Bloomington – Indian football filled a 300+ pound hole on defense during the spring portal window.
Coach Curt Cignetti told reporters before an NIL-related event at Huber’s Orchard and Winery on May 29 that the Hoosiers were looking for “help” on the interior after spring practice and expressed a lot of excitement in landing one of the best defensive tackles available by signing Kent State forward CJ West.
“A very big person who had good initial quickness, violent,” said Cignetti. “He made a lot of plays at the nose guard position.”
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Last year, Indiana had a four-man rotation at defensive tackle with Philip Blidi (444 snaps), Marcus Burris Jr. (437 snaps), Patrick Lucas Jr. Burris is the only one of those tackles left on the roster.
Blidi’s late entry into the portal before spring camp highlighted how competitive the transfer market was for interior defensemen. He signed with Auburn after receiving interest from a group of top Power Four schools, including LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Washington, Missouri and Colorado.
Indiana faced similar competition for West, which included many blue bloods like Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida State.
West, who is listed as 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, was third-team All-MAC in 2023. He has 110 career tackles (54 solo) with 19.5 for loss and 7.0 sacks. He played in 36 games as a three-year starter.
According to Pro Football Focus, he tied for eighth among defensive tackles with 24 stops against the run. The site defines stops as tackles that constitute a “failure” for the attack.
He has also been disruptive against Power Four competition with sacks in games against UCF, Georgia and Texas A&M.
“We need to get him in shape and a little stronger,” Cignetti said. “He has the potential to really help us.”
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Indiana hasn’t had much success at defensive tackle in recent years. Jerome Johnson is the program’s only defensive tackle to earn All-Big Ten honors in over a decade. He received All-Big Ten honors from the media in 2020 and was selected second-team All-Big Ten by the conference’s coaches.
According to Pro Football Focus, the last Hoosiers interior defender with more than 20 quarterback pressures in a single season was Jacob Robinson in 2017 (22 pressures).
The Hoosiers could have a formidable duo this fall, with West likely pairing with JMU transfer James Carpenter as the starter. Carpenter has exerted 65 quarterback pressures over the past two seasons, with 42 stops against the run. He also played more than 1,300 snaps during that span.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all of its coverage clicking here.
This article originally appeared in The Herald-Times: IU Football: CJ West gives defensive line much-needed playmaking ability
