Indiana football: Curt Cignetti doesn’t rule out making more position changes for 2024

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football’s new staff moved swiftly to reshape the roster for a program that’s won just nine games over the last three seasons. 

The Hoosiers brought in more than two dozen transfers, but the coaches also shifted around some key personnel that opted to stay in Bloomington during spring practice. The most notable changes were shifting linebacker Jacob Mangum-Farrar to defensive end and corner Nic Toomer to safety. 

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti didn’t have any further changes to announce at Big Ten Media Days last week — ”nothing earth shattering in terms of position changes” — but was also non-committal whether or not those position changes will stick for Mangum-Farrar and Toomer. 

“As of today, yes,” Cignetti said. 

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Why so coy? Cignetti wants to see both defenders show a bit more consistency when call camp opens next week. 

“I thought both those guys came out of spring, learned a new position and had some good moments,” Cignetti said. “The one thing I’ll say when you are introduced to new stuff in spring ball — you are a lot better in the last half of spring, but when you come back for August camp, the amount of improvement now guys are just playing and not thinking.” 

Mangum-Farrar started in the spring game alongside Mikail Kamara at defensive end. He will have to beat out Lanell Carr, who is healthy after sitting out the spring with an injury, to keep that spot. 

The Hoosiers need Mangum-Farrar to be productive whether he wins the starting job or not. They didn’t add a defensive end during the spring window and didn’t have any experienced depth beyond Kamara and Carr. 

He had 62 tackles last season (33 solo) with four tackles for loss, four pass breakups and 21 quarterback pressures. Farrar got more experience rushing the passer last year for IU (94 pass rush reps) than he had over three seasons at Stanford (31 pass rush reps). 

Toomer ran with the second-team defense in the spring game. He’s played 1,016 snaps on defense with 880 of those coming at corner. He earned the second-highest coverage grade among IU corners last year (66.0), according to Pro Football Focus.

The  6-foot-2, 194-pounder had 26 tackles (22 solo) with an interception and three pass breakups.

He’ll be competing for playing time in the coming weeks against Shawn Asbury II, Josh Sanguinetti, Bryson Bonds, Amare Ferrell and Terry Jones Jr. 

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.