Height: 6’3”

Weight: 295 pounds

Hometown: Conroe, Texas (Texas State)

Class/Position: RS Senior+ / Defensive Line

CJ West and James Carpenter out, Ratcliff (and others) are in. With two highly productive veterans off to the NFL after standout 2024 seasons, IU needed experience, production, and SIZE at defensive tackle. He’s played in 38 games over five seasons of college football - check. He’s an All-Sun Belt player that put up great numbers against the run at Texas State - check. Combined with the experience and production, he’s 6’3” and ~300 pounds - check.

Big bodies that are durable and productive are expensive in the transfer portal, and IU landed Ratcliff and Hosea Wheeler from Western Kentucky to hopefully shore up a DT unit that was very stout for Pat Kuntz and DC Bryant Haines in 2024. In three years at Texas State, he tallied 64 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. While Hosea Wheeler put up more “numbers” during his time before IU, Ratcliff is expected to play a much different role for IU, and could thrive in a similar role to what we saw James Carpenter in last year. Ratcliff’s strength is in interior run defense, which he’s graded out very highly at in PFF the last few seasons. According to PFF data, Ratcliff ranked 33rd overall in defensive grade (79.0), 16th in run defense (85.0), 168th in tackling (67.6) and 142nd in pass rushing (66.2).When placed against just FBS defensive tackles with at least 140 snaps, those are really good numbers that paint the picture as to why IU targeted him early in the winter portal (committed before IU’s game in the Playoff).

With Mikail Kamara back, Hosea Wheeler and others at DT, and an aggressive group at linebacker, Ratcliff’s stats may not jump off the page at you, but make no mistake about it- he’ll be a massive part of this Indiana defense that will hope to repeat their stellar performance from a year ago. If he can put up good metrics on the interior against the run, it will make IU’s defense that much more effective and will likely free him up to get after the quarterback a bit more and make some plays behind the line.

While it’s flown a bit under the radar with some other portal moves IU made this year, Ratcliff is one to watch early in the season to see just how they plan to use his skillset.

The Hoosier Huddle Countdown to Kickoff continues each and every day so be sure to check back tomorrow for the latest profile piece!