IU Spring Position Outlook: DB
A look at who Indiana Football will have on campus for Spring Practice, their depth chart position and who could break out...
Spring Practice has started at IU and HC Curt Cignetti. The team was out in memorial stadium doing drills, 7 on 7s and full squad stuff with helmets but without pads. The IU football account put out some highlights on it’s Twitter page and the one that caught my eye was the burst on this run by new IU RB Roman Hemby, clearly going against the 1s on defense. As I said in my reply, some notable names I saw from jersey numbers / names with the the 1s:
Offense — Zen Michalski, Roman Hemby, Bray Lynch, Fernando Mendoza
Defense — Hosea Wheeler, Mikail Kamara (in a black jersey), D’Angelo Ponds, Mario Landino, Amare Ferrell, Rolijah Hardy
IU changed the date of the spring game!
April 17th @ 8pm is the new time to accommodate for Big Ten Network covering the event.
I know some people are annoyed it’s not during the day on the weekend but this will get eye balls on it, especially with teams scrapping their spring games altogether so other teams don’t get to see film of guys that might go into the portal.
Looks like it will be free and it’s always a fun time, especially when you’re coming off of a CFP appearance.
In this exercise, we’ll look at who IU has brought in in a position by position basis. Since there really isn’t much happening yet, I wanted to give people a primer on what to expect and who they’ll see once Spring Practice starts in a couple months.
This week we’ll take a look at the DB position and who I think has breakout potential this spring. I would have done a CB and Safety one, but I’m just a fan and ran out of time so we’ll lump them together.
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I had been linking to my Spring Depth Charts for offense and defense here but those were published more than a month ago now and are kind of out of date and I’ve made some tweaks to the working document as well. Sometimes the longer you stare at something the more confusing it is…With the depth chart, I feel like I’m now pretty dead on but you never know. I have seen other people’s depth charts and they’re a bit different.
If you want to see my current depth chart, scholarship numbers, walk on’s currently rostered, here is a link to check out the Google Sheets version here.
** This is a working document that has been updated with every addition! **
The great thing for me was that the video we saw of the 1s that I posted above basically confirmed a bunch of names I had put with the ones on my depth chart, so you should check it out.
I’m going to start with Safety and I’m lumping the Rover position in there. For those not familiar with “Rover”, it’s basically a hybrid LB/S who can come up and play in the box on run plays but can also cover WR’s, RB’s or TE’s when needed. It’s one of the hardest positions to fill because there aren’t a ton of guys that can basically be a LB and a Safety at the same time. Last year, Terry Jones moved into that spot for Amare Ferrell so that Ferrell could move back to Safety and replace Josh Sanguinetti at FS. Jones was a revelation but he was also a senior and won’t be back this year…but these guys will.
Rover
Devan Boykin (R-Sr+) 5'10, 195 — Starter
Jah Jah Boyd (So/Fr) 5'11, 173 — Back up
Garrett Reese (Fr) 6'2, 190 — Depth
I like my format on these of listing the position and then talking abou them so I’ll continue to do that here.
Devan Boykin is the no doubt starter at Rover coming into spring. He was brought in from NC State. Boykin will spend his last year at IU trying to fill that Terry Jones / Shawn Asbury II role as the “in the box” Safety that both rotated so well at.
Boykin was a 3* recruit out of HS in North Carolina and had a stellar career, seeing action in all four seasons he was in Raleigh. He finished his NC State career with 117 total tackles and 7 passes defended to go along with 4 INTs.
But Boykin missed all '24 with an injury suffered in bowl practice in '23. However, in '23, Boykin had 54 tackles, 3 INTs and 1 FF while ranking 153rd overall (out of 492) in defensive grade for Safeties per PFF. He also finished 28th (!!) in tackling grade and 4th (!!) in run defense grade.
Boykin is a hitter that isn’t afraid of contact and loves to play around the line of scrimmage. He needs to work on his coverage skills but he’s at IU to help out against teams like Iowa who run the ball out of traditional formations. He was a great add and I’m excited to see him this spring.
