Justice Ellison is Ready to Showcase His Skill and Help Turn IU Football Around

Image:Indiana University Athletics

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Hoosiers backfield will look very different in 2024 and one of those new faces, Justice Ellison is ready to showcase what he can do this fall. Ellison joins the Hoosiers after four seasons with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Ellison had a solid career in Winston-Salem as he played in 43 games with 20 starts. He ran for 1,909 yards and had 16 total touchdowns. However, it was time for a change.

“It was like a no brainer for me. I came here and I was like, once the offense was opened up to me, I was like there's gonna be opportunity for me to really showcase where I could really do.” Ellison explained on his process of entering the transfer portal.

Despite being a newcomer to Indiana, there is familiarity with Ellison and Hoosier offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan.

“Coach Shanahan offered me at JMU as a receiver, and then I ended up changing to play running back at Wake Forest. So when I saw the offerings, I was like, ‘man, this is really gonna be opportunity for me’.” Ellison said.

Shanahan is not the only connection Ellison has to Bloomington as fellow former Wake running back Christian Turner played for the Hoosiers in 2023.

“That's my boy.” Ellison said of Turner. “It was a privilege to be able to be with him and, you know, kind of talk to him before I you know, end up coming here. He pretty much told me what it was and it was cool to be able to relate to him that it is a different staff coming in. It's a whole new new team. But he also encouraged me he told me a little spots to eat at in Bloomington, so that was a little cool.”

While there are plenty of great spots to eat in Bloomington, food wasn’t the main reason Ellison is with the Hoosiers. It was about Curt Cignetti’s passion.

“This guy's passionate and that's what I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of people who, you know, when all else fails, they say ‘okay, you know what we put our mind to it, it doesn't matter what the record was before we can change it around’. So that was it for me.” Ellison said.

“And when I'm having a meeting room, Mom and Dad ain't know what I was gonna say. Ain’t nobody know if I was going to say coach you gotta kick rocks or what? And I just completely just was like Coach like I'm with I'm with the process and I'm with the transformation that you're trying to do here.”

Ellison is one of four new running backs that will be in Bloomington in 2024. Fans will have a chance to get their first glimpse of the Hoosiers in the spring game on Thursday, April 18th.