How Well Is Indiana Doing In Football Recruiting? It Depends On How You Look At It

Indiana is doing well in Class of 2026 recruiting compared to other seasons, but the Hoosiers set a high bar in 2024. Will Indiana’s recruits keep the Hoosiers at a playoff level?

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti speaks to the media during his pre-Notre Dame College Football Playoff press conference on Dec. 18, 2024. / Todd Golden | Hoosiers On SI

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – These days, football recruiting is a multi-pronged effort.

As it has in every other college sport, the transfer portal has added a completely new wrinkle. Teams can completely rebuild themselves through the portal.

Indiana is the poster child of that phenomenon. Using a portal class based around the 13 players Indiana coach Curt Cignetti brought with him last year from James Madison, the Hoosiers went from 3-9 to 11-2 in a single season.

However, high school recruiting is still important – maybe more so in football than in any other sport. There is no international pool of players to tap if you strike out in the portal. Besides, the talent pool has to be re-charged by the usual class of high school talent. Recent years have seen a glut of players available because many of them played an extra season with COVID-19 amnesty.

Cignetti has gone into his first full offseason of high school recruiting riding high on the success of Indiana’s 2024 College Football Playoff appearance. There can be little doubt the playoff appearance turned heads of recruits who would have not considered Indiana otherwise.

So far, Indiana has received the dividends. Indiana has received commitments from linebacker Trevor Gibbs, cornerback Kasmir Hicks, defensive lineman Gabe Hill, running back/linebacker Henry Ohlinger, linebacker Jacob Savage, offensive lineman Sam Simpson, defensive lineman Blake Smythe, cornerback Lawrence Timmons and defensive lineman Rodney White.

That haul has Indiana rated No. 32 in 247Sports team recruiting rankings, No. 35 in On3’s team rankings and No. 39 in Rivals rankings.

All of those rankings are an improvement over Indiana’s Class of 2025 rankings. The Hoosiers were No. 45 at Rivals, No. 46 at 247Sports and No. 53 at On3.

Using those three recruiting-focused websites and looking at their rankings of Indiana’s classes since 2020, the Hoosiers averaged a class ranking of 43.8 at 247Sports, 48.5 at On3 and 49.2 at Rivals.

Having a high school class ranked in the 30s puts Indiana in front of its recent recruiting performance – though it is not the best Indiana has done in the 2020s. The honor goes to Tom Allen’s Class of 2022. Riding high off winning seasons in 2019 and 2020, Indiana’s Class of 2022 haul averaged a 25.3 over the three recruiting sites.

Many of those Class of 2022 players did not stick around, though there are still a few in Bloomington such as wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr., cornerback Jamari Sharpe and tackle Carter Smith.

So Indiana is ahead of its historic performance, but is it good enough to sustain a playoff-caliber team?

Of the 12 teams that participated in the 2024 College Football Playoff, Indiana is ranked 11th at all three websites, only ahead of Mountain West Conference champion Boise State.

Perhaps worth a bit more pause is Indiana’s ranking within the Big Ten. 247Sports has Indiana ranked 10th among the 18 schools in the conference. On3 has Indiana ranked 12th.

That is also ahead of historic performance, but the Hoosiers set a much higher historic bar with their 2024 season. Of course, high school classes will be mixed with transfer portal additions along the way, but other teams will do the same.

Cignetti and general manager Matt Wilson have done a good job raising Indiana’s profile among recruits. It will bear watching in the coming seasons whether it will pay off in continued playoff contention for the Hoosiers.

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