IU Spring Position Outlook: DL
A look at who Indiana Football will have on campus for Spring Practice, their depth chart position and who could break out...
Not a ton on the new front during the last week of February but HC Curt Cignetti did speak with, and take questions from, the students on campus which was really cool. Here’s the Indiana Football twitter clips but there are more floating around for those interested. I think one of my favorite quotes was this one (per Dylan Traeger — @dylan_traeger):
Curt Cignetti on what led him to signing a contract extension to commit to staying with Indiana football: “There’s nothing that could’ve taken me from Indiana because I felt a special bond… something special that we created here.”
We know he got paid but that’s still very good to hear. I’ve also heard that his wife loves Bloomington, the town, as well.
Putting this back in here again, again because IU did announce their Spring Game will be on April 19th at Noon. 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 DL position and who I think has breakout potential this spring.
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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my Spring Depth Charts for offense and defense here but those were published more than a month ago now and are kind of out of date and I’ve made some tweaks to the working document as well.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, here is a link to check out the Google Sheets version here.
** This is a working document that has been updated with every addition! **
I usually make a ton of notes about who and why I move players up and down (or off when they leave) but Google isn’t smart enough to let people who don’t have editing power actually see the notes…which is incredibly dumb and something that’s annoyed me for the 5 or so years I’ve been doing these on my own (rant over).
As I said above, this week, we’ll be looking at the DL. I’ll be going over the depth chart as I see it now and give some analysis on the top guys at the position as we head into the Spring Practice season, along with a “breakout” candidate.
DL is a pretty large position group so I’ll be giving some key stats on some of the main guys and then giving my opinion on some of the younger guys as a group. I’ll be starting with who I see as the starters heading into Spring.
SDE — Mario Landino (So) 6'4, 275 — Rotational Starter
DT — Hosea Wheeler (R-Sr) 6’3, 300 — Rotational Starter
NT — Tyrique Tucker (Sr/Jr) 6'0, 298 — Rotational Starter — Breakout
Stud — Mikail Kamara (R-Sr+) 6'1, 265 — Starter
I really see this group as a moving target everywhere but all world DE Mikail Kamara. Anyone reading this is sure to already know just how good he is. I’m not going to rehash all of awesome, 3rd team AP All American season again but Kamara led the nation in pressures per game (5.3). He finished 21st in PFF overall grade for EDGE players (84.6 — out of 531) while having 47 tackles, 15 TFL’s, 10 sacks and 2 FFs. IU is very lucky to have him back and maybe have him a little slimmed down so he can refine his pass rushing and coverage skills in his move to the Stud position.
Here’s where things get tricky. As we head into Spring Practice, I truly wonder if the rest of these positions even get settled at all.
Let’s start with Mario Landino. Landino was an afterthought in the ‘24 recruiting class by many…and that includes me. He was being recruited by Cignetti and co. at JMU and they believed in him enough to offer him at IU. Him being an afterthought isn’t because I thought Landino couldn’t be a good player…It’s because you rarely see a player ranked as the 265th best DL in the country, who’s barely a 3* (80 by 247) make an impact in their true freshman season. To be frank: I don’t remember a single guy ranked this low making an impact on an 11 win team Power 2 team. If anyone can find someone like this, hit me up…
But Landino did just that, playing 140 snaps over 12 games on his way to a 69.7 overall PFF grade. The staff burned his red shirt for good reason. He finished with 7 tackles with 5 of those classified by PFF as “Stops” (tackles that constitute a "failure" for the offense). When he was on the field, he was giving max effort. I’m excited to see what he looks like this Spring. I don’t think he’s written in as the starter at Stud (and have him listed as an “-or-” starter as of this writing) because IU could bring in another DE to push him but I think he’s the guy who trots out with the one’s this spring.
Hosea Wheeler is a rugged, thick DT transfer from Western Kentucky. He played 619 snaps and finished with a (fairly pedestrian) PFF grade 65.7. He did have 27 “Stops” including 2 and a FF against Alabama. I was sort of indifferent on his addition and figured I’d have Dominque Ratcliff (more on him in a bit) in this spot until I watched this BuffedInPrime YouTube breakdown on him. Like Landino, I see Wheeler as an “-or-” starter on my depth chart still. He’s going to have to step his game up but the tools are there to be a very good Power 2 iDL.
Tyrique Tucker was my favorite defensive player last year mostly because I think his incredible play falls a little bit between the cracks because he played in the shadow of elite NT (and future mid round draft pick) CJ West. NT is another spot where I need to see some practice and reports before writing him in in pen to start. Again, at this moment, he’s my “-or-” starter at NT.
Tucker played 306 snaps last season finishing 41st (out of 542) in PFF grade (78.2) among all iDL’s. Think about that. He finished with the 41st overall grade and wasn’t even the best NT on the team. I think that changes this year. We saw him make some massive plays, including the tipped ball against Washington that led to the D’Angelo Ponds long INT TD and was arguably the best highlight for IU this season. While he made just 24 tackles, he collected 21 pressures and 15 Stops to go along with 5 TFL’s and 2.5 sacks in those 306 snaps.
He’s built like a fire hydrant at 6’0, 298 and has really good interior pass rush moves. He gets under OL and drives them back with his powerful legs. Even though I have him listed as the starter in this exercise, Tucker is still my Spring Breakout player from this position group. I think he’s a total stud.
