IUFB Recruiting and Transfer Portal Updates

[Pagoda]

2 hours ago, Lebowski said:

Lots of visits happened last weekend. Lots more happening this weekend. Being the champs is really helping our recruiting folks. Lots of buzz on social media from recruits being excited to get invites to spring practices. 

Yea.  The '27 HS class is gonna level up like our '26 portal class.  It's awesome. 

One of the strangest feelings is normally I look at IUFB or IUBB or whatever as we need to do this or that to level up and achieve something higher.  Well, IUFB has already achieved about everything possible in the '25 season, and now we're leveling up recruiting from what we had that won it all last season. 

It's genuinely an extraordinary situation.  So much fun.

[Lebowski]

1 hour ago, Pagoda said:

Yea.  The '27 HS class is gonna level up like our '26 portal class.  It's awesome. 

One of the strangest feelings is normally I look at IUFB or IUBB or whatever as we need to do this or that to level up and achieve something higher.  Well, IUFB has already achieved about everything possible in the '25 season, and now we're leveling up recruiting from what we had that won it all last season. 

It's genuinely an extraordinary situation.  So much fun.

The Dude abides. It's a dream come true to say, Indiana University is a football school.

[Pagoda]

1 hour ago, Lebowski said:

The Dude abides. It's a dream come true to say, Indiana University is a football school.

I was chatting with some H-T/IndyStar people and they said their IUFB articles do much bigger numbers than IUBB.  

That does sounds like a "football school"...

Whatever we are, I like it.

[moyemayhem]

3 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

I was chatting with some H-T/IndyStar people and they said their IUFB articles do much bigger numbers than IUBB.  

That does sounds like a "football school"...

Whatever we are, I like it.

It would be fun to see what it looks like if both programs are successful at the same time.  I’d guess that football has an advantage as long as Cignetti is around.

[Lebowski]

On 1/19/2026 at 1:56 PM, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

4-star RB Landen Williams

On3 quote:  “I like Indiana and would love to get an offer from them,” Williams-Callis said. “I’ve been watching them and I like how they play,"

#42 ranked nationally and #3 running back by On3

 

A common theme I'm seeing, top recruits are paying attention to coaching. Coaching matters. 

[jermhoosierfan]

6 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

A common theme I'm seeing, top recruits are paying attention to coaching. Coaching matters. 

Just like they wanted to go to Bama because Saban could get guys to the league.  You get them to the league, and they will want to play for you.

[Stuhoo]

As crazy as it sounds, this weekend there’s a remote possibility that we could lock up two of the top ten plate in the 2027 class; 5*s Sales and Brewster will both be on campus…

again.

 

[Stuhoo]

Safe to say that what happened on Kirkwood last night will not be helpful. Not at all.

[go iu bb]

14 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Safe to say that what happened on Kirkwood last night will not be helpful. Not at all.

What happened?

[Pagoda]

46 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Safe to say that what happened on Kirkwood last night will not be helpful. Not at all.

Hmm… I forgot the angle that we had all these guys on their visit.  Ugh.

This forum isn’t for the nitty gritty of recent Little 5 weekend issues.  But I will say given the clear trend of problems I do not know why Bloomington/BPD still allows such huge, uncontrollable crowd sizes on Kirkwood.  They’re just not being proactive to solve the issue.  Do something like limit the Kirkwood crowd to 10% of what it was via controlled access checkpoints.

Anyways, not good.

[Brass Cannon]

8 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

What happened?

There was gunfire. From what I can tell no fatalities but haven’t heard any firm details 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

13 minutes ago, Brass Cannon said:

There was gunfire. From what I can tell no fatalities but haven’t heard any firm details 

9 shot. No fatalities. Stems from a fight.  NO STUDENTS involved.  It’s an utter shame and somewhat predictable.  The solution to the problem isn’t an easy decision or discussion.  Wish little 500 was still Indiana University students and their friends.  
 

I lived on Jordan during my time and we had a major fight in our front lawn with Simga Nus, Delta Chis, and SAEs during one our little 5s. But a drunken fist fight was always going to be the  worst thing to happen.  Simpler times. 
 

 

Edited April 26 by WayneFleekHoosier

[go iu bb]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

There was gunfire. From what I can tell no fatalities but haven’t heard any firm details 

 

1 hour ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

9 shot. No fatalities. Stems from a fight.  NO STUDENTS involved.  It’s an utter shame and somewhat predictable.  The solution to the problem isn’t an easy decision or discussion.  Wish little 500 was still Indiana University students and their friends.  
 

I lived on Jordan during my time and we had a major fight in our front lawn with Simga Nus, Delta Chis, and SAEs during one our little 5s. But a drunken fist fight was always going to be the  worst thing to happen.  Simpler times. 
 

 

Wow. No bueno. I'm very happy to hear that no one was killed. That's still a terrible situation, though.

It's been getting more dangerous for some time now. About 25 years ago, I had a pulled on me in Yogi's parking lot. It was about an inch from my head. Scary.

[skhoosier2]

5 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

Safe to say that what happened on Kirkwood last night will not be helpful. Not at all.

One of my first thoughts when I saw the reports of gunfire. So disappointing on any given day but even more so when it’s this big of a recruitment weekend. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

5 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

9 shot. No fatalities. Stems from a fight.  NO STUDENTS involved.  It’s an utter shame and somewhat predictable.  The solution to the problem isn’t an easy decision or discussion.  Wish little 500 was still Indiana University students and their friends.  
 

I lived on Jordan during my time and we had a major fight in our front lawn with Simga Nus, Delta Chis, and SAEs during one our little 5s. But a drunken fist fight was always going to be the  worst thing to happen.  Simpler times. 
 

 

5 shot. Several of those 5 were from fragments. The other 4 were injuries from fleeing. All ladies with gunshot wounds from Indy and South Bend. Stemming from 1 fight. 
 

Terrible, somewhat predictable, but could have been much worse. 

The University/City needs to think about ways to make it safer. Especially around that Kirkwood area where crowds congregate .

 

[cthomas]

5 hours ago, skhoosier2 said:

One of my first thoughts when I saw the reports of gunfire. So disappointing on any given day but even more so when it’s this big of a recruitment weekend. 

Agreed. That this is where we are as a society is the most sad. That there are people outside of the IU community who think it's OK to come to campus and start shooting over a disagreement is insane. Young people should be able to celebrate a university tradition and feel safe while doing it. I don't know where we go from here but something has to change.

[BtownStrength]

Open carry state. Indiana has very lax gun laws, so this is bound to happen, sadly. The city of Bloomington encourages visitors to come for Little 500, but even if they didn't, it has such a reputation that visitors would be there anyway. Police presence probably could be higher, but with open carry laws, huge crowds, and alcohol involved, its a high risk scene. 

[Lebowski]

Back on topic! If I had to guess, it was probably the best group of OVs in program history. 

 

[Pagoda]

6 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

Back on topic! If I had to guess, it was probably the best group of OVs in program history. 

 

Our photoshoot props keep leveling up.  Love it!  The poor Brass Spittoon has been thrown in the closet. 

[skhoosier2]

It's great we are getting interest from all of these prospects.  Who would have ever thought?  The top recruit in the nation looking at IUFB LOL a few years ago that seemed like a pipe dream.  It will be a great day whenever we sign our first 5 star recruit but stars really aren't that critical given our staff's development.  Our program is in great hands for years to come!