While Curt Cignetti has seen progress from his Indiana football team in spring practice, he hasn’t always looked or sounded pleased with those developments.
On Tuesday, after IU’s ninth practice this spring, he was particularly irritated with some of his players. The Hoosiers held their first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, which Cignetti previously said he viewed more like another normal practice. And then the players had nearly two days off — most of Sunday, and then all of Monday for the festivities surrounding the solar eclipse.
And when the team reconvened for Tuesday’s practice, Cignetti saw some alarmingly familiar patterns.
“I think a lot of them were mature enough to come out, to have the right mindset to get better. But too many of them that people that follow Indiana think are players, OK, came out like the old Indiana,” Cignetti said. “And that’s what we need to eliminate, is that kind of habit, choice, decision, mindset.”
The Hoosiers have two practices remaining before their spring game on Thursday, April 18.
Quarterback updates
Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke appears to be the favorite to start for the Hoosiers in the fall.
Cignetti has spoken positively about Rourke nearly every time he’s addressed IU’s quarterback situation this spring. And the redshirt senior’s experience and production — with 2,207 passing yards and 11 touchdowns to five interceptions for the Bobcats last season — gave him an edge over Indiana’s other quarterbacks.
Things could change, with IU’s 2024 season-opener is still over four months away. And Cignetti wants to see Rourke continue developing. But the redshirt senior looks like the likely candidate to start, with sophomore Tayven Jackson and true freshman Tyler Cherry backing him up.
“Kurtis Rourke has definitely taken a pretty significant step,” Cignetti said. “He’s learning a lot of new plays, a lot of new terminology. He’s finding the open guy, getting him the ball. But there’s still improvements he could make.”
Meanwhile, Cignetti sounded less bullish on Jackson.
The sophomore saw playing time for IU last season after transferring in from Tennessee, though Brendan Sorsby ultimately captured the job in the second half of the season. Sorsby transferred to Cincinnati in the offseason, while Jackson stayed in Bloomington with the new coaching staff.
But Jackson hasn’t quite taken the steps forward this spring Cignetti has been hoping to see.
“Tayven’s improvement’s been a little slower, and while he has the physical ability, most of the time getting the ball from point A to point B, there’s a lot more to playing quarterback than that,” Cignetti said. “So I need to see the jump in his game in that area.”
A deep backfield
Indiana revamped its running back room during the offseason. The Hoosiers have eight running backs on the roster this spring — four returning, and four transfer portal additions. By fall, when freshman Khobie Martin arrives, IU will have more newcomers than returnees in the backfield.
The group looks deep and experienced. Redshirt junior Kaelon Black and redshirt senior Ty Son Lawton were James Madison’s top two backs last season, and redshirt junior Trent Howland was IU’s leading rusher. Senior Justice Ellison is coming off two solid seasons at Wake Forest, and redshirt junior Elijah Green played well as a sophomore at North Carolina in 2022.
Cignetti said he likes his team’s depth at running back, and specifically praised the four transfers.
“Kaelon, Ellison, and then Lawton are all very similar. They’ve got juice, they’re good in pass pro, they can catch the ball out of the backfield, they can make people miss,” Cignetti said. “And they’re good players. So is Green, he’s been coming along from UNC. Those three guys are all similar in a lot of different respects.”
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