Justice Ellison looks to make most of fifth year season at Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS -- After a stellar four year career at Wake Forest, Justice Ellison decided it was time for a change of scenery and play his fifth and final season of college football with Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers.
Ellison appeared in 43 games with 20 starts the Demon Deacons over the course of his career in Wake. The Ashburn, Virginia native rushed for 1,909 yards on 427 carries and 15 touchdowns, earning All-ACC honors after the 2022 season.
Entering the transfer was a difficult for Ellison, but it was the familarity of knowing that Cignetti had offered him to be a wide receiver at JMU during high school that helped him keep a peace of mind; however, it was Cignetti's meeting with Ellison on his official visit to Bloomington that had the running back all in on Indiana.
"When I went into the meeting room with him, he crossed his legs and he looked me in the eye and just told me 'hey man, come be apart of something special. We want you here and we can do it with you," Ellison said on Thursday at the Big Ten Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium. "Dogs always recognize other dogs."
Cignetti and his staff weren't the only ones that were luring Ellison to Bloomington. It was former Indiana basketball star Xavier Johnson, a former high school basketball teammate of Ellison, that guided him to the decision.
"When I got an offer from Indiana, (Johnson) was the first person I contacted. He said 'there's a community that is desperate for wins. They want to win now,'" Ellison said. That's what I'm truly about."
Ellison also previewed his expectations for the 2024 campaign in a sit-down interview with Indiana Sports Beat's Jim Coyle on Thursday morning.
"I'm really excited for this season. (This spring) has always been about us focusing on one play and one day at a time. Focusing on the things that we can control. Ellison said. "We're really excited to kick off the season."
Similar to his head coach, Ellison shared excitement that the team will be heading to Pasadena to play at the Rose Bowl on September 14th, but notes that it's just another game.
"You've got to focus on one game at a time," Ellison said. "We're just trying to focus game-by-game. We know that when we play UCLA it's going to be a historical place and it's going to be a great place, but we're pretty much focused on FIU and making sure our mind is focused on one thing,"
Like Wake Forest, Indiana is not known to be a powerhouse on the gridiron, but for Ellison, it is about cementing a legacy that helps change the direction of the football program in Bloomington.
"It's important for me to be apart of something bigger than myself. I want to be able to say that I truly left (Indiana) better than where I found it. We don't have to have everyone believe in us, but I know we believe in us. Ellison exclaimed. "It's kind of like that underdog mentality."
Ellison, who is likely to start every game this season came to Indiana not only to get reps running the football, but also as a pass catching back.
"I wanted to go somewhere that was explosive and go somewhere that they can really get me involved in the passing game," Ellison said.
Having Ellison part of Mike Shanahan's offensive style will make Indiana's new look offense thrive in the early season.
Although fall camp does not start until next week, Ellison is eager to take the field for the first game against FIU on August 31st.
"We trained so hard this offseason, I'm looking forward to being able to actually go onto the battle field and having to score points and being able to. I'm tired of going against Aiden (Fisher) and all the other guys (on the defense). Ellison said. "I'm ready to go against someone else, so that's going to be pretty good too to experience that."
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