BLOOMINGTON — Former Indiana football quarterback Fernando Mendoza is still making a difference in Bloomington.
The Hoosiers have a handful of starters, Carter Smith and Charlie Becker among them, who are deleting their social media for the season to silence any potential distractions just as Mendoza did last season.
Smith and Becker are both generating buzz as first-round draft picks as well.
“Seeing all that stuff on social media gives you a little relief for a little while, but after a while it starts to creep up on you and maybe kills your preparation or your mindset,” Smith said. “So just trying to quiet all that stuff out and continue to just stack days.”
In the face of unprecedented expectations in Bloomington, Indiana’s veterans are setting an example for the rest of the roster.
“It’s a new team and this team’s got to prove everything they want this year,” Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones said.
Here’s what else stood out during the third week of fall camp:
Indiana football has strong chemistry in the trenches
Indiana football has areas with continuity up front on both sides of the ball that could be clearly defined strengths for the team. At defensive tackle, Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino started 11 games together last season, starting with IU’s win in Eugene over Oregon.
“We have good chemistry and natural ability to just play off of each other,” Tucker said. “We kind of understand what’s going on around us. And it helps us when we know what the end is doing, the stud is doing, what everyone involved is doing.”
Having two players well versed in each other’s tendencies along with the playbook is a huge asset in a defense as complex as the one Indiana runs.
“We’re going to throw a lot of looks at you, a lot of different schemes at you to ultimately confuse you,” Tucker said.
Last season, Tucker and Landino were one of the most productive tandems in the country. They each had 30 quarterback pressures and at least 20 stops, tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense.
The left side of Indiana’s offense has even more time on task together. Carter Smith and Drew Evans have started 21 games together going back to the 2024 season. In 2025, neither of them gave up a sack in the regular season and only gave up nine quarterback pressures between them.
“Having that connection with the guy you’re playing next to makes all the difference,” Smith said.
Indiana football’s starting offensive line locked and loaded?
Coming out of Indiana’s first scrimmage of the fall, Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti doesn’t look like he’s in a hurry to make any additional changes to the first-team offensive line. Joe Brunner is receiving rave reviews at right tackle, Adedamola Ajani is comfortable at right guard and Bray Lynch aced his audition at center.
According to Cignetti, Lynch has taken 90% of the reps with the ones at the position during camp and done a “really nice job.”
Ajani is the youngest player in the group, but he played 361 snaps last season (four starts) and got experience playing in high-pressure situations, from making his first career start at Beaver Stadium to helping the Hoosiers close out a win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game.
That doesn’t mean Indiana offensive line coach Bob Bostad will stop moving linemen around, especially among the reserves. Unlike last season, the Hoosiers don’t have a veteran on the bench who can step into the lineup at multiple spots.
Cignetti told reporters that Austin Leibfried, Baylor Wilkin, Matt Marek and Sam Simpson are among the backup linemen having a strong fall camp.
Indiana football wants more than a one-two punch at receiver
The top of Indiana’s two-deep at receiver doesn’t have any question marks. It’s not even a stretch to say Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh might be the most talented receiving duo in the country.
Marsh has long since moved on from the lesson he learned in the spring about his attire.
“He’s made some really nice plays in fall camp, made a great catch in the scrimmage,” Cignetti said. “Big, long, strong guy. He’s good after the catch. Him and Becker are two long guys that have a good track record.”
Cignetti’s main concern going into the team’s Week 1 matchup against North Texas is establishing more depth at the position. Tyler Morris, who won a title at Michigan in 2023, and Shazz Preston, Tulane’s leading receiver last season, are in the mix along with younger guys like Davion Chandler and LeBron Bond.
Preston is playing a little bit of catch after missing time early in camp with a hip injury. Morris missed the team’s first fall scrimmage for personal reasons.
“We’ve got to figure it out,” Cignetti said. “Shazz Preston has talent, but he’s got to be locked in assignment-wise and do the right thing, play in, play out. He can help us if he can do that.”
The Hoosiers coaching staff showed they were excited about Chandler and Bond last year by not having them redshirt. Chandler, part of the pipeline IU has established out of Lawrence North High School, made an impression in 2025 with a 65-yard touchdown reception against Purdue.
“I think Davion’s made good progress here recently,” Cignetti said. “He’s got a lot of talent, can play inside and outside.”
Two-minute drill
∎ What rust? At practice this week, Smith broke a brace he was wearing on his surgically repaired arm.
“I think I’m feeling extra strong from that,” Smith said.
Smith, who won Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year honors last season, had to sit out spring camp after having surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He doesn’t feel like he’s missed a beat.
“In terms of playing the game, you know, it never really leaves,” Smith said. “Being out for the spring ball and, you know, just being a part of the offense, still having a good gauge and watching everything that’s happening really doesn’t really count me out. I’m feeling good and it’s good to be back in there.”
∎ Khobie Martin, Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. are embracing Indiana’s running back by committee approach just as their predecessors did.
“It keeps everybody fresh where you can beat and bruise the defense,” Martin said. “We got three deadly weapons in the backfield, everybody could do something, so everybody stays fresh. It just leaves defenses tired and not knowing what to do.”
It’s also clear Cignetti has them on equal footing, as evidenced by his insistence on having them speak to reporters as a group, just as he did back in the spring. Cignetti knows an effective ground game will help take the pressure off quarterback Josh Hoover as he looks to get settled in Bloomington.
Last year, the Hoosiers topped 300 rushing yards in their first four games while averaging 6.8 yards per carry. That kind of production in the weeks to come would make Hoover’s job a much easier one.
∎ Martin also detailed some of the ways he’s matured since being on campus. One important change he made during the offseason was putting more of an emphasis on his diet. The meal prepping he’s committed to has helped him drop the “baby fat” from his 6-foot, 204-pound frame.
“This meal prep has really taken my weight and just my body composition to a different level,” Martin said. “And I feel like I got a lot more muscle in my arms, toned down a little bit.”
The third-year back told reporters he feels “faster and twitcher,” a scary thought for the Big Ten defenses he’s going to face this fall considering he averaged 3.9 yards after contact and had 15 carries of 10 yards or more.
∎ Indiana’s veteran defenders like what they see from freshman Blake Smythe. The 6-2, 283-pounder has built on the progress he made as an early enrollee out of the team’s 2026 signing class.
“He’s a fast learner and he kind of gets it, right off the rip,” Tucker said. “He’s a great, great addition. And he’s definitely making a case to get some playing time this year.”
Tucker and Landino will play the majority of the snaps with Tulsa transfer Joe Hjelle as the likely next man up, but IU rotated four defensive tackles in 2025. The fourth man in that rotation, Dominique Ratcliff, played 288 snaps.
Smythe is among six underclassmen at the position vying for a spot on the two-deep.
Quote of the week
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: What we learned during Indiana football’s third week of fall camp
Reporting by Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
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By Michael Niziolek, The Herald-Times | USA TODAY Network
