Is college basketball transitioning away from the walk-on?
How each team will handle anticipated 15-player roster caps beginning in 2025 remains to be seen.
Right now, Indiana does not list any walk-ons on their roster for the upcoming season. But several have been with the program for summer workouts.
This will likely be the last season of 13 scholarship players and unlimited walk-ons, and it appears the Hoosiers could go with five walk-ons for 2024-25 like they did a season ago.
A byproduct of Indiana playing close games a year ago against bad teams was the walk-ons were never able to get into games. So while four of these players are returning from a year ago, they might be unfamiliar to many fans. Only two saw action in a game, and that was the final game of the season.
Here are the five walk-ons who have been around the program this summer.
Jordan Rayford
The 6-foot-5 guard is with Indiana for a second season. He was unavailable throughout the 2023-24 campaign with an undisclosed leg injury.
Rayford was on scholarship at Air Force in 2022-23 but missed the entire season due to a shoulder injury.
A product of Washington, D.C., he played at Philips Academy Andover as a high school senior and averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists per game.
Jackson Creel
Creel joined the program prior to the 2023-24 season. He checked into his first game in the final minute of the season-ending loss to Nebraska at the Big Ten Tournament.
The 6-foot-3 Creel came to IU from Rend Lake College where he was a two-time All-Great Rivers Athletic Conference player.
The product of Mt. Vernon, Ill. started all 65 games played over three seasons with Rend Lake and posted career averages of 12.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 33.6 minutes per game.
Ian Stephens
Stephens is the lone Indiana native among the walk-ons. The 6-foot-6 forward also checked into his first and only game against Nebraska in the final minute of the Big Ten Tournament loss.
Stephens averaged 15.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game for New Palestine H.S. (New Palestine, Ind.) as a senior in 2022-23. He was named Associated Press Honorable Mention All-State.
Stephens played for the JH1 AAU program that is connected to IU recruiting director Jordan Hulls. He had some lower-level college offers.
James Goodis
Goodis joined the program last summer and did not see the floor in 2023-24.
The 6-foot guard hails from Winter Park, Fla.
He played for one of the regional teams at Montverde Academy and AAU basketball for the Georgia Stars.
Jaden Bobbett
Bobbett appears to be the only new walk-on with the program right now.
The 6-foot-2 guard is from Rye, N.H. and played the last three years at Middlebury College in Vermont where he scored 318 career points. Bobbett attended Cushing Academy in Massachusetts for high school.
Bobbett earned 2023-24 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court accolades. The awards recognize men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season.
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