It was no secret the Indiana offense was ahead of the defense during spring practice.
While the Hoosiers had enough pieces to patch together a functioning first team defense, that unit was still far from what anyone was envisioning for where we are now — the start of the season. And head coach Curt Cignetti acknowledged at the time there was a meaningful drop-off when it came to his spring twos on the defensive depth chart.
Back in the spring, Indiana was missing several key contributors on the defensive side of the ball, including defensive tackle James Carpenter, linebacker Jailin Walker, and edge Lanell Carr. All three are expected to play significant roles beginning on Saturday when the Hoosiers kickoff the season vs. Florida International (3:30 p.m. ET, BTN).
The Hoosiers also went out and added several players from the transfer portal after the spring game who are expected to play, including anticipated starters D’Angelo Ponds at corner and C.J. West at defensive tackle.
Coming out of fall camp, Curt Cignetti is beginning to feel much better about the defense, and the improvement from spring to fall all starts up front.
“The defensive line for sure has taken a big step forward and needs to be a strength of this football team, because defense travels and it all starts up front,” Cignetti told Rhett Lewis on the Under the Hood podcast.
“We need them to be great every day, every game, every play, and play with a high standard. (Defensive tackles coach) Pat Kuntz and (defensive ends coach) Buddah (Williams) do a good job of making sure that happens. That group looks a lot different than it did in the spring.”
Indiana lists West at 6-foot-2 and 317 pounds. But while he might be the biggest player on the IU defensive line, don’t expect him to be merely a guy who clogs running lanes and attempts to occupy multiple offensive linemen.
“C.J. moves like a 320-pounder shouldn’t move. His lateral movement is really good, his power is unbelievable,” offensive lineman Mike Katic said this week.
Meanwhile Carpenter arrives from James Madison with 28.0 career tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, giving IU some serious punch up front they lacked in the spring.
“Our goal is to be really good against the run and be disruptive and put pressure on the quarterback,” Cignetti said. “I think we have the ability to do that, but now we’ve just got to hold up on the back end.”
Under the direction of defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, look for a Indiana to be very aggressive with his front seven, in turn putting a lot of pressure on the defensive backs.
Ponds came over from JMU in the late spring and has created considerable buzz during fall camp as a possible shut down corner.
But what about the opposite edge?
“I feel really good about our corner situation, a lot better than I did in the spring. Jamier Johnson has really had a nice camp,” Cignetti said.
Johnson is a player who can significantly upgrade IU’s defense if he can deliver on the promise he showed in high school. From Pasadena, Calif., he was a consensus four-star recruit and a top-300 recruit by all three major recruiting services. He played his first two seasons at Texas before transferring to Indiana for the 2023 season.
Through three seasons, Johnson has appeared in 21 games with four starts. He dealt with injuries throughout most of 2023. But it sounds like Johnson is finally ready to make an impact in his fourth college season.
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