Indiana football's star players preview first-round CFP game: Here's the memorable moments

Indiana football’s star players preview first-round CFP game: Here’s the memorable moments

Posted by Admin December 18, 2024 Football

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BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana football team had an unofficial media day to preview the College Football Playoff on Tuesday night.

The Hoosiers (11-1) had eight players (four from the offense and four from the defense) speak to reporters about their first-round matchup against Notre Dame on Friday night.

Here’s one moment that stood out from every player that stepped up to the podium on Tuesday night:

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher: “Not a feeling that we want to repeat”

Fisher sounded a lot like his coach on Tuesday night when he revisited the team’s loss to Ohio State.

“I know a lot of the guys here, the JMU guys, I think we lost three times in the last two years,” Fisher said. “It’s not a feeling that we like and not a feeling that we want to repeat.”

That’s a similar message to the one Cignetti had for IU fans at his introductory press conference. He’s now gone 14 seasons and counting as a head coach without a losing season and the singular focus he brings to the sidelines has rubbed off on his players.

Those JMU transfers like Fisher helped build the winning culture that’s taken hold in Bloomington, and it was their long track record of success that helped their words carry weight in the locker room.

The longest tenured JMU transfers on the team (James Carpenter, Solomon Vanhorse and Nick Kidwell) have career records of 52-9.

Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke: “We’ll talk about my last college game in four games”

The sixth-year quarterback was asked about his emotions going into what could be his final college football game — he’s out of eligibility after this season — but Rourke isn’t cleaning out his locker just yet.

“I really have cherished this year, cherished all my years in college,” Rourke said. “Just knowing this could be the last possible college game definitely comes to my mind, but also I’m taking it as a positive and motivating, that it’s one more chance to have a great opportunity to play with the guys and this team that’s been so successful.”

“Just really using it to motivate me even more than I already have to go out there, have fun, enjoy it. We’ll talk about my last college game in four games.”

Rourke, who finished ninth in the Heisman voting (22 points) with three first-place votes, threw for 2,827 yards (70.4%) with 27 touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s one touchdown away from tying Kellen Lewis’ record for most passing touchdowns in a single-season and 173 yards from becoming just the fourth-ever Hoosier to pass for 3,000 or more yards in a single-season.

Indiana wide receiver Elijah Sarratt: “I have to get off Twitter”

Indiana and Notre Dame haven’t played since 1991, and the Hoosiers haven’t won in South Bend since 1898. The average ticket price sold for the games is north of $700.

Do players get a sense of that enthusiasm for the rare matchup between the instate schools?

“I see it every day,” Sarratt said. “I have to get off Twitter. I see it a little too much. I see the importance to everyone who is involved with both programs and I’m as excited to be able to play in this game. Who knows next time we’re going to be able to play?”

Sarratt is grateful to be in this position having started out his career at Saint Francis, a college in Pennsylvania with less than 2,000 students. He was IU’s leading receiver this season with 49 catches for 890 yards (18.2 yards per catch) with eight touchdowns.

Indiana defensive end Mikail Kamara: “It’s something different, but nothing that scares us at all”

Kamara, who was the first IU player with 10 sacks in a single season since 2008, isn’t changing his tune now that IU has reached the playoffs.

He’s been pounding the table for the Hoosiers all year and viewed them as a potential title contender after a 6-0 start. He brought that same level of confidence with him to the podium on Tuesday night when talking about the challenges of facing a dual-threat quarterback.

“I feel like their scheme is pretty simple,” Kamara said. “It’s just for us to go out there and fit our gaps and do what we need to do. We’ve practiced it. We’ve seen it. It’s something different but nothing that scares us at all.”

But don’t mistake simple for second-rate.

“When you play against a team that wants to run their quarterback, that means they want to grind it out,” Kamara said. “This is going to be a physical ballgame to see who outlasts the other, and I know it’s going to be us on top.”

Indiana running back Justice Ellison: “I soaked it all in”

Ellison is the one of two players on IU’s roster who has played in South Bend, and it’s an experience he’ll never forget. The former Wake Forest running back had 15 carries for 63 yards in a 45-7 loss to the Irish in 2023.

It was only the sixth all-time matchup between the programs.

“I soaked it all in,” Ellison said. “It was an historical game as well. Wake Forest was playing — Sam Hartman was playing his old school, Wake Forest. Being in the atmosphere with a packed crowd.”

Indiana receiver Ke’Shawn Williams also got a starting nod for Wake Forest in the loss. He returned a pair of kicks for 35 yards and had three touches on offense — a 20-yard gain on the ground and two catches for 22 yards.

Ellison is hoping for a better result in the rematch.

“I knew I was going to come back,” Ellison said. “I knew I was going to come back and get another shot at it. To see it all full circle I think is amazing.”

Indiana linebacker Jailin Walker: “We have a lot of plays built to stop his effectiveness”

Walker may have overshared when he talked about slowing Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard down.

“We put in new end stops, like spying the quarterback or just running like past, past so just to navigate him — have him have trouble escaping the pocket,” Walker said. “We just know he’s a great quarterback so we have a lot of plays built to stop his effectiveness, and it’s ready.”

Leonard ran for 721 yards (5.8 yards per carry) this season and 14 touchdowns. He topped 100 yards in a single game twice and had double-digit carries in nine of the team’s 12 games.

It isn’t all that surprising IU would add some new wrinkles into the game plan — the Hoosiers didn’t face a true dual-threat quarterback during the regular season – but coaches are loath to share any details.

It’s why when the Hoosiers opened practice to the media for 15 minutes on Tuesday night the majority of what reporters got to see was players stretching, but Walker can easily make up for the fopaux with a big hit or two on Friday night.

Indiana tight end Zach Horton: “I knew from the get-go that whatever we do is going to be special”

The JMU players that Curt Cignetti brought over with him to Bloomington knew the program was destined for great things long before anyone else.

“I have a full belief in Coach Cig and the staff and everything they do,” Horton said. “So just following them from JMU to IU, I knew from the get-go that whatever we do is going to be special.”

Horton had seen it before when Cignetti made sure James Madison didn’t miss a beat jumping into the FBS. He transformed the Dukes into one of the most talked about teams in the country in 2023 amidst a 10-0 start that included wins over Virginia and Utah State.

“I know Cig is going to get the people that he wants and he’s going to run a tight business and everybody is going to follow along,” Horton said. “He’s going to get everybody to buy in and do everything that a coach could do.”

Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds: “I definitely want to bring a National Championship here to Bloomington”

Ponds, who earned second-team FWAA All-American honors hours before speaking to reporters, is one of the IU’s youngest starters as a true sophomore. He was also one of the last players added to the roster during the spring portal window.

He’s felt at home in Bloomington the minute he arrived, and is eager to reward everyone that’s believed in him over the last six months.

“All the guys in here, even the transfers, everything, they took me in with open arms,” Ponds said. “It definitely means a lot to me, and I definitely want to bring a National Championship here to Bloomington.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.