BLOOMINGTON — Going into the season-opener, Indiana football had a predicament at safety.
That situation only became dicier after the Hoosiers defeated Old Dominion.
Louis Moore started at free safety, and played well. He led the team with seven tackles, and added an interception and a pass breakup. But his availability is highly uncertain beyond the Kennesaw State game, depending on the outcome of his lawsuit against the NCAA.
IU entered the season with some depth at safety behind Moore and Amare Ferrell, though largely inexperienced. But that depth took a hit on Saturday, when Bryson Bonds suffered an injury that left him on crutches after the game. The team already didn’t have promising true freshman Byron Baldwin Jr., who missed the game with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Curt Cignetti said on Monday that Bonds is out for the season after suffering a knee injury, and Baldwin is day-to-day.
Moore played every defensive snap for IU against the Monarchs. If his eligibility is upheld and he’s available for Indiana all season, he put forth an encouraging performance. But if he’s ruled ineligible ahead of IU’s game against Indiana State, things become very murky at safety. Baldwin has at least a full week to recover if the Hoosiers need him, and he looked capable of making an immediate impact throughout fall camp if healthy.
If Moore is ruled ineligible, and Baldwin is still unable to play, the Hoosiers could have a problem. Redshirt freshman Jah Jah Boyd could be next in line, and he has long-term potential: he was James Madison’s highest-rated recruit in its class of 2024, who flipped to stick with Cignetti after he took the IU job. But he spent most of last season working through an injury, rather than building up his physique and his game. He’d carry big question marks if he was suddenly thrust into a major role.
Another option — perhaps more plausible — is to move Devan Boykin from rover to free safety, where he played more at N.C. State in 2023 than any other position. IU could then put Boyd at rover, or slide a backup cornerback like Amariyun Knighten or Ryland Gandy to rover.
So IU will have some potential solutions on the table, should problem scenarios arise. But Bonds’ injury just put a lot more importance on Moore’s status, which was already a tricky situation.
Different approach for receivers
Throughout 2024, Indiana rotated through its wide receivers heavily.
Elijah Sarratt was the team’s clear No. 1 receiver. Miles Cross and Omar Cooper Jr. were pretty close in total snap counts behind him, but by the end of the season, those two were on pretty even ground with Myles Price and Ke’Shawn Williams.
The Hoosiers had six different receivers catch a pass on Saturday against Old Dominion, but this didn’t look like a rotation. Sarratt (84) and Cooper (75) both played more snaps than any IU wide receiver did in any game last season. E.J. Williams Jr. caught a team-high five passes on eight targets for 45 yards, while playing 53 snaps. Only twice last year did an IU receiver not named Sarratt play more than 50 snaps.
The depth behind those three — Jonathan Brady (22 snaps), Charlie Becker (10 snaps), LeBron Bond (eight snaps), and Makai Jackson (one snap) — appeared far less often.
Obviously, things can change from week to week as the season goes on. But if this snap distribution is a sign of things to come for the Hoosiers, their wide receiver room may be utilizing a more traditional pecking order of starters and reserves this year than a rotation.
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