‘Foundation Building’ – Hoosiers Open Spring Football Practice
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Extra work? Of course, there was as Indiana opened spring football practice, its national championship run in the rear-view mirror, build up for another run in motion.
Thursday’s 90-minute morning session at the Mellencamp Pavilion was over, but preparation was not. Players gathered for more, honing their craft with a jugs machine to catch passes, working on defensive technique on the outside practice fields, and running and throwing to dial in timing.
Earlier, new quarterback Josh Hoover threw completions to new receiver Nick Marsh, returning receiver Charlie Becker, and injury-recovered receiver Tyler Morris during offense drills.
This was part of the first of 13 spring practices that will culminate with the April 23 spring game. As head coach Curt Cignetti said, “I thought we moved around pretty well. The drill organization was good, which is what I had my eye on. When you've got that many new guys (nearly 40 counting freshmen and transfers) it's your practice standards and the things that you preach that are important about playing winning football.
“There was some good, some bad, some ugly, as always. Every day, we want to get better.”
IU is coming off one of the greatest seasons in college football history. The Hoosiers went 16-0 to win their first national championship, an amazing accomplishment given they entered the season as major college football’s all-time losingest program. Northwestern now has that designation.
Indiana never trailed in its three playoff victories over Alabama, Oregon, and Miami. It also beat Ohio State to win the program’s first outright Big Ten title since 1945.
It’s been a spectacular run under Cignetti, who is 27-2 in his two IU seasons with a pair of playoff appearances.
Now comes the quest to do it again.
Cignetti has talked about not just sustaining IU’s unprecedented success, but improving on it. While you can’t improve on 16-0, he said, you can get better in “day-to-day consistency, the tools in your toolkit and the things you do to help guys be the best they can be.”
“Even when you win games,” he added, “there are a lot of plays you'd love to have back; there are a lot of calls you'd love to have back; there are missed assignments that hurt you. Those are the things you focus on that you need to improve on.”
Coaches normally start spring practice before spring break, but with the mid-January end the season, Cignetti made sure to give his veterans extra rest. Now that practice has started, “all we're going to try to do is get as much juice, squeeze as much juice out of this group as we can and take them as far as we can,” Cignetti said.
Returning standouts include Becker (34 catches, 679 yards, four touchdowns last year), linebackers Rolijah Hardy (102 tackles, eight sacks last season) and Isaiah Jones (78 tackles, seven sacks, one interception), defensive backs Jamari Sharpe (50 tackles, the national-title-clinching interception against Miami) and Amare Ferrell (48 tackles, four interceptions), offensive lineman Carter Smith, and All-Big Ten kicker Nico Radicic (39-for-42 on career field goals).
The revamped roster includes heralded transfer standouts such as Hoover from TCU, Marsh from Michigan State, running back Turbo Richard from Boston College, offensive lineman Joe Brunner from Wisconsin and defensive lineman Tobi Osunsanmi from Kansas State.
Hoover has thrown for 9,629 yards, 71 touchdowns and 33 interceptions in three college seasons. Marsh caught 59 passes for 662 yards and six TDs last season, and 41 for 649 and three in 2024. Richard rushed for 749 yards and nine touchdowns last season.
Beyond the players, Tino Sunseri is back as quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator after spending time last season as the UCLA offensive coordinator. He worked for Cignetti for four previous seasons at IU and James Madison.
Tyson Brown is the new director of athletic performance. He previously spent two years at UConn, and six seasons at Washington State, plus a year at USF and two years at Washington.
Much of Cignetti’s Indiana success was due to the James Madison players who came with him to Bloomington. With standouts such as linebacker Aiden Fisher, defensive lineman Mikail Kamara, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds and running back Kaelon Black gone, the challenge is in getting the new player to understand the program’s standard and winning culture.
It began with winter conditioning. Spring practice is the next phase, followed by summer workouts and then fall camp. The season opens Sept. 5 against North Texas. The Hoosiers also will host Howard and Western Kentucky before beginning Big Ten action by hosting Northwestern on Sept. 26.
“We've had a good off-season,” Cignetti said, “and now this is the important part in putting it between the white lines, understanding the standard, the expectation level, the accountability. It’s doing the things that we preach that led to winning games and not doing the things that lose games.”
Cignetti said this team requires more work than his first two IU squads “simply because there are so many players that we don't have a one- to three-year relationship. Even in the first year, there were quite a few we knew very well.”
Cignetti said winter training went well. Now comes player development.
“I put the portal guys and the high school guys in different categories because a lot of the portal guys are 21, 22 years old, and they've been around the block once or twice,” he said. “The young guys who are 17, 18 and who are in college for the first time, they don't know they don't know.”
He paused for effect.
“They don't know they don't know.
“But we've got some returners that forgot what they knew. We’re building a house from the ground up again. We've got to have that edge and be humble and hungry.
“We've got a number of portal guys that appear to be in position to really help us, but after one practice and without watching tape, it's really hard to say who and how many.”