How Curt Cignetti made the spring portal work for IU: ‘I’m not looking for third parties.’

Bloomington – Indian football head coach Curt Cignetti set a high standard for his team in the spring portal window.

The Hoosiers came out of spring camp with a long list of needs, particularly on the defensive side of the ball, after signing 22 transfers over the winter.

“I’m looking for the best I can get,” Cignetti said, after The IU spring game. “I’m not looking for any third team.”

He rightly predicted that a large pool of talent would be available.

According to 247 Sports, more than 1,200 players entered the portal from April 16 to April 30 and almost 25% of them were multiple transfers. This brings the total for the 2023-24 recruiting cycle to a record total of 3,843 transfers.

Indiana met most of its outstanding needs, although they were pursuing top talent at premium positions, including James Madison corner D’Angelo Ponds It is Kent State defensive end C.J. West.

Their phones exploded with scholarship offers the minute they logged onto the portal.

“In the winter window, a lot of these teams were in bowl games, maybe there wasn’t as much competition and we had a lot of holes to fill, but we were able to bring in two defensive linemen, a linebacker, a corner, a safety and a rover, which is what we needed to do,” he said. Cignetti, before a NIL-related event at Huber’s Orchard and Winery on May 29th. “We feel good about it.”

Other spring signees included linebacker Nahji Logan (UMass), defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker (JMU), running back Solomon Vanhorse (JMU), safety DJ Warnell Jr. Cedário Doss (Austin Peay).

Cignetti continues to target recruiting, whether pitching high-profile transfers or high-profile high school recruits like the No. 2 quarterback in the 2025 signing class, Julian Lewis, who recently visited the IU campus.

“Why shouldn’t we be in that position?” Cignetti said, “We are a state school, the Big Ten and SEC are calling all the shots in college football. With the proper commitment, any Big Ten team, especially one with a state name, can be successful.

The comments echoed what Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson said at the same event about blocking the second-ranked transfer class.

Indiana’s football class was also greatly appreciated. The Hoosiers signed 31 transfers — tied for second most in the FBS — and ranked 27th in the country, according to 247Sports. A common theme among incoming transfers was experience level.

“All of these guys were two or three starters on winning programs,” Cignetti said.

Cignetti is eager to see what the completely revamped roster will look like when the team returns to the field together for fall camp.

“I have a lot of confidence in our football team,” Cignetti said.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek.

This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: How Curt Cignetti made the spring transfer portal work for IU football