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Why San Francisco 49ers picked Indiana defensive tackle CJ West in 2025 NFL Draft

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Why San Francisco 49ers picked Indiana defensive tackle CJ West in 2025 NFL Draft


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The San Francisco 49ers selected former Indiana football defensive tackle C.J. West with the No. 113 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Saturday afternoon.

He’s the first Hoosiers defensive lineman drafted since Denver picked Jammie Kirlew in 2010 and first defensive tackle selected since the Raiders drafted Nolan Harrison in 1991. He’s the highest selection for the program since 2018 when Ian Thomas was drafted by Carolina with the first pick in the fourth round (No. 101 overall).

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CJ West played a central role in IU’s historic success 

West made the jump to the Power Four last season as a highly coveted spring portal entry out of Kent State. Indiana beat out the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan, LSU and Florida State to land the veteran defender who started 35 games for the Golden Flashes. 

He was a key presence on IU’s defensive front with 40 tackles (14 solo) with 7.5 for a loss and two sacks in 13 games (420 snaps). Per Pro Football Focus, West had 25 quarterback pressures and 22 defensive stops (tackles that constitute a failure for the offense). 

CJ West was a standout at the 2025 NFL combine

The defender bolstered his draft hopes with a standout performance at the combine. The 6-foot-1, 316-pounder was named to the league’s All-Combine team after putting up a 4.95 40-yard dash and 33-inch vertical jump. 

He earned a 9.15 RAS score — a metric that combined an athlete’s physical measurements and athletic testing numbers — that ranked among the top 200 players tested from 1987 to 2025. 

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Why CJ West was a fit for the San Francisco 49ers

San Francisco is reloading on the defensive line under new defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

The overhaul started when the 49ers released both of their Week 1 starters at defensive tackle (Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins) during the offseason. Hargrave was a prized free agent acquisition, but struggled to stay on the field and the defense struggled against the run.

They used three of their first five picks to draft defensive linemen — they drafted Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams with the No. 11 overall pick and Texas defensive tackle Alfred Collins in the second round (No. 43 overall).

West will get an immediate chance to join the team’s rotation up front.

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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.





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San Antonio vs. Indiana, Final Score: Spurs got serious when they needed to, winning 134-119

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San Antonio vs. Indiana, Final Score: Spurs got serious when they needed to, winning 134-119


The San Antonio Spurs have a habit of playing with their food, but the talent difference between them and their opponents makes up for it on most nights. Eventually, they flexed their muscles and there was nothing the visitors could do.

They overwhelmed the Indiana Pacers with paint pressure, which also opened up the outside game, and everyone who got time was a contributor. Victor Wembanyama was like an angry killer wasp on defense, constantly harassing ball handlers, racking up four of his five blocks in the first half. Everything was going smoothly, but his teammates started allowing too much penetration, and their 21-point lead was reduced to eight. It was just three players doing most of the heavy lifting offensively for the Pacers, and the Spurs spent the rest of the game, denying them from getting within striking distance.



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NFL draft profile 2026: D’Angelo Ponds (Cornerback, Indiana)

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NFL draft profile 2026: D’Angelo Ponds (Cornerback, Indiana)


The 2026 NFL Draft is in Pittsburgh! This draft season, we’ll be scouting as many of the top prospects that the Pittsburgh Steelers could have their eye on. We’ll break down the prospects themselves, strengths and weaknesses, projected draft capital, and their fit with the Steelers.

The nickel cornerback position is essentially a starter in the modern NFL, and not many 2026 draft prospects have more hype there than D’Angelo Ponds. Could he be in play for the Steelers?

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The basics on D’Angelo Ponds

Defensive stats via Sports Reference

D’Angelo Ponds scouting report

I’m not sure if there’s a prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft more universally loved than Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds. And if you watched him this season, you’d understand why. Ponds is the embodiment of the “got that dog in me” memes with the pit bull photo-shopped over a chest X-ray. He’s an undersized defender at 5’9, 182 pounds, sure, but he plays so much bigger and was one of the best cornerbacks in the country on a National Championship team that had to play a lot of good offenses to get that far.

The biggest constant in the games I watched of Ponds is that he makes plays. He finished 2025 with 61 total tackles, four tackles for loss, two interceptions, and 11 passes defensed. He’s a high-effort player who can defend both the run and pass. That leads to production in every aspect of the game.

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Highway shut down after waste truck carrying dead bird flu ducks crashes in northern Indiana

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Highway shut down after waste truck carrying dead bird flu ducks crashes in northern Indiana


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Emergency management responded to a hazmat situation on Friday morning after a waste management truck carrying ducks that had died from bird flu crashed into a ditch at the side of a highway, according to officials.

The truck rolled into a ditch along U.S. Route 33 in Churubusco in Northern Indiana just after 8 a.m., forcing the highway to close in both directions, the Whitley County Emergency Management Agency said in a news alert.

The scene was secured with a 100-foot perimeter as a precaution and there’s no known threat to public health at this time, the agency said.

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“Waste management, Maple Leaf Farms, and Indiana Board of Animal Health are working together to have a specialized team to come do the cleanup,” the agency said.

HUNDREDS OF WILD BIRD DEATHS REPORTED ACROSS 7 COUNTIES, PROMPTING PARK CLOSURES

A bird flu warning sign.  (File photo,  Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Smith Township Fire Department, Whitley Sheriff Department, Churubusco Police Department and Whitley County Emergency Management all responded to the incident.

“Avoid the area of 650 East and US 33 north of Churubusco due to an emergency scene,” the agency said Friday morning on social media.

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COLORADO DECLARES DISASTER EMERGENCY AFTER PRESUMPTIVE BIRD FLU OUTBREAK HITS FACILITY WITH 1.3M CHICKENS

A duckling getting a bird flu vaccination.  (Gaizka Iroz/AFP via Getty Images)

The dead ducks had been picked up at several Maple Leaf Farms in Northern Michigan, and they had all been diseased with bird flu.

The H5N1 Avian Flu outbreak has been ongoing in the U.S. for the last several years, and has left hundreds of millions of birds dead.

Ducks at a farm in New York.  (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

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The avian flu is highly contagious among birds and some mammals, but it doesn’t transmit easily to humans.

“People rarely get bird flu, but when they do, it is most often after close, unprotected exposure (without wearing respiratory or eye protection) to birds or other animals infected with avian influenza A viruses,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.



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