Indiana football recruiting: Hoosier commits setting the tone early

Indiana’s commitments and the “new” Indiana University football program.

Indiana football doesn’t have much of a brand. Not one it’d like, anyway.

There were pockets of success under Tom Allen, though no bowl wins. The Kevin Wilson era chaos teams that the college football internet loved always came close but never sealed the deal on a big upset or anything. It’s the losingest major college football program and has spent three years spiraling and swirling in mediocrity at best.

Curt Cignetti wants to change that, obviously. But his future players might want to even more than he does.

Take Jaylen Bell, a three-star cornerback out of Loganville, Georgia. The Hoosiers extended him an offer back in January, when Cignetti and staff were just a few weeks into their new roles. He was committed to LSU at the time, but decommitted days later.

Indiana brought him in for an official visit at the end of may, and Bell announced his commitment to the program on June 1, with an additional message:

“The NEW Indiana University,” he said.

Others have said as much when they’ve committed, including DL Jhrevious Hall and in-state WR Davion Chandler, who decommitted from Illinois to be “part of a great change in Indiana football,” per Allen Trieu at 247Sports.

That’s not some tagline the staff gave out or just said during these visits. They said as much:

It’s not exactly fun to have little history as a football program, but it can become something of a recruiting advantage if it’s spun the right way. There have been stars and good teams in Bloomington, that has to be acknowledged, but they’re remembered almost entirely by the fanbase, no external forces.

But if prospects come to Indiana and change the perception of the program? That’s legendary, beyond Bloomington. Names known around the country and cherished in town for years, decades even.

You can go be just another guy somewhere else. Come to Bloomington? You’re The Guy.