After a dream season in 2024, the Indiana Hoosiers are looking to run it back in 2025. This time, with bigger goals and eyes set on titles and rings. To accomplish these goals, Indiana needed to reload. Through the portal, Indiana was able to attract top talent from across the country, but even in this new portal-driven world of college sports, high school talent remains just as important to winning.

Coach Curt Cignetti notably has said before that he does not care about “stars” on a recruit’s profile; he cares about production. This 2025 class reflects exactly that. While there are certainly high level (and high starred) talent in this class, all players fit a similar mold - proven success, hard-nosed, and professional. Coach Cignetti has changed the culture of Indiana to become that of an NFL-lite environment. To keep this environment strong, you need the right players across all aspects, but especially within each high school class. Let’s examine the incoming class now

Using Rivals’ robust database, we learn that Indiana’s class is 22 commitments strong as of this writing and ranks 47th overall in the country. This typically falls in line with previous years, but I fully expect this “47th overall” to play much higher than previous “40-50ish overall” classes in years’ past. Cignetti and his staff have an eye for talent, and it absolutely shows here.

Please feel free to peruse the 2025 commits (linked here), but I’d like to highlight a few incoming freshmen who stood out to me.

The Two 4-Stars

Indiana has two 4-stars recruits, 19 3-star recruits, and one 2-star recruit. The two players at the top of the class, Byron Baldwin and Triston Abram, project to be true difference makers. Baldwin, a safety, received offers from nearly every school you could name, and even re-opened his recruiting briefly. He ended up re-committing to Indiana and brings a full tool set of speed, strength, height, versatility, and smarts to the safety position. Abram had a similarly impressive offer list and boasted 12 sacks during his senior year in high school. He brings speed and length from the edge and represents something the Hoosiers have rarely had in their history - a high level edge rusher recruit.

The Two Tennessee DT’s

Jhrevious Hall and Kyler Garcia both hail from the state of Tennesse and both play the DT position. Both players boast strong offer lists from high level Power 4 programs but eventually both chose the Indiana Hoosiers on the same day, 12/4/2024. Where they differ, however, is body size. Hall is 6’2” / 270 lbs while Garcia is 6’5” / 275 lbs. I’m curious to see where Cignetti and the Indiana strength team take these two players. Of course this is very dependent on how the players beef up, but upon body size alone I could see Hall becoming that true middle-of-the-line stuffer while Garcia is used on the outside more. Both players have immense talent and I’m excited to see how their careers in Crimson and Cream play out.

The Athlete

I love a good “ATH” label on a recruit. Seaonta Stewart Jr brings just that to the 2025 recruiting class. Stewart received offers from high level programs like Penn State and Oklahoma, but ultimately committed to the Hoosiers - possibly to be closer to home as he hails from the Cincinnati area. Stewart is listed as a DB on Indiana’s website and projects to play cornerback for the Hoosiers. At 6’2”, Stewart brings the height that helps so much with locking down the Big Ten’s best.

The Sleeper?

At 6’4” / 295lbs, the Hoosier might have found themselves a gem in Illinois guard Matt Marek. Marek brings versatility to the offensive line, something we all know coach Bob Bostad loves. Marek played both tackle positions in high school and very well may play there at Indiana, but in my opinion likely sticks at a guard spot. Marek was slightly under-recruited, drawing significant interest from MAC schools, but has all the tools to compete at the Power 4 level. Marek will likely be looking to be a sponge under Bostad and he’ll be better because of it. I could absolutely see Marek making an impact on this team early on.

The Electricity

Do you like electric athletes who can take it to the house at any moment’s notice? Well, look no further than LeBron Bond, maybe your next favorite Hoosiers wide receiver. At 5’8” / 155lbs, Bond certainly is one of the smaller wide receivers out there, but that does not stop him one bit. Bond has elite speed, creates wide separation, is an incredible punt returner, brings strong elusiveness, and, as mentioned above, just brings that electricity. Look for Cignetti and co. to use Bond in the slot during his career, where he could be used in similar ways as Whop Philyor and Jaylin Lucas of year’s past.

The Only Quarterback

Indiana has a very, very strong quarterback room. Fernando Mendoza could be the starter in Bloomington for the next two seasons and Tyler Cherry and Alberto Mendoza will look to be the next in line after Mendoza leaves the program (hopefully for the NFL Draft as a top pick). However, it is always important to bring in quarterback recruits every chance you get, and that is where Jacob Bell comes in. Bell fits Cignetti’s “I don’t care about stars” mantra to a tee, as Bell is rated as a 2-star recruit as of this writing. He received offers from smaller schools and eventually committed to the Hoosiers in February of 2025. Bell is listed as a pro style quarterback and from his film it’s easy to see why. He projects confidence in decision making, makes throws with touch at every level of the field, shows ability to step up in the pocket, and never seems to feel ‘rushed’. I’m very excited to see Cignetti and his staff work with Bell throughout his career.

Indiana currently has 83 scholarships out right now. The max number of scholarships allowed traditionally has been 85. This rule is potentially changing to be 105 in the future, but right now the rule is still 85. So that leaves 2 more spots for the Hoosiers entering the 2025 season.

I am a firm believer that games are won in the trenches (and at QB). That’s where I’d lean for the remaining Hoosiers scholarships should the coaching staff look to fill out the roster. The OL depth is honestly very solid, and we all know the wonders that Bostad can work with his OL corps, so I’d lean defensive line here. Besides the defensive line, having athletes in the secondary is always welcomed in the ever-athletic big ten. While I believe both the DL and DB units are strong currently, that is where I’d add if Coach Cignetti is looking to fill out his scholarship spots. I briefly thought about the tight end spot, but I am very high on the room currently and want the young guys who waited their turn to get a shot. There’s a ton of athleticism there and we could have some diamonds in the rough on our hands at that position. So in terms of need for the remaining scholarship spots, I’d rank it as follows: DL, DB, OL.

2025 Commitment List: https://indiana.rivals.com/commitments/football/2025

2026 Offers List: https://indiana.rivals.com/offers/football/2026

2026 Visits List: https://indiana.rivals.com/visits/football/2026

Rivals Database: https://n.rivals.com/search