USC football was always going to have a tough time winning on the road at Indiana. Now the Trojans’ assignment got even tougher. Indiana star defensive lineman Stephen Daley is coming back for the 2026 season. College Sports Wire has more:
“According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Indiana Hoosiers’ star defensive lineman Stephen Daley has announced that he will return to Bloomington for the 2026 season and spend his fifth year with Curt Cignetti, chasing another national championship. Daley was a massive part of the Hoosiers’ run in 2026, leading the team with 19.0 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.
“However, Daley was unable to play the duration of the season, missing the final two games due to a knee injury. This same knee injury kept him from signing with respective NFL teams this offseason, but allowed him to return to Indiana for one more year, where he was recently cleared by Indiana officials. Daley spent the first three years of his career at Kent State, where he had 103 tackles, 15.5 TFL, and six sacks. He surpassed the TFL number and almost matched the sack number last year alone with the Hoosiers, and will be a massive piece to their defensive line in the 2026 defense.”
Indiana won the national title, storming through the semifinals against Oregon and then winning on Miami’s home field, without Stephen Daley. Now Indiana gets Daley back. It’s notable that Indiana was voted No. 6 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, but that was before the Daley news broke. One wonders how many poll voters would switch their ranking of Indiana relative to No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Oregon based on this developing story.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC opponent gets hugely positive news before 2026 football season
Reporting by Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire | USA TODAY Network
