Why E.J. Williams Jr. Returned To Indiana After Entering Transfer Portal

Curt Cignetti spoke Wednesday about the situation around wide receiver E.J. Williams Jr. leaving the program during the 2024 season and returning for 2025.

Indiana wide receiver E.J. Williams Jr. (7) catches a pass against Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The combination of the NCAA’s redshirt and transfer portal rules have created a midseason dynamic that has become more popular in recent seasons.

The NCAA allows college football players to participate in four games or fewer and still redshirt, meaning they retain that season of eligibility. Add new transfer portal rules from a few seasons ago that allow immediate eligibility at a new school after transferring – instead of sitting out a year – and player movement is at an all-time high.

No program is safe from this, even Indiana, during its historic 11-2 season in 2024 under new head coach Curt Cignetti. Several Hoosiers – E.J. Williams Jr., Donaven McCulley, Nahji Logan, Tyrik McDaniel, DJ Warnell Jr. – left the program near the midway point of the season and eventually entered the transfer portal.

It’s not entirely uncommon for a player to enter the portal and return to their previous school, but it certainly happens less often than the alternative. Of that group, only Williams returned to Indiana. His situation is unique.

Williams dealt with injuries during fall camp and the early stages of the 2024 season. Along with being in a crowded wide receiver room, that led to him appearing in just three games against Charlotte, Northwestern and Nebraska. He caught just two passes for 49 yards.

Williams had just one season of collegiate eligibility remaining, and he wanted to make the most of it in hopes of pursuing a professional career – rather than spend it injured or out of the rotation. Instead of redshirting, he explained on Oct. 22 on social media why he left the program midseason.

"I'm not on the team anymore because I opted to get surgery to have a better opportunity to compete at playing time, be 100% healthy, and help contribute to a great football team next year. I made this decision because the team was perfectly fine without me in the game and I also want to have a chance at being able to continue my career at the professional level. While making this decision, my coach saw it as quitting on the team, so if I was to redshirt I wouldn't be able to come back to the program next season. I completely understand and respected his decision as he respected mine. It's no hard feelings or bad blood. I appreciate the entire staff here at IU for everything while I was a part of the program and wish my teammates the best as they continue to compete and dominate this season," Williams' post read.

It may have come as a surprise to some to see Williams announce on Dec. 13 he’d be returning to Indiana for the 2025 season. But it’s clear that Cignetti and the Indiana staff still see promise in Williams’ ability, and his temporary departure didn’t make their relationship irreparable. 

Cignetti shared more insight into the situation during Wednesday’s press conference.

“E.J. wanted to redshirt after his fourth game. And like I said to him, I decide who redshirts. If you can help the team, then that's what everybody is here to do,” Cignetti said. “And he had dreams of playing in the league. It was his last year. So his only recourse was to go into the portal. About the middle of December we got together. We wanted him back. He wanted to come back. So that was another win for us as well, another guy that had started in '23, the year before I got here. So I think it says a lot about what went on last year that guys who had left on the front end and then returned."

With Williams, Indiana is getting back an athletic 6-foot-4 receiver who had 23 receptions for 281 yards under former Indiana coach Tom Allen in 2023. He also had 306 receiving yards as a freshman at Clemson in 2020, where he originally committed as the nation’s No. 13 ranked wide receiver out of high school.

Along with Williams, Indiana returns its two leading receivers from the 2024 season, Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. It also landed Michigan transfer wide receiver Tyler Morris and Appalachian State transfer Makai Jackson during the winter portal window, creating a wide receiver room with plenty of experience, talent and depth.

Williams’ situation is unique, but there are a few other former Hoosiers returning to Bloomington for the 2025 season. Offensive lineman Kahlil Benson and safety Louis Moore transferred out of Indiana after the 2023 season when Indiana made the coaching change from Allen to Cignetti.

Benson was a staple of Indiana's offensive lines in 2022 and 2023. He started five games and appeared in all 12 at right guard in 2022. The following season, he started all 12 games for the Hoosiers at right tackle.

Indiana offensive lineman Kahlil Benson (67) with Matthew Bedford (76) during practice. / Andrew Mascharka, Indiana Athletics

He transferred to Colorado for the 2024 season and primarily played right guard under coach Deion Sanders, logging 318 snaps across seven games at that position. But he also saw time at left guard in two games and right tackle in two games.

Moore, a former junior college recruit, had a breakout year in 2023 and performed as one of Indiana's best defenders. He finished second among Hoosiers with 82 tackles and tied for the team lead with three interceptions. He had four games with at least nine tackles, and his interceptions came against Illinois and Akron.

The safety transferred to Ole Miss, where he played in 10 games and made 34 tackles, one pass defended and an assisted sack. Moore played 297 snaps for the 9-3 Rebels, primarily at free safety. Among Ole Miss defenders with at least 220 snaps played, Moore had the 16th-highest PFF grade for defense (62.4) and the 14th-highest coverage grade (58.3).

Indiana's Louis Moore (20) dives for the end zone after an interception against Akron at Memorial Stadium. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

But now, Williams, Benson and Moore are all back with the Hoosiers, which Cignetti believes is a statement about how far the program has come from a 9-27 stretch in Allen’s final three seasons to an 11-2 record and a College Football Playoff appearance in 2024.

“I thought the one telling thing about what we've accomplished in a short time we've been here is we had two starters from the year before that had gone to the portal and left,” Cignetti said. “One went to Ole Miss and one went to Colorado and wanted to return after they saw what was going on here at Indiana.”

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