BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – New Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti often states that he looks for production over potential when recruiting the transfer portal, and that’s reflected in the way he overhauled Indiana’s safety room.
The portal was initially unkind to the Hoosiers, losing second-leading tackler Louis Moore and fellow starter Phillip Dunnam, each of whom tied for the team lead with three interceptions in 2023. Add the graduation of team captain Noah Pierre, and the position group needed serious help.
By landing four transfers and moving a starting cornerback to safety, Cignetti and new safeties coach Ola Adams quickly revamped the position group. The five new Indiana safeties all have at least three years of game day experience, and Cignetti is also excited about Amare Ferrell, who played 10 games as a true freshman last season.
That group will look to improve a 2023 Indiana defense that tied for 13th in the Big Ten with 237.8 passing yards allowed per game and seventh with 10 interceptions.
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Here’s a breakdown of Indiana’s safety room.
Personnel
Top expected contributors: Shawn Asbury II, Amare Ferrell, Terry Jones Jr., Cedarius Doss, Nic Toomer, Josh Sanguinetti, DJ Warnell Jr.
Notable departures from 2023 roster: Phillip Dunnam, Noah Pierre, Louis Moore, Jordan Grier.
Amare Ferrell talks with reporters on Thursday after fall camp. / Indiana Athletics
Experienced transfers
During the transfer portal’s winter cycle, Indiana landed fellow Old Dominion transfers Shawn Asbury II and Terry Jones Jr. Among Old Dominion defenders, Asbury had the highest PFF grade for coverage (80.6) and defense (83.5), which ranked 16th among all FBS safeties last season. In 12 starts, Asbury totaled 93 tackles, six tackles for loss, four pass breakups and one interception. A candidate to play nickel for Indiana, Jones finished third on the team with 105 total tackles, and both earned All-Sun Belt honorable mentions.
Doss and Warnell joined Indiana after spring practices and provide a similar veteran presence to Asbury and Jones. As a fifth-year senior at Austin Peay, Doss was named a first-team FCS All-America. He has experience at cornerback but has been working with Indiana’s safety group. Now making the jump to the Big Ten, Cignetti said Doss impressed Indiana’s strength and conditioning staff with his competitiveness this summer.
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“He’s a grinder,” Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher said of Doss. “First day he came in, he’s putting extra work in after workouts, after practice with us. So he’s been pretty impressive so far. He’s a really good athlete. We’ll see a lot more from him in fall camp, but his résumé speaks for itself. He’s a pretty impressive player.”
Warnell transferred to Indiana for his fifth-year senior season following two-year stints at UCLA, then Arizona. Though he mostly appeared on special teams last year, Warnell – Indiana’s tallest defensive back at 6-foot-3 – has played nearly every position in the secondary over 40 career games. That’s something the coaching staff looks for with this position.
“Coaches talk to us about versatility, not just one player playing one position,” Amare Ferrell said. “Everybody can play every position: high safety, in the box, hybrid, rover, or whatever you want to call it.”
A budding talent and a position change
Amare Ferrell played more snaps, 259, than any Indiana true freshman last season. His biggest chance came against Rutgers on Oct. 21 after Pierre suffered a season-ending injury. Ferrell filled in at what former head coach Tom Allen called Indiana’s husky position, a hybrid safety/linebacker position. He was the second-highest ranked recruit in Indiana’s 2023 class, a three-star prospect ranked No. 578 in the nation out of Columbia High School in Lake City, Fla. Ferrell feels last year’s experience has helped him as he goes through his second fall camp.
“It’s been real beneficial,” Ferrell said. “Last year, just seeing the field as a freshman, coming in you’re seeing things that I’ve never seen before. So this year around I see things and I can play faster.”
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Cignetti sees potential in the young safety.
“Solid spring, big future, expect big things from [Ferrell],” Cignetti said. “And looks like he’s picked up where he left off. So excited about him.”
Nic Toomer transferred to Indiana before the 2023 season and primarily played cornerback, but Cignetti was quick to move him to safety during spring practice. The 6-foot-2 redshirt senior made 26 tackles, three pass breakups, three tackles for loss, one sack and one interception last season. Although he didn’t play safety during his four-year career at Stanford, there’s a shred of familiarity at the position with four snaps at free safety with the Hoosiers in 2023.
Returning Hoosiers like sixth-year senior Josh Sanguinetti, redshirt junior Bryson Bonds and redshirt senior Tyrik McDaniel also have experience at Indiana and will compete for playing time.
“We got a lot of older guys,” Ferrell said. “I’m probably going to be the youngest guy that’s going to play, but I feel like we all have a good chemistry. We talk a lot off the field, on the field, so I feel like the secondary’s going to be really good this year.”
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The bottom line
The ceiling of Indiana’s safety room depends upon whether players like Asbury, Jones and Doss can translate their production at lower competition levels to the Big Ten, as well as if Ferrell can take the sophomore year jump that Cignetti seemingly anticipates. Like most of the new-look roster and coaching staff, it’s hard to feel assured that this position will be a strength. But with so many experienced seniors among the group, safety shouldn’t be a weakness for the Hoosiers.