Jah Jah Boyd is a smaller, more lanky former 3* recruit out of PA (#25 over all in the state) that the IU staff had recruited when he was at JMU. He played all over the field, on both sides of the ball, and he got that ranking because of his athleticism. Boyd seems much more in that Safety than LB mold for Rover. We don’t really have much to go on for Boyd as he didn’t see any action last year and took a redshirt. I’m looking forward to seeing what he looks like.
Garrett Reece was an early commit to IU in the ‘24 class and he’s not on campus yet. We know that he’s being recruited as a Rover and, while he was that highly rated (85 rated 3* by 247), the staff clearly likes his length. What I like is that it appears he’s already up to 190, per his IU page. We’ll learn more about him in Fall Camp this summer.
Free Safety
Amare Ferrell (Jr) 6'2, 200 — Starter
Byron Baldwin* (Fr) 6’2, 195 — Rotation
Seaonta Stewart* (Fr) 6'1, 195 — Depth
Amare Ferrell is living up to his billing as tied for the top recruit in Tom Allen’s ‘23 class. He’s been playing since his true freshman season and looks like he has NFL potential. In any other year, he’d be my spring breakout guy but we already saw him break out in his *true sophomore season*.
If you don’t realize how much the staff trusted Ferrell last year in just his second season on campus, he played 743 snaps last year for IU, second only to Aiden Fisher’s 744. He finished last year with 49 tackles, 4 INTs, 1.5 Sacks and 18 Stops (PFF stat — tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense). Add to that a 78.2 overall PFF grade (57th out of 507) and 78.3 coverage grade (66th out of 507) and we’re talking about one of the premier safeties in college football.
Ferrell was all over the place and never came off the field. He blossomed when he moved from Rover to Free Safety where he could survey the field and make reads…and me made a lot of good reads. He has the size, speed and athleticism to be an NFL player and he will if he continues on this trajectory.
Byron Baldwin was the crown jewel of the ‘25 recruiting class. He’s on campus this spring which is why I think he pushes for playing time this fall. He finished 257th overall, good for the 7th highest recruit all time. To me, just watching his HUDL videos, he’s got almost the same profile as Amare Ferrell. Long, rangy and not afraid to hit. I’m very excited to hear more about him this spring.
Seonta Stewart is another long, rangy S/CB prospect from Ohio who was fairly highly rated (87 by 247 — tied for 5th best in the class) in the ‘25 class. He’s also here for the spring. I have him listed as a Safety simply because of the depth, but 247 recruiting analyst Alan Trieu said he sees the athleticism to play CB. It will be interesting to see where he lines up this spring.
Strong Safety
Louis Moore (R-Sr+) 5'11, 200 — Starter
Bryson Bonds (R-Sr) 6'0, 199 — Rotation
Louis Moore is back at IU after a year at Ole Miss. He sort of struggled to stay on the field as Ole Miss was pretty loaded in the back end and Moore is much better suited closer to the LOS.
Moore played 350 snaps and finished with a pretty pedestrian 64.1 overall PFF grade (300th out of 507) but was finish with an above average run defense grade (71.6) and a very good pass rush grade 77.1 (47th out of 507). He finished with 37 tackles and a fumble recovery to go along with one pass defended and 8 Stops.
In ‘23 he played the second most snaps on IU’s defense (740) and graded out as the second best defender for IU as a 73.3 overall by PFF, good for a much more respectable 113th (out of 492). His counting stats were wild for a safety. He finished with 83 tackles, 3 INTs and 3 FFs.
The tools are there for Moore to be a productive safety and I think IU’s defense fits him better. He can play that Shawn Asbury II role where he’s sort of in the box but also cover TE’s but he’s got to get better in coverage.
Bryson Bonds is back for his final season. It feels like he’s been at IU forever and, by all accounts, he’s a good kid, good student and a good teammate. He saw some action last year (80 snaps), a career high 19 tackles to go along with an acrobatic INT against Purdue.He’ll be used in a rotational / depth piece role at safety.
