Numbers That Mattered: No. 5 Indiana vs. Howard

Numbers drive so much in today’s world and the sports world is no different. Now more than ever teams are hiring and building analytics teams to get every edge possible over their opponents. Over the course of the season, we’ll look into many of those numbers following each of the Indiana Hoosiers’ matchups each week, so be on the lookout for that!

Without further ado, let’s get into it:

36th

…is where Nick Marsh ranks on Pro Football Focus’ (PFF’s) run blocking grade rankings among wide receivers across the country with a grade of 67.0. Now, I know typically for these articles I stick to very, very high rankings and try to find if someone is 1st, or 5th, or something else in that regard across the country, but I wanted to highlight Marsh here. When you put this number into context, this says that Nick Marsh is a top 50 run blocker among all wide receivers in the country. This is incredibly impressive because it’s something you just don’t see all too often among receivers of Marsh’s caliber.

Nick Marsh was a four-star recruit, one of the best wide receivers of his class, and was one of the top ranked transfer targets in the most recent year’s transfer class after excelling during his time at Michigan State. He is projected to be a first round pick in this coming year’s NFL draft, is likely getting paid a significant amount right now with his IU NIL deal, and is one of the most talented players in the entire country. But…he’s also doing things like this on the field? Look at #11 who begins in motion and then ends up on the far left side of the screen.

Marsh absolutely bulldozes his defender! The effort being shown is unreal, and is something that deserves recognition. Marsh is one of the best receivers in the country on a skill standpoint, but from these grades and video evidence, it is clear that he is one of the best in the blocking and effort department as well.

7th

…is where Indiana running back Turbo Richard ranks when measuring missed tackles forced among running backs nationwide. Richard has forced 13 missed tackles thus far in 2026, which is particularly impressive as Richard has fewer rushing attempts than all of his competitors above him in this rankings list. Richard arrived to Indiana from Boston College in the most recent transfer portal window and has been a true weapon in the back field. He runs with the unique combination of power, speed, and elusiveness that elite teams need in order to win tough games and championships.

In fact, Pro Football Focus developed a metric to measure elusiveness that combines missed tackles forced, yards after contact, and overall touches of the football. Richard ranks 25th in the country by this metric, but it is a bit skewed as this metric runs on counting stats and not any kind of normalized metric (like per play stats). As such, because Indiana very intentionally splits carries among their running backs, Richard has less opportunity to rise up these rankings. Nonetheless, by that elusiveness metric, Richard is just two spots behind former Indiana Hooser Jaylin Lucas. For those who remember him, you’ll remember his incredible level of shiftiness in the backfield. Now, imagine a running back even better and stronger than Lucas, and you have Turbo Richard. What a weapon he is in this Indiana back field.

6th

…is where Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones ranks among all linebackers in the country when measuring PFF’s Run Stop % metric. This metric only looks at snaps where a running play occurred and then measures the % of those snaps where a player made a “stop”, which means he made a tackle that constitutes a “loss” for the offense, per PFF’s definitions. Jones ranks 6th in the country among linebackers by this metric with a run stop % of 23.8%. This basically translates to saying – over the first two games of the 2026 season – that for every running play the opposition ran against the Hoosiers (while Jones was on the field), there was a 1 in 4 chance that Jones was going to not only 1.) make the tackle, but 2.) stop the opposition for a loss on the play.

This is absolutely ridiculous the more I think about it. Jones has been on the field for 42 running play snaps and has made a “stop” (tackle resulting in a loss for the offense) in 10 of those snaps. Mind you, there are 10 other players on the defense with Jones! However, Jones is the one stopping seemingly all of these rushing attempts. It is mind boggling how dominant he has been in the run game and it will be incredibly interesting to track this metric over time as the competition improves. Jones is and has been a leader for this Indiana defense for some time now, and it is clear why through his effort, talent, and fit in Bryant Haines’ defensive schemes.

As always, thank you for reading! We’ll be back next week with more numbers and takeaways from the Hoosiers’ matchup against Western Kentucky this coming Saturday. Go IU!