Former IU football starting defensive tackle James Carpenter is joining the 2026 staff with a title of Defensive Quality Control.
Carpenter transferred from James Madison to Indiana when head coach Curt Cignetti was hired.
The Roanoke, Va. product was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten following the 2024 season.
A finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy for the nation’s most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on, Carpenter started all 13 games for IU in 2023. He logged 37 tackles from the defensive interior, totaled 10.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. He also broke up two passes and blocked a kick.
Carpenter served as a captain for all of Indiana’s games in 2024 and was spoken of highly by Cignetti and the staff.
He was Second Team All-Sun Belt at JMU in both 2022 and 2023.
Carpenter signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft. He attended training camp and most of the exhibition season but did not make the team.
It’s the second year in a row Cignetti has brought one of his former players back to the team. Running back Justice Ellison went from a player in 2024 to an offensive quality control analyst in 2025.
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