D'Angelo Ponds (Jr) 5'9, 170 — Starter
Ryland Gandy (Jr) 6'0, 180 — Starter / Rotation
Amariyun Knighten (Sr/Jr) 6'0, 174 — Starter / Rotation
Jamari Sharpe (Sr/Jr) 6'1, 187 — Rotation — Breakout
Dontrae Henderson (So/Fr) 5'11, 180 — Depth
Jaylen Bell* (Fr) 5'10, 179 — Depth
Zacharey Smith* (Fr) 6'0, 170 — Depth
This position went from a question mark to so loaded that former Texas 4* and multi year starter Jamier Johnson entered the portal. Now, the staff probably knew he might enter the portal but they also saw an opportunity to upgrade there.
Since CB it’s really just one position at IU and they rarely play just field or boundary, I’m going to talk about them as an overall unit, going by who I think the top guys are.
D’Angelo Ponds doesn’t need any introduction. I’m not going to run down a list of superlatives or stats here. He’s coming off an All American sophomore season. The 5’9 Ponds sticks to WR’s like glue and showed despite his small stature, he makes life incredibly difficult. He’s written in Sharpie atop any depth chart at CB.
Here’s where it gets interesting…When I think it’s too close to call or am not sure, especially in the off season, I default to putting the older player “ahead” of the younger player. That’s why you see Knighten ahead of Gandy. I think it’s likely that Gandy, given his pedigree, probably starts but I’m also not close to ready to call it. It’s why I give them a “-or-” designation on my 2-deep depth chart.
Ryland Gandy is a transfer from Pitt. He played 766 snaps as a true sophomore and finished with 40 tackles, 1 pass defended while finishing with just a 64.2 overall PFF grade out of 357 (out of 498). But this is where I have a problem with PFF (not going to do my whole rant). It’s very hard for a person grading a game to know what coverage’s are being called. Because when you watch Gandy play, you see a smooth athlete with good cover skills that allowed just 52.2% of the pass thrown his way to be caught. I see a good young player ready for a potential breakout (even though he’s not my choice in this exercise).
Amariyun Knighten made the game clinching play last year for Northern Illinois when they upset Notre Dame early in the season. He played 240 snaps while battling injuries and finished last year with 13 tackles, 3 passes defended and that aforementioned interception. He finished with an overall PFF grade of 71.2 (170th out of 498). He also finished with an elite 85 tackling grade which ranked 24th out of all qualifiers. Knighten is going to have to battle at IU but he’s long and rangy with good ball skills.
My breakout of the DBs is Jamari Sharpe. He basically took over for Jamier Johnson toward the end of the year and looked very…sharp…whenever his number was called. Another long, rangy athlete with elite speed, Sharpe. I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up as the starter in August with how skilled he is.
Sharpe played 234 snaps last year finishing with 13 tackles, 6 passes defended (!!) and .5 sacks. Teams tried to test him when he came in and quickly found out that, actually, Sharpe is very good too. PFF had him as a very respectable 138th overall (out of 498) in his sophomore year to go along with the 68th overall tackling grade (79.3). He also allowed just 7 catches on 21 targets (33%).
If you told me right now that Sharpe comes out of the spring as the starter opposite Ponds, not only would I not be surprised, I think it has a good chance of happening. IU loves riding it’s studs and hopefully they can get Ponds more rest with this depth but it wouldn’t be shocking if one of the four starter level players left after spring to pursue a starting spot elsewhere.
Dontrae Henderson saw 4 snaps his freshman year and took a redshirt. I hope to see more of him this spring to see if he can help this team out moving forward. The staff clearly liked him as he was the lowest ranked player in the ‘24 class by 247 (2* / 79). The services were wrong about Rolijah Hardy and Mario Landino and I’m hoping Henderson can also prove that rating wrong.
Both Jaylen Bell and Zachary Smith will be on campus this spring. Again, I’ll keep saying this, but it’s huge for their development. They get learn how to be a college football player for a full semester before the traditional summer enrollee’s.
Bell was rated as a 3* (87) out of Grayson HS in Georgia. Smith is also out of Georgia and has good length. He was rated as a 3* (86). These two are the building blocks for the future at CB and I’m excited to see them get on the field against some of IU’s very skilled WR’s.