Jacob Mangum-Farrar is getting used to change.
Indiana is the second school he’s played at, after transferring from Stanford ahead of last season. Mangum-Farrar is entering his seventh and final year in college football — he used a traditional redshirt during his true freshman year in 2018, and received a medical redshirt for either his redshirt freshman or sophomore season. This year will be his COVID season.
This will be the third different coaching staff he’s played under in college. And he’s now taking on his second position.
Mangum-Farrar turned in a solid season for the Hoosiers at inside linebacker last year, lining up alongside Aaron Casey. But he’s now moving to a hybrid position — called “stud” — that gives him more pass-rush responsibilities.
Head coach Curt Cignetti proposed the switch this offseason, and the graduate student was receptive. Mangum-Farrar said he was actually supposed to play that sort of role for IU last year.
“(Cignetti) just thought my body type would be better for that position,” Mangum-Farrar said on Thursday. “Originally, that’s what I was going to come here to play last year. But I think we were super low at inside backer, and since I had experience, I think coach (Chad) Wilt and coach (Matt) Guerrieri thought I could benefit there.”
Mangum-Farrar finished last season third on IU in tackles, with 62 total. He recorded four tackles for loss, four pass breakups, and three QB hurries.
The new role had nothing to do with his production at inside linebacker. Cignetti and defensive coordinator Bryant Haines run a different scheme than Tom Allen, Wilt, and Guerrieri did last year, and the new regime saw Mangum-Farrar as a better fit at stud.
“We don’t have the same defense they ran last year. We are a four-down base. Our weak-side defensive end’s called a stud. He’s about 70 percent end, 30 percent backer,” Cignetti said on Tuesday. “We bulked him up just a hair. We thought he had a lot of skill set where he could be good at that position. That (position has) been an all-conference player for us about every year, been an All-American a couple times. And he’s picked it up well, and pleased with his progress.”
Mangum-Farrar put on around 15 pounds leading into spring football to help adapt to the physicality of the position.
Defensive end is unfamiliar for him. He never played there at Stanford nor at Kempner (Texas) High School. Still only a few weeks into spring practice, Mangum-Farrar is still adapting and learning the position. The speed of the game at defensive end has struck him — he said everything happens a lot faster there compared to linebacker, where he had a few seconds to process plays.
“I feel like mentally, your keys tell you everything very fast. Physically, I feel like your leverage and your hand placement is huge,” Mangum-Farrar said of his new position. “And as much as we like to categorize offense and defensive line as like hard-nosed guys, which they are, which we are, but it’s a lot more technical than people think. So I feel like that’s one of the biggest adjustments I’ve been trying to come to terms with.”
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