Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds Says Curt Cignetti Called His Shot on National Title in 2024

Cignetti is no stranger to placing high expectations on his football programs.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti told D'Angelo Ponds on his recruiting visit that the program would win a national championship. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Indiana star defensive back D’Angelo Ponds met with the media on Thursday morning at the NFL combine, as he and many other draft hopefuls look to make a good impression on scouts and other decision makers in Indianapolis.

Fresh off a national championship with the Hoosiers, life has been pretty good for Ponds, who certainly has no regrets about his decision to leave James Madison and follow coach Curt Cignetti to Bloomington to suit up for the Hoosiers.

Ponds was an integral part of the school’s first national championship in football this past season, which was something that Cignetti predicted as early as Ponds’s first visit to Indiana in the transfer portal.

“I’ll tell you a story of when I transferred from JMU to Indiana,” Ponds began. “I took my visit to Indiana and I was with my Dad at the visit. We were meeting with Coach Cig and we were going over the schedule of who we were going to go play. My Dad was like, ‘Oh yeah, we should definitely go to a bowl game. Bowl game no doubt.’ And Coach Cig looked at him like, ‘Bowl game? We’re gonna win it all.’ And it came true. … It was a full circle moment right there.”

#IU CB D’Angelo Ponds recalls his favorite Curt Cignetti moment. Mentions how his father was expecting a bowl game during his transfer portal visit to Indiana, only for Cignetti to respond,

“Bowl game? We’re gonna win it all.” pic.twitter.com/3sX3cz1v5D
— Noah Compton (@nerlens_) February 26, 2026

Ponds played all three seasons of his college career for Cignetti, where he developed as a First-Team All-American and a two-time First-Team All-Big Ten defensive back for the Hoosiers. Ponds was elite as a freshman as well, as he was named Second Team All-Sun Belt in 2023.

Ponds is expected to be drafted by day two of the NFL draft, which was reason enough for the Hoosiers star to leave college early to play at the next level. His dream of playing professionally will come true in just a couple of short months.

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