week three of fall camp the Hoosiers are trying to work on the little things that win games and figure out who will be on the field when it matters most.
“Our focus is getting the offense, defense and special teams in the situations that come up during a football game and proven players creating depth and competition: who’s going to be a one, who’s going to be a two. Developing players all around and improving our practices and making them more clean.” Cignetti said.
Cignetti and the Hoosiers entered fall camp looking to improve upon the success they tasted last year when IU went 11-2. However, the coach looks improvement in smaller increments.
“We don’t look at a body of work from last season and try every day to improve upon it. We try to improve upon yesterday’s practice or the previous drill or the previous rep. What we’re really trying to do is improve our focus, our concentration, our urgency, our communication, how we react, respond.” Cignetti explained.
It’s a simple formula for Cignetti and his staff. The more players who have improving rep by rep, the better the team will be. The Hoosiers wrap up fall camp this week before switching gears to prepare for Old Dominion.
Other Notes from Fall Camp
Wide receiver EJ Williams has been talked about throughout camp as a key piece to the offense. Cignetti spoke about how he has progressed over the summer.
“EJ’s got a lot of talent, he’s made plays, matter of him keeping him on the field. Got off to a little bit of a slow start in camp, but I’ve really seen him pick it up probably since practice four or five and become a lot more consistent. He can be a playmaker and we’re going to need him to be a playmaker. “
Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been the center of plenty of praise this summer. Cignetti gave an update on his progress.
He’s big, big guy that’s very mobile, got a quick whip, got good velocity on the ball, can really drive it. So, you know, he’s done a nice job of learning the offense and still not perfect, but nobody out there is.
Cignetti touched on the Hoosiers options at the punt return position
The punt return job, we’ve been working two, three guys, little competition going on there. We haven’t really determined. Number one thing is, catch the football, make sure the ball is in our possession at the end of the play, and then use good judgment in terms of whether to play the hop or inside the 10, and then be being able to communicate to the other players on short kicks. Peter calls things of that nature. Everything after that, when he catches the ball, what he can get us is a plus.
Cignetti addressed the challenges that the Hoosiers are facing this season.
I think the challenges for every team are usually the same, and that’s to improve as much as possible and to be consistent, to not be like that, to always play up there.
Indiana will hold their second scrimmage of fall camp on Tuesday.