Indiana’s season opening 52-16 win over North Texas revealed a lot about the depth chart.
After months of speculation, we now have a very good feel for who the ones and twos are for the 2026 Hoosiers.
The full defensive snap counts are below, via PFF. Here are some notes:
(For the offensive snap counts and notes, GO HERE).
Defensive Tackle
There was never any doubt who would start on the interior. Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino got the first series and played the most defensive interior snaps. Joe Hjelle had the third most — again no surprise.
Hjelle had the best run defense and pass rush grades at PFF for the game among interior linemen.
There was intrigue when it came to who was behind those three. And the answer at least on this Saturday was a bit surprising. First year Cam McHaney saw 22 snaps. Freshman Blake Smythe received a lot of preseason buzz but did not play at all. We’ll have to see if McHaney has passed Smythe or if there’s something else going on.
Edge
As expected, Chiddi Obiazor lined up inside and out, but play the most snaps on the edge. Obiazor and his fellow Kansas State transfer Tobi Osunsanmi started on the edge. But as expected IU rotated heavily on the outside, with Josh Burnham, Daniel Ndukwe and Stephen Daley all getting in on the action. Kellan Wyatt did not see the field but was in uniform.
Osunsanmi had the best overall PFF grade on the team, with the best pass rush grade and the second-best run defense grade.
Linebacker
One thing that stands out from Indiana’s defensive PFF numbers — they missed 13 tackles as a team. That’s about double their average per game of a year ago. It’s worth noting they only tackled once in the offseason — for a half in the spring game.
Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy had five of the missed tackles. But Jones otherwise turned in a strong performance with 12 tackles and two QB pressures. He was in coverage 24 times and had the best coverage grade on the team. Hardy added seven tackles, a QB hit, and a pass breakup.
Veteran Jeff Utzinger has stepped into the third linebacker role Jones occupied a year ago. He started the game and should be on the field against two tight ends.
It appears first years Jacob Savage and Henry Ohlinger are the next up at the middle linebacker spots. They both saw a fair amount of snaps.
Cornerback
We learned the most about cornerback depth due to first half injuries involving starters A.J. Harris and Jamari Sharpe. Harris won the starting job over Ryland Gandy, but Gandy ended up playing the most CB snaps after Harris’ first quarter injury.
The No. 4 corner is second-year Jaylen Bell, whose smaller frame and tenacious style brings to mind D’Angelo Ponds. Bell had multiple nice open field tackles, and despite the team troubles with tackling, he had no misses and the second-best tackling grade on the team.
Gandy and Bell both had respectable PFF grades in coverage.
Safety/Rover
There were no surprises at safety, as Amare Ferrell and Preston Zachman started on the back end, along with Byron Baldwin at rover.
Baldwin had the best PFF tackling grade on the team, and the best run defense grade among defensive backs.
Ferrell had the best coverage grade among defensive backs with significant coverage snaps.
The depth at safety appears to be Cincinnati transfer Quan Sanks, along with first year Jamar Owens. Anthony Chung is in the mix behind Baldwin at rover.
DEFENSE (71 snaps)
- Amare Ferrell, S (67)
- Ryland Gandy, CB (63)
- Rolijah Hardy, LB (62)
- Isaiah Jones, LB (62)
- Preston Zachman, S (62)
- Jaylen Bell, CB (55)
- Mario Landino, DT (48)
- Tyrique Tucker, DT (40)
- Tobi Osunsanmi, Edge (38)
- Byron Baldwin, Rover (34)
- Joe Hjelle, DT (31)
- Daniel Ndukwe, Edge (30)
- Jeff Utzinger, LB (29)
- Josh Burnham, Edge (26)
- Chiddi Obiazor, DL (23)
- Cam McHaney, DT (22)
- Quan Sanks, S (22)
- Jamari Sharpe, CB (16)
- Stephen Daley, Edge (13)
- Jacob Savage, LB (10)
- Henry Ohlinger, LB (9)
- A.J. Harris, CB (7)
- Kaden McConnell, LB (6)
- Jamar Owens, S (4)
- Keishaun Calhoun, DT (3)
- Anthony Chung, CB (3)
- Kaiden Turner, LB (3)
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