IU football defense should be very similar to JMU’s chaos from last year
In two seasons at the FBS level, Curt Cignetti’s JMU defense had the second-most sacks in the Sun Belt and recorded the league’s most tackles for loss last season with 114 tackles for loss.
Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti recaps IU football practice game and QB position
Indiana Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti met with the media as IU began the third week of fall camp.
- The 2024 IU football season will open on August 31 at 3:30 p.m. against FIU at Memorial Stadium.
BLOOMINGTON – Indiana appears to have emerged from its first preseason scrimmage with greater clarity at the quarterback position.
Whether it was necessary is questionable, but Curt Cignetti’s statement that Ohio native Kurtis Rourke had “pulled off pretty significantly” over the weekend generated the kind of talking point Monday that trades as well as gold this time of year.
That wasn’t the most important thing Cignetti said. Maybe not even close.
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First, the quarterback position was never really in question for Indiana this offseason. Cignetti seems happy with the progress of redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson, and he has two freshmen who each look interesting in their own way. But you don’t bring in a player like Rourke in the modern NIL/Portal landscape — an accomplished MAC quarterback who has nowhere else to prove himself but here — to bench him.
Rourke played every snap for the first team in the spring game in April, and since then there has been no sign that he has waned in his coach’s eyes. Cignetti’s endorsement on Monday is just the latest proof of what has been clear for some time: Rourke, if healthy, will start at quarterback for IU in the fall.
No, the most important part of Cignetti’s press conference came elsewhere in his recap. More specifically, on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
“Our defense,” he said, “is a real challenge when it comes to protecting the passer.”
Thanks to his current staff, this should be nothing new for Cignetti.
While four of the six assistants Cignetti brought from James Madison to Bloomington work on offense, the two who accompany him on defense are arguably more interesting.
Bryant Haines, the highest-paid coordinator in program history and the first million-dollar coordinator DC IU has ever hired, was a semifinalist for the Broyles Award at the same position last season. Pat Kuntz, a Roncalli and Notre Dame graduate, coaches tackles at Indiana but ran the entire defensive line at Harrisonburg.
Interestingly, both men worked as graduate assistants at IU, Haines for Kevin Wilson and Kuntz for Wilson and Tom Allen. Together, they built the most disruptive pass rush in the Sun Belt Conference at JMU.
“Schematically,” Cignetti said, “Haines knows how to get to the quarterback. He challenges the guys up front.”
In two seasons at the FBS level, the Dukes recorded 83 sacks, trailing only Troy’s 88 in the Sun Belt. James Madison recorded 210 tackles for loss in those two seasons, including a league-best 114 in 2023. All of that contributed to a total of 43 turnovers during that same span.
James Madison finished last season among the best teams not only in its conference but also in the country in terms of havoc rate, a stat that combines tackles for loss, passes defended (interceptions and breakups) and forced fumbles, all divided by total plays.
Cignetti was quick to point out Monday that the Hoosiers were “rumbling” in Saturday’s practice game, not going full throttle, but he was encouraged by a defense that, as he described it, sounded a lot like what he’s seen in Harrisonburg the past two seasons.
“When you’re trading blows in a scrimmage, it’s really hard to run the football,” Cignetti said, “because you can’t account for broken tackles or perimeter tackles. But good pressure on the quarterback, pretty solid against the run.”
Cignetti cited better pocket containment as an area for improvement and said he would like his defense to limit explosive plays more consistently. That’s what every coach in America would want, too.
However, after he and his team spent most of the winter winning key recruiting battles on offense, particularly in the portal, Cignetti acknowledged that his team would still be a work in progress on the other side of the ball in the spring. The Hoosiers added two potentially key transfers after their spring season, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds (James Madison) and defensive tackle CJ West (Kent State), but they will likely still need some luck with injuries to maintain the necessary depth through the fall.
More: IU’s defensive depth suffers a setback in the first training game
In addition, they must demonstrate opportunism in the face of a schedule that offers them some opportunities.
The Hoosiers don’t face Michigan or Ohio State until November. They don’t play USC, Oregon or Penn State at all. They have eight home games, an offense that on paper looks like it can move the ball pretty effectively and a coach who is constantly in “win now” mode.
You don’t necessarily need a smothering defense. A disruptive one is enough. Create trouble, force mistakes, capitalize on chaotic plays (negative plays, sacks, turnovers, etc.). Let the offense do the work.
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