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 defensive tackle position. IU currently has 42 scholarships on defense and 21% of those scholarships are going to defensive tackles (9).
There is a clear top three on the interior for IU heading into Spring Practice. IU will look to replace the graduating Dominique Ratcliff (288 snaps) and the transferring Hosea Wheeler (420 snaps).
Back are the top two interior DL from the national title team in Mario Landino and Tyrique Tucker. Anyone who’s reading this post is aware of just how important those two are and both are written in pen as both are potential all league and All America candidates again for ’26.
Not much more to say on those two but I do want to throw out some stats to highlight just how good they were. Each was credited by Pro Football Focus with 30 pressures. Those numbers were tied for third on IU but were tied for 16th nationally among iDL (or the 97th percentile in pressures). Granted, the two played 16 games and many around them played 13-15, but you can see just how disruptive the two were from their interior spots…a spot that typically doesn’t produce a ton of pressures.
Add to that they didn’t just pressure the QB, they combined for 11 sacks and batted 6 balls down. Just to reiterate, these are two of the better returning interior DL in all of college football and they’re both playing for IU in ’26.
With the losses of Wheeler and Ratcliff, who played significant snaps in ’25 and the relative youth of the rest of the really good crop of talented iDL’s IU has marinating, IU was going to have to add to this room and, while I sort of figured it would be two more guys, they added just one in Joe Hjelle from Tulsa. I think IU adding just one iDL is a very good sign that they like their depth in the young guys but we’ll get to them in a bit.
The 6’3, 309lbs Hjelle finished 24th in iDL grade by PFF, had 2.5 sacks and accumulated just 12 pressures at Tulsa but that wasn’t really what he was being asked to do.
Hjelle is a JUCO transfer up to Tulsa and he played 754 snaps the past two seasons with 84% of those coming in the B gap, meaning he’s not a true nose tackle but does have over 100 snaps there in his career.
My take away from that is that IU is going to probably use Hjelle and Landino in a much more interchangeable role depending on down, distance and opponent…kind of like they’ve always done. It wouldn’t be shocking at all to see all three of my spring tier one iDL on the field together at times. And I didn’t even mention the fact that IU added massive SDE Chiddi Obiazor (6’5, 275) who can easily kick inside and provide much of the same as type of “multiple” looks that Landino can with their versatility.
I’m absolutely pumped about the top three guys here and think this room has a chance to be even better than it was last year…when…if you remember…IU won the National Championship.
Here’s where we get into the total unknown.
The only player to play in ’25 at all was redshirt freshman Kyler Garcia who got 5 snaps in one game. Otherwise, no one played at all, so this is all conjecture on my part and the depth chart will be decided on the field in Spring Practice and Fall Camp this summer. I’m going to be linking a ton of HUDL highlights so you can see for yourself what IU is working with but these are also a couple years old at this point and may not actually mean much because most of these guys are stronger and faster.
I’m going to start with Garcia even though he’s not on my two deep. My guy from the Voice of College Football at Indiana Alec Keezer is also a huge fan of Garcia and you can see why in his HUDL video. I think he might be the best of the iDL prospects but he’s got Hjelle and Landino, who are both really not NT types, ahead of him in the DT spot.
Garcia is a big, long kid with strong hands and good rip through. He’s essentially exactly what iDL coach Pat Kuntz looks for in his 3T guys. The ability to rush but also defend the run and, potentially, to kick outside if needed in a pinch. I think Garcia is much more an inside guy in the Hjelle mold than the Landino mold but he’s a good athlete and we haven’t really seen him since HS.
Next up in the “bag of young guys vying for playing time” is a guy I do have on my two deep in redshirt freshman Jhrevious Hall. Another guy we just don’t know much about other than his HUDL videos. A 3* from Columbia, TN, Hall is the exact body type Kuntz looks for in his nose tackles. Stout, violent hands, the ability to get under iOL and move them back but also good vision and block shedding ability.
If IU’s season were to start tomorrow, my guess is Garcia and Hall are both in the rotation given their HUDL videos and the fact that they’re entering their second year of Spring Practice.
Onto the true freshman.
If you told me that one of these guys emerged and played meaningful snaps as a freshman, I honestly wouldn’t be shocked. Again, I don’t think the staff would have only added one guy if they weren’t confident in their young guys to play early if and when needed.
The two obvious names are the two highest ranked guys from the ’26 class that both enrolled early and that’s Cameron McHaney and Gabe Hill.
Both McHaney, originally from Indiana but played at elite prep power IMG in Florida, and Hill, from suburban Chicago power Naperville North, were composite 4*’s by the services.
McHaney, from his HUDL videos, looks like a prototype NT. He came into IU weighing much less than I thought but that’s probably a sign that IU told him to lose a little weight so they could build him back up. He’s a penetrating NT who looked pretty much unblockable against a national schedule. I felt like he was one of the better gets in the class and kind of gets overlooked. I’ll be excited to hear how he looks this Spring to see if he might have a chance to steal some snaps in the fall.
Hill is in the same boat. Hill’s HUDL showed that he played inside an out along the DL and possesses nice pass rush moves but also the ability to move interior guys by getting under them and driving them back with his strength.
Neither Hill nor McHaney are the long body type of Landino or Garcia but both understand leverage like Tyrique Tucker and use it to their advantage against high school OL. We need to see that translate to the P2 level but if they can continue to build on how they looked in their senior seasons, IU may have two guys pushing for playing time early.
The only reason I have Blake Smythe and Rodney White this low is because of their HS ranking because their HUDL videos would suggest that they’re really disruptive iDL’s with a chance to make an impact at the high major level in time.
I don’t think either will play much this season but if you watch Smythe, he’s athletic and thick and hard to block. He’s got good power and is learning pass rush moves. I think the biggest issue I have with Smythe is the competition. He looks really good but how good are the guys he’s playing? You’ll see me on Twitter when I post these videos talk about the “competition caveat” applying…This is a case where it may but he also looks very athletic with good jump off. I’m very excited to see what he brings in the Spring.
White, actually, had the best iDL videos I watched from the IU freshman class. I give the edge to McHaney only because he played at IMG but White played at a prep school as well so the competition, while not on the IMG level, was still probably pretty good. He was basically unblockable inside and uses leverage very well. He also showed he can hold off an OL with one arm, find the ball and make a play. I just felt like he had a ton of similarities to Tyrique Tucker but was a little taller.