I’m working under the assumption that IUFB is probably done in the portal and we’re nearly set with the current roster. I use this space to talk about the depth chart as I see it at this moment in time. Depth charts are extremely fluid, especially when practice starts so these are subject to change but the points I’m making, typically, are still what I believe even if I make a switch because until we get reports from live practices, I’m just guessing.
You can find the working Google Sheet here as well as checking the Hoosier Huddle message board where it is a pinned topic.
It’s updated with current class, weight, height, total scholarship, walk-ons and more. I recommend viewing on a desktop and not on Twitter or any “preview” type browser. It looks much better in almost any browser than the one Twitter has. Also, you can click on the players IU profile which I update as soon as players are given a page on the IU website.
Today I’m going to hit the safety position. IUFB currently has 42 scholarships on defense and 19% of those scholarships are going to safety (8).
Who IUFB Loses at Safety
The IU safety room lost a ton from their National Championship team. Gone are Devan Boykin, Pro Football Focus’ #5 overall graded safety and the #24 overall graded, Louis Moore.
I’ll keep saying this but it seems to get lost just how good Devan Boykin was for IU. Outside of his strip sack TD of Maryland QB Malik Washington, he didn’t really make flashy plays…he just made the *right* plays.
Boykin missed just two tackles all season (3.6% missed tackle rate) which was second on IU behind all everything CB D’Angelo Ponds (3%). He also finished with 28 “stops” (tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense) which was 26th nationally. Add to that the 24th overall coverage grade and you’re talking about a complete safety that I don’t think got the recognition he deserved among all the elite players on that ’25 IU defense. He’s undersized but Boykin not getting a combine invite is silly but he, Mikail Kamara and Kaelon Black will all play in the NFL and all were snubbed for the Indianapolis based event.
And I think Louis Moore did get the accolades he deserved as he led IU with 6 INT’s and got an NFL Combine invite. Moore should be a mid-round pick in April.
All that to say that IU lost two All-American level players and had to replace them at sfaety.
Reloaded Safety Room
In my top tier and back for his final go around at IU is Amare Ferrell. I actually thought Ferrell had a down year compared to his ’24. After all, Ferrell still finished as the PFF #36 overall Safety for ’25 but I felt like he may have tired out a bit down the stretch in the playoff. And who can blame him. College kids never play 16 games and Ferrell played the most snaps of any IU defender at 819.
Ferrell is a no doubt starter who will lead IU’s secondary post Lou Moore and post D’Angelo Ponds but he’ll have help in 7th year player, and Wisconsin transfer, Preston Zachman.
Zachman has nearly 1500 snaps under his belt at Wisconsin but was injured after just 116 in ’25. He had two INT’s in ’25 but it’s kind of hard to take a ton from those numbers as he was injured in his third game and never played again.
In ’24, however, Zachman played nearly 750 snaps, a much bigger sample, and he excelled. He finished as the 33rd overall safety by PFF with an NFL passer rating against of just 73.5 to go along with two INT’s and 13 stops. We’ll see how much Zachman still has in the tank after the injuries he’s had in his career but regardless, he brings valuable leadership that comes with being in your 7th season of major college football.
The other starter I have on my two deep is Byron Baldwin Jr. The 6’2, 194lbs Baldwin came to IU as the 9th best recruit in IU history, a 4*, top 250 player out of St. Frances Prep in Baltimore.
Baldwin was injured during fall camp. Make no mistake about it: Baldwin came to IU to play his freshman year, not sit. As soon as he was healthy (week 9), IU had him on the field on defense (39 total snaps) and special teams where he was a key contributor, including 5 special teams tackles in his 9 appearances with four of those coming in each of the playoff games and the B1G Title Game.
You can see the talent just from looking at him and I expect him to be a starter on defense when IU lines up to play in August…
The final mention here is for Quan Sanks. The 5’10, 189lbs Sanks will be a true junior after spending his first two years at Cincinnati. He racked up 802 snaps in two seasons as he moved into a starting role in ’25.
Sanks’ PFF grades aren’t particularly great but those are weighed down by really rough coverage grades. He played 242 snaps in the box last season and that’s why I have him backing up Baldwin at Rover. He’s a good tackler who was exposed in coverage his first two seasons giving up 5 penalties, a 140.1 passer rating against and allowing 26 of 35 targets to be caught (74.3%) for 399 yards and 3 TD’s. His career missed tackle rate is a fine 10.8% but I think IU brought him in for quality depth who’s played a lot of snaps already with an eye for ’27 to see if they can turn him into a Devan Boykin type player. Boykin similarly struggled in coverage until he came to IU and they’re essentially the same sized player.
I don’t have Sanks as a starter right now. My guess is that he’s the first guy up at Rover if there are injuries to any of the safety spots. So, say if Zachman went down, and I could see Baldwin moving back to traditional safety, with Sanks slotting into start at Rover.
My second tier is, again, a lot of athletes that haven’t really had the chance to show what they can do on the field…and that’s fine! IU seems to be leaning into the fact that outside of their starters, they’re going to be relying on Curt Cignetti‘s first three classes to fill the void. After all, these guys have to get a shot to play at some point.
One of the guys who I expected to be in the above tier, Jah Jah Boyd, transferred out because he probably saw the writing on the wall of not starting. Still, he was good when he played and his loss is a blow to depth.
Sophomore safety Garrett Reese is the only non walk on who played any snaps on defense (6 total) so this is a very green group.
Clearly, similar to Byron Baldwin, if IU was willing to burn Garrett Reese’s mostly on special teams, it means they like him. They did the same thing with WR Charlie Becker in ’24 and typically it means they see those types as guys that will move quickly up the depth chart.
Reese is very interesting. He was a 3* athlete from Nazareth Academy outside Chicago. He’s got prototypical size (6’2, 203) and looks a lot like Amare Ferrell when on the field. Long, lean and athletic and I see him as a pure deep safety type given the other body types on the roster at this point.
The other ’25 class player I have in this tier is Seonta Stewart. Another long prospect (6’1, 203) was a 3* prospect from the Cincinnati area that played both CB and Safety in high school. We didn’t see him at all last year but with how little depth IU has after Boyd left, Stewart is going to get a chance to show what he’s got this Spring and, athletically, he should be be able to do that given his HUDL videos out of HS.
Finally, IU brought in D’Montae Tims at the very end of the ’26 cycle and land his commitment. He’s already physically ready. He hits like a LB at 6’1, 205lbs and looks like an in the box safety type that might even grow into a LB if he continues to get bigger. Either way, he is a fluid athlete that I think has a chance to get on the field early given this type of stuff he put on film. Tims seems like a kid that will probably contribute early on special teams at a minimum given his college ready size and speed.
The final safety in the room is a ’26 commit named Jamar Owens. The 6’0, 165lbs Owens is a deep safety prospect who showed really athleticism coming out of Douglas County HS in Georgia. Owens had one of the better offer lists of any IU commit (46 total!!), boasting offers from the likes of Michigan, Texas, USC, LSU and Florida to name a few.
He played on offense and defense in HS and the only reason I don’t see him getting on the field early is that he’s just 165lbs, but, you can see the type of athlete he is in his HUDL videos and he’s a kid that has a bright future at IU, if not in ’26, certainly soon.