The Indiana Pacers are a team to watch as a seller in the upcoming trade deadline.
Before Feb. 5, the Pacers should be expected to move at least one player and possibly more. Some members of the Indiana Pacers On SI staff pondered which player would be the likeliest to be traded.
Ethan J. Skolnick
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Indiana has only two players earning more than $20 million, and one won’t be moved under any circumstances (Tyrese Haliburton) and another (Pascal Siakam) is likely staying unless Indiana is blown away. Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith seem to be parts of the future.
So the most likely candidates would seem to be Obi Tobbin (a pending free agent making $14 million) and TJ McConnell (on an extension paying him $11 million). As valuable as McConnell has been for the Pacers, he still could have value to one of this season’s contenders, so we will go with him as an option to land a future pick and younger option.
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Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin in the second half against the San Antonio Spurs. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
Jeremy Brener
The Pacers are in a unique position in their gap year with Tyrese Haliburton out with a torn Achilles. The team is absolutely plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, making them a seller at this year’s trade deadline. However, there’s no clear cut answer as to who they could part ways with because they are trying to contend next season.
Most of the roster is either injured or too valuable to trade at this moment in time. If there’s anyone that doesn’t fit either bill, it could be third-year forward Jarace Walker. If the team is not pleased with Walker’s progress before February, the Pacers may look to move him if there is a decent trade offer between now and then.
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Tony Mejia
Indiana’s largest financial commitments are tied to injured point guard Tyrese Haliburton and versatile forward Pascal Siakam, so I wouldn’t expect too big a splash.
If the Pacers are looking to trim salary or change things up on the heels of their first Finals appearance in a quarter-century with Haliburton sidelined, the two most likely players they can move are wing Bennedict Mathurin and backup guard T.J. McConnell.
Mathurin’s rookie deal is coming to an end, while McConnell’s savvy and playoff experience could make him attractive to contenders looking to add a proven commodity who can add a spark off the bench.
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Alabama football completed Step 1. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday, earning its first College Football Playoff victory.
With the first round completed, UA has a tougher test ahead. No. 1 Indiana awaits in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. As Alabama celebrates its victory and begins to prepare, here’s what to know about the 13-0 Hoosiers.
The coach
To say that Curt Cignetti has done a good job at Indiana is perhaps college football’s largest understatement. Cignetti, who took over last season, has turned the Big Ten’s ultimate doormat into the nation’s top team.
Cignetti joined up from James Madison before the 2024 season. He immediately took a program that had grown stale under Tom Allen to the CFP, then turned around and did even better this year.
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“I just know that winning lifts all boats,” Cignetti said after the playoff field was announced. “In terms of fan support in the stadium, donations, all parts of the university, downtown when you pack the stadium, bring a lot of people to Bloomington, it helps their sales. A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation. The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I’d say right now the arrow is pointing up. We probably got a lot of momentum going in those kind of areas.”
Cignetti has a connection to Alabama as well. He worked as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 through 2011, helping set the groundwork for Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.
In addition to Indiana in James Madison, he was a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon after leaving the Tide.
The quarterback
For the first time in program history, Indiana has a Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza beat out a group of finalists that included Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.
Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards this season, with 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 226 of his 316 passes so far.
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“Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff,” Mendoza told reporters Monday in Bloomington. “That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter. I believe this trophy is a little bit of a push of confidence on us, on the team, that we’re making history for the IU team in history to be 13-0 and also to bring home a Heisman Trophy to Bloomington.”
The junior, who hails from Florida, transferred into Indiana from Cal this year. He spent two seasons in Berkeley before joining the Hoosiers.
The season
Indiana was the losingest program in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering this season. Some predicted it would be a step back for the Hoosiers, who lost several key players from last season’s playoff team.
Instead, IU won its first Big Ten title since 1967. It enters the CFP undefeated.
“I think that if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we’re going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs, the team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it’s tough to make those predictions,” Mendoza said Monday.
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To cap off the season, Indiana, which had faced criticism for its strength of schedule throughout the year, pulled off a huge upset in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat then No. 1 Ohio State, earning the top seed in the CFP and a spot in the Rose Bowl.
Months after being named the 2024 Indiana Thoroughbred Owner’s and Breeder’s Association’s Horse of the Year for 2024, multiple stakes winner Demolisher was euthanized after a bout with laminitis.
“We went from the highest highs as Indiana Horse of the Year to the lowest low ever when we had to say goodbye,” said Resia Ayres, who bred and raced Demolisher with husband Ken.
Unraced at 2, Demolisher proved worth the wait as he won the first five starts of his career in 2024, topped by stakes wins in the Governor’s Handicap and the To Much Coffee Handicap. All five of those wins came at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He closed out the season with an unplaced start in the Bryan Station Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland.
In March the son of Dominus was honored as ITOBA’s top Indiana-bred 3-year-old male and its Horse of the Year.
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“It’s about as high as we ever expected to have any of our horses,” Ken Ayres said at the time. “It’s hard to put words to it. Obviously, we’re super excited about it.”
