BLOOMINGTON — Punt returner was one of the last position battles to be decided for Indiana football during fall camp this year.
At the beginning of the final week of camp, head coach Curt Cignetti said that position remained unsettled, with several players still in the mix. Only one player on IU’s roster, wide receiver Jonathan Brady, had any significant experience returning punts at the FBS level — he served as New Mexico State’s punt returner in 2023.
Brady ultimately won the job. And he validated Cignetti and special teams coach Grant Cain’s decision very quickly during Indiana’s season-opener against Old Dominion at Memorial Stadium.
The Cal transfer made a fair catch on ODU’s first punt. But he made the Monarchs pay on his second opportunity. Brady fielded the ball on three bounces at the IU nine-yard-line, and ran laterally to the right. Walk-on defensive back Clay Conner sealed the edge for Brady, and the wide receiver was off: he went 91 yards for a game-tying touchdown.
“Personally, it was looking like it was dying down. And then it bounced, and it was a perfect bounce. I don’t know. I just grabbed the ball and ran,” Brady said after the game. “And then once i ran, I just seen the whole bunch of red jerseys set up a convoy for me, and I was just like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to the crib.'”
That touchdown changed the game’s momentum and launched the Hoosiers to a 27-14 win on Saturday.
Indiana (1-0) faced early adversity, after Old Dominion (0-1) scored a touchdown on its first offensive play. The Hoosiers responded with a methodical offensive drive, only to get stopped on four straight plays from the ODU one-yard-line. A Lee Beebe Jr. fumble on IU’s next possession created an ominous feeling rarely present during the program’s historic 2024 season.
Brady’s punt return changed everything. The packed crowd could finally explode. Indiana finally got on the board, even when the offense couldn’t quite get across the goal line, itself.
“Obviously, Brady’s punt return was a big play,” Cignetti said after the game. “There was a point in time there they had the lead, and they were moving the ball. And, so, that was a huge play.”
Despite his experience at NMSU, Brady still had some rust to shake off in the return game during fall camp. He didn’t return any punts at Cal last season.
Still, Cignetti said he stood out at punt returner more and more as preseason progressed. The second-year IU coach said Brady catches the ball well on punts, and makes good decisions. He added that the senior does a good job with some of the positions intricacies, like communicating with his blockers and knowing when to play the bounce or to let it go.
Brady views punt returning the way he enjoyed playing football growing up.
“Really, I just think of it like backyard football, how we used to play when we was kids,” Brady said. “Once you get the ball in your hands and then — the return team set up perfect blocks for me, and (I) took advantage of my opportunity. So I was excited.”
This was Indiana’s first punt return touchdown since 2021, when D.J. Matthews took one to the house against Idaho. And this was the program’s longest punt return since 2004.
The Hoosiers have plenty to improve on coming out of this opening game. They have both causes for concern and things to like from this performance. And the way they play over the next few weeks could determine just how significant Brady’s return touchdown is in this season’s big picture.
But within this contest, it was the most significant individual play of the entire afternoon. So much went wrong for Indiana in the first quarter, unlike most quarters the team played throughout the entire 2024 season. The Hoosiers came very close to that frustration extending into the second quarter. But Brady came up with a big play when they needed it most.
“That’s always a great break, especially special teams. People don’t really view it as that, but it’s such a large part of the game,” quarterback Fernando Mendoza said after the game. “I’m really happy for Jonathan Brady, and everybody else that was on the punt return team blocking for him. That was a really great break for us.”
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