We are one day away from Indiana’s spring game!
While the importance of spring games has been diminished greatly over the past couple years, not only at Indiana but across college football, it still serves as a great opportunity to see some new faces on the roster and how things stack up going into the offseason. We’ll be watching everything tomorrow, but I think the matchup I am most excited to see comes in the Indiana secondary versus the Indiana wide receiving corps.
There are two main names returning for the Hoosiers receiving room, Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper. The 31st and 57th ranked receivers by Pro Football Focus receiving grades, respectively, both return and will be experienced targets for new signal caller Fernando Mendoza to find. We have already seen clips of Omar Cooper finding the endzone in scrimmage highlight videos that Indiana Football has posted on social media.
There is also EJ Williams, a familiar name but not a familiar contributor to last year’s squad. After electing to enter the transfer portal last season, Williams eventually found his way back to Indiana. The former Clemson transfer has been around winning programs and liked what he had seen from Curt Cignetti’s team. He still has aspirations to play in the NFL one day – he just needs to stay healthy.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of good football teams,” said Williams about Indiana. “I don’t know want to sound cocky, but with the way dudes practice and the way that they work hard, you know what it looks like. You know you’re going to have a good season.”
The other name we expected to have an impact out of the slot was Tyler Morris, a transfer from Michigan. Unfortunately, he is one of the only casualties we have heard come out of spring practice this year – a non-contact knee injury will have him out for the entire season. So, who will fill in for him in the slot? Is LeBron Bond, a true freshman, ready for this big of a role?
All of these factors are why I find this to be an intriguing matchup to watch on Thursday night.
On the other side of the ball, I’ll be interested to see some of the guys lined up against this receiving crew. And while there is some uncertainty with the status of the guys at wide receiver, I am more so excited to watch the corners because of the seeming clarity and depth at the position.
The headliner is the All-American from last season, D’Angelo Ponds. Ponds earned an 85.0 coverage grade last season, good for T17th in the country among guys who were regularly seeing the field. He had 3 interceptions last season and was Indiana’s premier lockdown corner.
There are newcomers to the room too, however. Ryland Gandy transferred from Pitt, Amariyun Knighten transferred from Northern Illinois, and Seaonta Stewart, Jaylen Bell, and Zacharey Smith all join as incoming freshman. Gandy appeared in 29 games with Pitt totaling 13 starts and amassing 47 tackles and one pass breakup. Knighten, though a transfer from the MAC, also has experience in high-major football; his 4th quarter interception helped seal NIU’s 2024 upset over Notre Dame.
Ultimately, I think the combination of experienced studs that we are familiar with from last year’s CFP team, newbies with star potential, and depth chart insights to gather… the wide receiver versus cornerback matchups should be a joy to watch on Thursday.
Stay tuned with us on Rivals at Hoosier Huddle for all the updates regarding the game.
