Indiana Football QB Returns to Roster After Spending Year as Coaching Assistant

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Two hours before D'Angelo Ponds sent a crimson-filled Mercedes-Benz Stadium into an uproar with a first-play pick-six to jumpstart Indiana football's dominant Peach Bowl win over Oregon, Tyler Cherry stood with his heels on the 35-yard line, playing catch and launching passes as he's long desired.

Cherry didn't play that day. And for much of the last year, the former four-star quarterback recruit has been rendered inactive. But in that moment, before the chaos, the celebration, the confetti, he was back doing what his future entails: Fingers on laces, sending footballs spiraling through the air.

Now, Cherry is officially back. The Hoosiers revealed their spring football roster Tuesday, and Cherry was included alongside the transfers and freshmen early enrollees on the team's new-look list of players.

The 6-foot-5, 219-pound Cherry enrolled at Indiana in 2024 and appeared in one game, a 77-3 victory over Western Illinois in Week 2. He did not register any statistics. For the remainder of the season, he redshirted and learned under second-team All-Big Ten quarterback Kurtis Rourke.

Then, disaster struck.

In the lead-up to Indiana's 27-17 College Football Playoff loss at Notre Dame on Dec. 20, Cherry suffered a knee injury that ultimately knocked him out for the entirety of the 2025 season.

Rather than having Cherry occupy a spot on the active roster while rehabbing, Indiana allowed Cherry to serve in a "coaching-type role," then-quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer told Indiana Hoosiers On SI before the Rose Bowl.

Cherry, who attended Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind., remained present with the Hoosiers and offered additional insight on the sidelines while starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza delivered a Heisman Trophy-winning season on the field.

"Just kind of using a separate set of eyes and helps on gamedays," Whitmer said Dec. 30. "Just kind of tracking coverages on the sideline. Just give him some things to do, to stay connected and involved. It's been great."

Since he redshirted as a true freshman and didn't play in 2025, Cherry is listed as a redshirt freshman and has four years of eligibility remaining. Cherry will take back No. 15, which he wore in 2024 but gave up to Mendoza in 2025.

Cherry is one of five quarterbacks on the Hoosiers' spring roster. He joins projected starter and TCU transfer Josh Hoover, graduate student backup Grant Wilson and a pair of redshirt freshmen in Jacob Bell and Maverick Geske.

Indiana also has a new, albeit familiar, face spearheading the room. Whitmer left to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterbacks coach Feb. 3, and the Hoosiers hired his replacement, Tino Sunseri, only a few hours later.

Sunseri was Indiana's quarterbacks coach when Cherry committed in December of 2023 and remained with the program through the end of 2024. Thus, Cherry spent his entire first season in Bloomington under Sunseri's guidance.

The Hoosiers plan to start Hoover under center, meaning Cherry is likely headed for a reserve role. But if nothing else, he's back on the practice field and back to throwing passes — with hopes that someday, the lessons he's learned and hardships he's endured will prove fruitful toward furthering his football career.