Indiana football’s defensive line struggled for a lot of 2023. But the Hoosiers are hoping their offseason moves up front can help that group perform better this season.
The changes started on the staff, as Curt Cignetti hired Pat Kuntz to coach defensive tackles and Buddha Williams to coach defensive ends. IU lost some key players from the unit to either the transfer portal or graduation, but brought in some particularly key transfers who could have a big impact on the season.
Prior previews:
Roster turnover — who’s gone
- Andre Carter (exhausted his eligibility)
- Phillip Blidi (transfer — Auburn)
- LeDarrius Cox (transfer — UAB)
- Patrick Lucas Jr. (transfer — Memphis)
- Myles Jackson (transfer — Tulsa)
- Anthony Jones (transfer — Michigan State)
- Trey Laing (transfer — Eastern Michigan)
- Nick James (transfer — Pitt)
- Julian Kameristy (transfer — Murray State)
- Orlando Greenlow(entered transfer portal, no landing spot)
- Carl Biddings IV (entered transfer portal, no landing spot)
- Jackson Schott
Roster turnover — who’s back
- Jacob Mangum-Farrar (graduate student, position change from last year)
- Lanell Carr Jr. (fifth-year senior)
- Marcus Burris Jr. (redshirt junior)
- Venson Sneed Jr. (redshirt sophomore)
- J’Mari Monette (redshirt sophomore)
- Robby Harrison (redshirt sophomore)
- Ta’Derius Collins (redshirt freshman)
- Race Stewart (walk-on, redshirt junior)
- Andrew Turvy (walk-on, redshirt junior)
- Aden Cannon (walk-on, redshirt sophomore)
- Finn Walters (walk-on, redshirt freshman)
Roster turnover — who’s new
- Mikail Kamara (transfer — James Madison)
- James Carpenter (transfer — JMU)
- CJ West (transfer — Kent State)
- Tyrique Tucker (transfer — JMU)
- Andrew Depaepe (transfer — Michigan State)
- Ebon Person (transfer — Anderson; walk-on)
- Mario Landino (3-star, Macungie, Pa.)
- Daniel Ndukwe (3-star, Lithonia, Ga.)
- William Depaepe (3-star, Moline, Ill.)
- Caleb King (unranked recruit, Pekin, Ind.)
Projected depth chart
Here’s our best estimate of Indiana’s defensive line starters and who the other key players will be.
- Defensive end: Mikail Kamara, redshirt junior, 6-foot-1, 265 pounds (22 career starts at JMU)
- Venson Sneed Jr., redshirt sophomore, 6-foot-4, 266 pounds
- Defensive tackle: James Carpenter, sixth-year senior, 6-foot-2, 288 pounds (37 career starts at JMU)
- Tyrique Tucker, redshirt sophomore, 6 foot, 298 pounds (five career starts at JMU)
- Defensive tackle: CJ West, redshirt senior, 6-foot-2, 317 pounds (35 career starts at Kent State)
- Marcus Burris Jr., redshirt junior, 6-foot-5, 286 pounds (eight career starts)
- Stud: Lanell Carr Jr., fifth-year senior, 6-foot-2, 246 pounds (14 career starts at IU and West Virginia)
- Jacob Mangum-Farrar, graduate student, 6-foot-5, 256 pounds (23 career starts at linebacker at IU and Stanford)
Kamara, Carpenter, and West are all locked in as three of the four starters up front. It’s sounded like Carr is likely the starter at the stud position, but Mangum-Farrar has adapted well after converting from linebacker in the spring, and he should see plenty of game action this fall. Burris started for IU throughout most of last season, but is now clearly working behind Carpenter. He should still get on the field by rotating in, and could get increased snaps in certain packages.
Quotable
Bryant Haines on the defensive line’s progression:
“In the spring, there was still a lot of injuries, so we were getting a lot of young guys reps. And then what we got this fall is James Carpenter showed up, CJ West has been huge. I think what you’re seeing is the standard of execution has been raised to a new level now, so you’re getting a lot better interior line play this fall camp. And then in terms of the edge guys, I mean, Mikail’s been out there every practice, he never misses, he goes hard every single day, every single play. I can’t say enough good things about him. Been really pleased with Lanell Carr. I wasn’t exactly sure what Lanell was going to be. I had an idea, I know he led the team in sacks last year. But he’s a sudden guy off the edge, he’s twitchy. It’s meshed in well. It’s not that we had to do too much, just continue pushing the scheme and let those guys find their roles in the scheme. And to be a front guy in this defense, there’s no better place to be. You want to be a front guy in a defense that philosophically believes in what we believe in, it’s really the second-level guys that have to make that picture hold. Those front-level guys have to go eat, and those guys are eating right now. Fall camp’s been good.”
Curt Cignetti on Kamara, Carr, and Mangum-Farrar:
“I think the one guy that’s really upped his game is Kamara. Saw that in the spring, it’s continued in the fall. He’s just playing at another level. Early on, he’s a guy, like, we got him as a freshman in ’20, COVID year, and he started for us as a true freshman. But he had two bad shoulders and both knees surgically repaired at the end of the season. Couldn’t do them both at the same time, had to do one, and then four months later, six months later, do another. So he’s healthy. And he’s a good player. Carr, we’re just getting back into the swing of things. Didn’t practice in spring, missed a couple early practices, but he’s been out there the last six, seven days, and like the way he’s progressing. And JMF can play on either side, played in the boundary a lot in spring, he’s into the field more this spring with Kamara sort of being the swing guy. Getting better every day.”
Bryant Haines on defensive tackles coach Pat Kuntz:
“I had gotten to know coach Kuntz — I was aware that he was a GA here after me, some of the buddies that I was GAs with here became friends with him. So I knew Kuntz from a long time back. Tracked his career, we stayed in contact. I knew that he and I were aligned. We had talked enough ball for me to understand that he was kind of in the same boat as me. And then as I started calling around for D-line coaches, he was one of my first calls. Just good conversation. Philosophically, if you have ball guys, you can recognize them pretty quickly. It’s terminology, it’s the way that they view things, it’s an openness to new scheme and new ideas. We bounce ideas off each other. It’s a good working relationship. Good, clean communication. If we disagree about something, we communicate why. Another guy that I’m just so happy he’s here with me. He coaches the hell out of those guys. And the coaching points that he has are always almost the exact same thing that I would say. That happens frequently, like, ‘Man, I would’ve told the nose guard this,’ and then I hear it come out of his mouth, I’m like, he and I are together. So thankful for coach Kuntz. Me and him have been together for a while now, and good working relationship, for sure.”
Why it will work
Kamara is a beast. He looks like a potential game-wrecker in the defensive front. Andre Carter had that same look last year, but the Hoosiers may have have better support for Kamara this year than they did for Carter. CJ West and James Carpenter graded as two of the top 27 interior defenders in the country last year, per Pro Football Focus. Those two should be able to eat up more space inside and take more offensive linemen out of plays than IU’s interior defenders were able to last year, which will make it harder for opponents to scheme Kamara out of games. Mangum-Farrar has looked like he could make a positive impact in his new spot. Carr was inconsistent last year, but performed better later in the season, so that could springboard him into this year.
Why it won’t
There are major question marks about the depth in this group. Burris has experience playing for IU last year, but he statistically represents a significant drop-off from West and Carpenter. Tucker graded even lower than Burris last season, and Sneed still has to a lot to prove. The starters can’t play every snap as is — defensive line is a position you want to be able to rotate at. But if something happens to one of the starters and they miss time this season, that could be a big problem.
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