Author: Mike Schumann

College sports will never be the same. A California judge on Friday evening approved the NCAA’s landmark settlement of three antitrust cases collectively known as the “House settlement,”, ushering in a new era. “We look forward to implementing this historic settlement designed to bring stability, integrity and competitive balance to college athletics while increasing both scholarship and revenue opportunities for student-athletes in all sports,” said Tony Petitti, Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. The key components of the settlement have been well understood for months, and schools like Indiana have been preparing for this day. Here are the underpinnings of…

ESPN’s Jordan Reid listed IU football quarterback Fernando Mendoza among his top nine “names to know” when it comes to the top signal-callers and the 2026 NFL Draft. Mendoza joins quarterbacks from many of the traditional powers of college football. Also listed by Reid are Drew Allar (Penn State), Carson Beck (Miami), Cade Klubnik (Clemson), Sam Leavitt (Arizona State), Arch Manning (Texas), John Mateer (Oklahoma), Garrett Nussmeier (LSU), and LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina). Reid expects quarterbacks to be in high demand in 2026 because only two were chosen in the first round in April. Mendoza transferred to IU from Cal…

With the NBA Draft early entry window and most transfer activity behind us, below is a summary of the roster changes for all 18 teams in the Big Ten leading up to the 2025-26 season. Shown in alphabetical order, next to each team’s name is their preseason ranking according to Bart Torvik.  This is intended to give you the lay of the land in the Big Ten next season.  Later, we’ll do a deeper dive into each team, and rank the conference in tiers. This page will be updated if any new roster developments occur. Check back periodically on the…

When it came to learning how to optimize the father/son dynamic as coach/player in college basketball, Darian DeVries was able to witness a very effective template. Doug McDermott had one of the best careers in college basketball history playing for his father Greg at Creighton from 2011 to 2014. And there on the Creighton bench the entire time as an assistant coach was DeVries, who remembers one of the messages Doug had for his teammates. “You guys can rip on my dad just like I’m going to do it too,” DeVries told Jeff Goodman on the Field of 68 podcast.…

It is one of the more underappreciated aspects of the 2024 IU football season. In a pressure-packed scenario, a 7-0 Indiana team hosted Washington with ESPN’s College GameDay in town.  And the Hoosiers were without starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who had suffered a broken thumb a week earlier. Stepping into one of the more crazed scenes anyone has ever witnessed on the Bloomington campus was backup quarterback Tayven Jackson to lead the Hoosiers against defending national runner-up Washington. Jackson was by no means perfect against the Huskies.  No quarterback ever is, and certainly not a backup in an atmosphere like…

Indiana is going to have to fight to keep Pennsylvania-based defensive back Jay Timmons in its 2026 class. The son of former NFL linebacker Lawrence Timmons is off to a big start this summer. The 5-foot-11 and 185-pound Timmons was recently bumped up to a 4-star recruit by 247 Sports.  That came after he was one of the top performers at the UA Next Prospects Camp in New Jersey. During the camp, Timmons was clocked with a 4.4 time in the 40. All Reps from the #UANEXT camp ‼️ (first vid; drills)(second vid; 1v1s) Year 4️⃣ gonna be special ‼️@Coach_LeDonne…

With the NBA Draft early entry withdrawal deadline in the rearview mirror, we can now finally take a legitimate look at rankings for the 2025-26 college basketball season. In recent years, Indiana has had productive offseasons that led to preseason national top-25 rankings and predictions the Hoosiers would finish at or near the top of the Big Ten.  Think the Romeo Langford hype ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, or the noise surrounding the transfer haul ahead of 2024-25 as two prime examples. There seems to be no such national outlook for Indiana this summer.  If you like unheralded, no hype,…

When it comes to Indiana, ESPN’s Football Power Index Rankings (FPI) still seem bogged down by 2021-23 data. After an 11-2 season and run to the 2024 CFP with losses only to national title game competitors Ohio State and Notre Dame, the model seems to be excessively cautious about the Hoosiers. In the first update of FPI ahead of the 2025 season, the computer-based ranking system pegs IU as just the No. 31 team in the country. Before going further, here is how ESPN describes FPI: “FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance…

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun announced the appointment of four members of the Indiana University Board of Trustees on Monday, effective immediately. Two of the appointments have connections to the sports world. In addition to reappointing former IU basketball great Quinn Buckner, who currently serves as chair, Braun also appointed sports broadcaster and IU alumna Sage Steele to the board. Buckner led IU to an undefeated national title in 1976 and graduated later that same year.  He has served as chair of the Board of Trustees since 2021. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue serving my alma mater, which has…

The National Football Foundation (NFF) announced this week the names on the 2026 Ballot under consideration for induction into the NFF College Football Hall of Fame, including 79 players and nine coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 100 players and 35 coaches from the divisional ranks. Included on the ballot are two former Hoosier stars — Antwaan Randle El and Vaughn Dunbar. Both players have been on the ballot multiple times in prior years. Here are the entries for each player included in the press release announcing the ballot: Vaughn Dunbar, Running Back-Indiana-1991 unanimous First Team All-American who led…