After landing the program’s best ever high school recruiting class in 2022, the rankings say IU football experienced a major drop off in 2023.
In fact, IU’s 2023 high school recruiting class ranks last in the Big Ten according to the major national recruiting outlets.
But a college football program’s incoming talent is no longer measured by high school players alone. And in fact, since freshmen typically don’t produce in meaningful ways in year one, a program’s transfers should probably be given more weight when evaluating the potential impact of new players.
ESPN attempted to measure the aggregate incoming talent across the college football landscape. They ranked the top 25 groups of newcomers — recruits and transfers combined — based on who could see the most impactful immediate returns for 2023.
And despite the poorly ranked high school class of 2023, IU was graded No. 25 in the country when combining high school recruits and transfer talent.
ESPN lists IU’s “top impact newcomers” as defensive end Andre Carter (Western Michigan transfer), quarterback Tayven Jackson (Tennessee transfer), wide receiver Dequece Carter (Fordham transfer), and defensive lineman Marcus Burris Jr. (Texas A&M transfer).
In total the Hoosiers have added 22 scholarship players via the transfer portal according to our tracker. On3 ranks Indiana as having the 13th best group of incoming transfers in the country.
Overall, USC was ranked No. 1 by ESPN based on total incoming talent, and from the Big Ten, Michigan (15), Wisconsin (18), Maryland (19), and Ohio State (21) joined IU.
Of course it is not as simple as just evaluating incoming talent when it comes to the outlook for the 2023 season.
ESPN was merely ranking the new faces, and not factoring roster losses. The Hoosiers lost several key players via the portal, such as Dasan McCullough (Oklahoma) and A.J. Barner (Michigan). They also lost their entire starting secondary to eligibility or NFL Draft decisions, along with linebacker Cam Jones.
For a look at how ESPN’s SP+ tool assesses IU’s overall returning production, factoring in roster gains and losses, GO HERE.
IU football: A complete position-by-position look at the offseason roster changes
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