Written by: TJ Inman
The Indiana Hoosiers have started the transfer portal season incredibly well as the coaching staff begins to put the finishing touches on the roster for the 2026-2027 campaign. However, fans were anxiously awaiting news about additions to the offensive line. The “big uglies” upfront have been fantastic this season under position coach Bob Bostad and the success of the offense depends on repeating that performance next season. Indiana took a huge step towards securing another one of the Big Ten’s best offensive lines as they dipped into familiar waters and grabbed a commitment from Joe Brunner. Brunner is a 6’5” player that will be a redshirt senior next season and he started for the past two seasons as the left guard for the Wisconsin Badgers.
Bob Bostad has a whole lot of connections in the state he spent so much time in and Brunner is a native of Whitefish Bay that looks exactly what you’d expect a Badger offensive lineman to look like. He played in four games in 2022 and redshirted, played in 11 games in 2023 and then started at left guard in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, Brunner logged a Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade of 77.8 and he followed that up with a grade of 72.7 in 2025. That puts him in the top tier of Big Ten offensive guards as a pass blocker. In more than 1,500 career snaps as a left guard, Brunner has allowed a grand total of only 3 quarterback hits and he has not surrendered a single sack. He was an Academic All-Big Ten student and earned Honorable Mention All-Big Ten honors for his play in 2025. IU reportedly beat out the Texas Longhorns for his commitment.
Offensive lines are an interconnected group of five players that have to work together and mesh as a unit so where does Brunner fit in to the expected roster next season? The decision made by Carter Smith will play a huge role in how the line looks but it won’t really impact Brunner’s position as he won’t be playing tackle. We know that Khalil Benson and Zen Michalski have exhausted their eligibility and starting center Pat Coogan will be moving on as well after an incredibly impactful one season in Bloomington. Adedamola Ajani started the Rose Bowl at right tackle and looked great so the expectation is he will become the full-time starter at right tackle. Drew Evans and Bray Lynch both return and Lynch has experience at center so he could slide to that position in the starting lineup. That leaves a starting spot open at one of the guard spots. For the purposes of projection, assuming Carter Smith is back, Brunner could start at his favored left guard spot while Drew Evans starts at right guard, Bray Lynch gets the nod at center and Adedamola Ajani takes over full-time at right tackle. Regardless of how it plays out, Joe Brunner appears to be an excellent addition to Bob Bostad’s offensive line.