‘Time To Put It Together’: After Offseason Overhaul, Indiana Builds Toward Cignetti’s First Season

BORDEN, Ind. – New Indiana head football coach Curt Cignetti made his first appearance at Indiana’s annual fundraising event at Huber’s Orchard and Winery last week to discuss his first few months on the job and look ahead to the 2024 season.

It was a busy winter and spring for Cignetti, who replaced 39 outgoing transfers with 30 incoming transfers and 17 freshmen. Following spring practice, Cignetti felt especially good about several offensive positions.

“I think coming out of spring ball, our wide receiver corps looked deep, our running back corps looked deep,” Cignetti said. “I think we’ve got seven or eight offensive linemen we feel good about, developed a few of them.”

Those positions were heavily addressed by the portal. Indiana added four wide receivers – Myles Price (Texas Tech), Miles Cross (Ohio), Elijah Sarratt (James Madison) and Ke’Shawn Williams (Wake Forest) – while retaining 2023 leading receiver Donaven McCulley, E.J. Williams Jr., Omar Cooper Jr. and Andison Coby.

As for running backs, zero scholarship players from the 2023 season returned, so Cignetti brought in transfers Justice Ellison (Wake Forest), Kaelon Black (James Madison), Ty Son Lawton (James Madison), Elijah Green (North Carolina) and Solomon Vanhorse (James Madison).

On the offensive line, 2023 starters Mike Katic and Carter Smith returned to Indiana, but other starters Matthew Bedford (Oregon), Kahlil Benson (Colorado) and Zach Carpenter (Miami) transferred out. Cignetti brought in three transfer offensive linemen, including Nick Kidwell (James Madison), Tyler Stephens (James Madison) and Trey Wedig (Wisconsin).

At quarterback, Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke and returning redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson figure to compete for the starting job ahead of the season opener on Aug. 31 against Florida International.

“There’s competition at every position and it makes you better,” Cignetti said. “Kurtis is new to the program, but I have a lot of confidence in him. He’s played a lot of games. He’s executed a lot of two-minute drives. He’s thrown a lot of critical touchdown passes. He knows how to throw the ball away when he’s in a bad spot and get you back to manageable down and distance. He’s an older guy. I think Tayven made strides in the spring, and there’s some areas everybody’s got to improve still. Tayven’s got some areas that we’re confident he’ll progress. Then we’ve got the young guys.”

Cignetti said the offense was ahead of the defense in the spring, and some of that was due to postseason surgeries to key players. James Madison defensive lineman transfer James Carpenter, plus returning defensive ends Lanell Carr and Venson Sneed did not participate in spring practices, but Cignetti said they’ll be back in fall camp.

On the defensive side, Indiana added James Madison transfer cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, a 2023 Freshman All-American, and defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker during the spring portal window. Other defensive transfer additions in the spring include edge Andrew Depaepe (Michigan State), defensive lineman CJ West (Kent State), linebacker Nahji Logan (UMass), safety DJ Warnell (Arizona) and cornerback Cedarius Doss (Austin Peay).

“Now in the spring transfer portal, we kind of took care of some defensive needs, felt good about that,” Cignetti said.

After an offseason of significant changes, Indiana’s roster could be set for the 2024 season, though players in the transfer portal do not have a deadline to pick their new school. Cignetti and his staff had a busy weekend of official visits for the high school class of 2025, and they’ll also shift their focus to summer workouts and fall camp.

“Now it’s time to put it together,” Cignetti said. “We gotta have a great summer. Guys have to commit, and we normally do a great job there with Derek Owings, our strength and conditioning coordinator. I know we’ll make great strides and progress, have a good fall camp, keep them all healthy, develop and come out ready to play.”