DE — TaDerius Collins (Jr/So) 6'4, 250 — Rotational Starter
DT — Marcus Burris (R-Sr) 6'5, 286 — Rotational Starter
DT/NT — Dominique Ratcliff (R-Sr+) 6'3, 295 — Rotational Starter — 2nd Breakout
Stud — Daniel Ndukwe (So) 6'3, 239 — Back up
I’m going to start here just explaining what I mean by “Rotational Starter”. Basically, at this juncture, I don’t know who is going to win the true “starter” job. HC Curt Cignetti never even put out a depth chart last year. As Matt Weaver from Peegs always says (paraphrasing), it doesn’t matter who starts, it matters who’s on the field when you need a stop or a score in the 4th quarter. So, for right now, I think three of the four above could easily win the “starter” job but will at worst be playing a couple hundred snaps this season.
Dominique Ratcliff was a big transfer get out of Texas State. I almost picked Ratcliff to be my breakout (and probably should have if I didn’t believe in Tyrique Tucker so much). Like Hosea Wheeler, he’s moving up a level for his final season and, like Tyrique Tucker, Ratcliff is a PFF darling. He played 318 snaps in ‘24 grading out as the 19th overall iDL with a 82.5 grade (out of 542). He also graded out elite against the run with a 90.2 run defense grade (6th out of 542). He finished ‘24 wtih 22 tackles, 4 TFL’s, 2 Sacks and 19 Stops and 17 Hurries. I think this kid is the most underrated transfer IU brought in. He played at a smaller school but was *elite* when he played. I think he’s going to pair nicely with whoever lines up next to him. Can he sustain that elite play against Power 2 competition? Can he increase his work load and keep his grades this high? We will see but I think he’s going to be a big part of IU’s defense.
I’m a big believer in both TaDerius Collins and Marcus Burris. Both have the elite pedigree and elite size and length. We’ll start with Burris as he played a bunch. Burris played 296 snaps with a mediocre 60.5 PFF grade. He finished ‘24 with 14 tackles, 2 TFL’s, 1 Sack and 7 Stops. He’s big and fast and I’ve been waiting 2 years for him to put it together at IU…Can he do it in last year in Bloomington?
Collins was the highest rated recruit in the ‘22 class for Tom Allen. The make up is tantalizing. He’s a super athletic 6’4, 250 and I thought we were in for a breakout last season when he picked off a pass in the Western Illinois game where I thought it was a safety at first and then realized that no…it was Collins making an absurd catch looking like a WR. Then he never played again. He was on the injury report for 2+ months and we didn’t see him down the stretch. This is another guy I think could do big things but like Burris, it’s on Collins to force the coaches hand to put him on the field.
Daniel Ndukwe was another target for the staff when they were at JMU. Ndukwe pushed his way onto the field as a key special teams performer and blocked two punts this year. He’s a super athletic DE that has a chance to develop into a pretty good pass rusher. He played just 17 total defensive snaps but I think he sees a lot more this year and have high hopes for him to be able to spell Mikail Kamara for drives this season.
DE — William Depaepe (So/Fr) 6'6, 244 — Depth
NT/DT — Robby Harrison (Sr/Jr) 6'4, 298 — Depth
NT — J’mari Monette (Sr/Jr) 6'3, 285 — Depth
At this point, these three are depth players. I really liked Robby Harrison when he was brought in from ASU but that was with a different staff and bit of a different 4-2-5 defense that Tom Allen ran. Harrison lost a bunch of weight and I’m hoping he can find his way into the NT/DT rotation. For now, he’s just depth.
J’Mari Monette was a 3* in the ‘22 class that hasn’t really shown up yet but he’s stuck it out and now is his time to make hay, as they say, if he wants to get on the field.
William Depaepe is a long DE prospect and the brother of IU walk on Andrew Depaepe. Why would I bring up a walk on? Well the Depaepe brothers have a pretty good pedigree. William, the younger one, is long and lean looks like he could help out down the line at DE…We just haven’t seen him yet. His brother, Andrew a 6’5, 260 DE, was a top 125 player out of HS. He transferred MSU after one year as a walk on to IU and then tore his ACL in Fall Camp. I think transferring as a walk on after playing at MSU as a true freshman could be the wake up call he needs. The talent is there with both brothers.
DE — Tyrone Burrus (Fr) 6'4, 245 — Depth
DE/DT — Keishaun Calhoun* (Fr) 6'2, 260 — Depth
DT — Kyler Garcia* (Fr) 6'4, 293 — Depth
DE — Triston Abram (Fr) 6’3, 230 — Depth
These four freshman all have the potential to potentially play early. However, only two from this group will be on campus this Spring. I think both guys who are not, Triston Abrams and Tyrone Burrus have real chances to end up being starters at some point.
As for Kyler Garcia and Keishaun Calhoun, both were ranked as higher 3*’s out of HS. It was put out there on one of the message boards (sorry I can’t find to credit) that Garcia was Purdue’s top target overall at DT. I think he has a chance to be very good. He’s big and athletic and I’m excited to see Garcia battle it out this Spring.
Calhoun looked like he would be a DT but seems like he’s going to start out at DE. We’ll see what happens when practice starts up but he’s another guy with a high motor that may have been a bit underrated in a good state for football (Ohio).
Let’s go Dominique Ratcliff!!!