Hoosiers Defense Preparing for Dual Threat QB in FIU's Keyone Jenkins

Written By Nick Gonzales (@nrgonzales_)

College Football is finally back, and Indiana is trying to set the tone early with their first game of the season against FIU this Saturday (8/31/24, 3:30pm)! After Georgia Tech’s shocking win against #10 ranked Florida State in an incredible upset, the Hoosiers will have a lot of preparing to do in order to not lose in an embarrassing fashion. Indiana is a 21-point favorite against FIU, but it’s college football and anything could happen.

In Monday’s press conference, Cignetti addressed some of the things he noticed about FIU, such as their stable of receivers with some additions from the portal, the return of all of the running backs who played last season and their experienced secondary.

He also pointed out the return of some of their leading tacklers like linebacker Reggie Peterson (101 tackles). FIU also has some good specialists to watch out for such as their kicker, punter, long snapper, and return people.

However, Cignetti’s main emphasis was how dangerous FIU’s dual threat quarterback, Keyone Jenkins, will be to face.

“Well, he's an extremely capable passer, but when he gets out of the pocket, he does a really nice job of extending plays. And even though he's a really good athlete that can tuck it and run and gain a lot of yards, he's going to look to throw first and does a nice job of finding people when he extends plays,” Coach Cignetti responded when asked about QB Keyone Jenkins.

The Hoosiers’ defense is going to come up against an athletic passer for their first game of the season and they’ll need a united front to stop him from making big plays. Coach Cig stressed how important it is for the defensive line to keep pressure on Jenkins throughout the game. If they can contain him in the pocket, Jenkins won’t have the ability to extend plays or take off and gain some yards on the ground. If the defensive line can keep that pressure on him and give him little time to make decisions, then the Hoosiers should have a fairly smooth game on the defensive side of the ball. It also comes down to the cornerbacks and safeties to be joined at the hip with FIU’s receivers to not give them the room they need to make a play.

“So, it’ll be a challenge, and we’ll have to play well. And I want to see us play fast and physical and cut out some of the mistakes we made in the first two scrimmages -- penalties, missed assignments, things of that nature -- but also play smart, disciplined and poised,” Cignetti announced during his opening statement.

If the defense can consistently do their jobs against FIU and provides IU’s offense with good field position, then it is up to IU’s offense to utilize the field positions that they are given and score.

Cignetti mentioned that the team isn’t fully prepared yet for the season, but that’s what makes this week so important. He is working with haste and spending all of his available time to ensure that the team is in the best possible position to be as good as they can be when game day arrives.