BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football begins padded practices soon, as it winds its way through its second week of spring.
The compressed schedule will allow the Hoosiers essentially a month of work. Curt Cignetti won’t compromise on what needs done in that time, which means — among other things — sorting through some position battles between now and April 23.
Well, maybe not battles. Certainly questions. Here are three that might be on his mind.
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Remaking Indiana’s running back rotation
Running back coach John Miller appears to have the required tools between Khobie Martin, Boston College transfer Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr., still healing from an ACL tear. Beebe expects to be full go by fall camp, opening the door for another three-man rotation in IU’s offensive backfield.
There’s a theme here — a lot of the positions Indiana must sort out aren’t necessarily battles in the sense that one player will win and another will lose. They’re more about sifting through options, building rotations and assigning roles. With his top two backs from last season’s national title run gone, rebuilding that rotation will be Miller’s No. 1 aim now.
Is, for example, Khobie Martin ready for a more consistent workload, after flashing such potential as the Hoosiers’ third back through much of last season? How quickly can Beebe get healthy, and then game-ready? Will Richard be as successful as transfers before him, not just former James Madison players (Ty Son Lawton, Kaelon Black), but also players pulled from other Power Four schools (Justice Ellison, Roman Hemby)?
Miller appears to have the pieces necessary. The question is of putting them into place. Like all these jobs we’re going to discuss today, that process doesn’t end in spring, but it certainly starts here.
Hoosiers need youth to grow up at tight end
This one is unambiguous in the extreme. For the first time in Cignetti’s three seasons in Bloomington, IU enters the season with precious little returning experience at tight end. Departing from 2024, when he brought Zach Horton from JMU, and 2025, when he signed two veteran tight ends out of the portal, Cignetti opted to enter the spring with only freshmen at the position this year.
Some are second-year players at least, but none have that much experience. And the one with the most — Brock Schott, a Miami transfer whose production last season amounted to two catches for 24 yards — is out for the spring following hip surgery. He’s not alone.
“We’ve got three guys at tight end that are out for the spring,” Cignetti said Thursday. “One of the young tight ends was flexed out (as a receiver) his whole high school career, so I’ll count him as a half. We’ve got 1 1/2 tight ends.”
From that group, Cignetti needs consistency and production. It’s still possible for IU to take another tight end from the portal, but that player has to have already entered. There’s no guarantee such a player would be able to nail down a starting job in such a short space of time. And even if they could, there’s still the question of depth behind them.
Indiana needs some of its young tight ends to grow up quickly this spring.
How will Bryant Haines use safety depth?
This one is half scheme design, and half numbers game.
The Hoosiers stuck consistently to three safeties last season (Devan Boykin, Amare Ferrell, Louis Moore), as defensive coordinator Bryant Haines leaned into three-linebacker looks more often. Without an obvious replacement for Aiden Fisher, it stands to reason Haines might shift back to more two-backer looks, which expands his need at safety.
Making this as much about arranging players in the right order as sorting out three from four.
Ferrell presumably stays at the back end of the defense, where he’s been an anchor for three years. Wisconsin transfer Preston Zachman has historically played there as well. Jiquan Sanks, the Cincinnati transfer, can cover multiple positions based on his prior experience with the Bearcats.
Which leaves Byron Baldwin Jr., so talented as a freshman Indiana elected not to preserve his redshirt even through an injury. Baldwin spent time last season at rover but also appeared to be the backup plan at safety, in the event Moore did not win back his last year of eligibility.
Moore eventually did, and Baldwin needed time to recover from said injury, that arrangement working out for all involved. But Moore is gone now, as is Boykin. There appear to be four players for three spots in the safety/rover room, but if Haines does shift back to playing just two linebackers predominantly, with reserves filling in behind, he’s going to need depth at the back end of his defense. Baldwin’s flexibility appears to give him that.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football must sort through these 3 position battles, or snap shares, in spring practices
Reporting by Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
