Quotes: Everything Curt Cignetti said at his Wednesday press conference

• Alex Bozich

• 22m ago

 

Curt Cignetti addressed the media on Wednesday following IU’s first practice of fall camp in Bloomington.

Here’s everything Cignetti had to say in his press conference:

Opening statement:

“Alright, back at it. Day one, nobody got injured, the flow was good, ball wasn’t on the ground. Watch the tape, make a few critiques, assessments and move on to day two. I think it’s a really important camp for us, because we haven’t had the opportunity to get all of our people together, had a lot of guys out in spring ball, the continuity, guys that we think we’ll be counting on. Now there’s gonna be a lot of competition; anybody who can play winning football will play, but we need to get the guys out there working together.

“And then now with some of the new guys, the older guys, and a few of them were hurt, kind of get them assimilated into how we do things. So the goal is to develop players, develop position groups, individually, collectively, develop intangibles as we get closer to game one. And the team mindset and identity, so that we’re ready to play football, and play the way we wanna play. So today was a decent start.”

On the return of Stephen Daley:

“Yeah, I think that it’s a potential opportunity to get better. Nobody really has crystal ball and knows what the future holds. Stephen would have been cleared for camp. He’s in pretty good shape. We’ll have a plan for his return to play. We’re not in a hurry, in a rush. We’ll bring him along. Evaluate it day by day. And if it works out for him long term, I think it’s a great thing.

“Because here’s a guy, you talk about helping people in opportunities. Here’s a guy that played at Kent State and then came to us last fall. And it really took him three to four games before he started to get the hang of it.
It wasn’t playing a key role and then became the most dominant defensive lineman in the Big Ten. Led the Big Ten in TFLs of 19. Suffers the injury and so ends up not getting drafted and so on and so forth.

“So if it all works out and he can participate and help this football team, then his life could change. But I know one thing about him, he’ll give it his best shot. He really will. And we’ll just see what happens.”

On the depth on the defensive line and Daley:

“Well, whether we had really good depth there or not, I think the return to play doesn’t really change a whole lot, because you don’t wanna throw a guy out there til he’s ready where he gets hurt, you know what I mean? So, and then there’ll be competition and guys that can play winning football, they’ll play.”

On where Daley is from a health standpoint:

“I don’t think I could put a percentage on it. I mean, he looks pretty good, and he’s on a modified program, where he’ll dress out for practice, participate in some individual right now, no 11 on 11, and then get with a strength and conditioning staff who will bring him along til they feel confident he’s ready to go. And that could be, who knows, practice for next week, I don’t know.

“But I don’t think it’s gonna be real, real long, because, I mean, he was training to be ready for next year, and it looks like he’s in pretty good shape.”

On whether Daley could play in the opener:

“I haven’t even thought of that, I mean, I’m really focused on developing this team, and getting up there and watching today’s tape, putting tomorrow’s practice schedule together and taking this team as far as we can in fall camp. And I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

On the defensive line and how dominant it could become:

“We have guys that have played football that are experienced guys, but you get better, you get worse, you never stay the same. And you get out what you put in. And I got two really good coaches there, Pat Kuntz and Buddha Williams, and Bryant (Haines) does a great job. And so, there’s a lot of TFLs and sacks returning, tackles, things of that nature. But look, humble and hungry is the only way I know, okay?”

On the summer program under director of performance Tyson Brown:

“I think we made some very significant strides. When you look at the numbers, body fat, vertical jump, things of that nature, the results really speak for themselves. Very pleased.”

On going into a season not having to think about redshirts anymore:

“I haven’t really thought about that either. Now, I will say this, I didn’t think a lot about it last year either, because if a guy could help the team win, great play winning football, you better play him, because you could go into portal year two or year four, year three, right? Now it’s five for five, so it’s a little different ballgame. It’s a good rule.”

On Josh Hoover on day one of fall camp:

“I was watching kind of like so many different guys, but it appeared that he finished practice, saw him make a few nice throws at the end, and saw Morris make a couple plays, too.”

On what made AJ Harris a target out of the portal from Penn State:

“D’Angelo Ponds going out early, so we needed another experienced player there. I’m high on (Ryland) Gandy, who will be full go next week. Jamari Sharpe has really done a great job, he’s our number one guy.

“And AJ Harris has the abilities, looking for the consistent, day in, day out consistency, play in, play out consistency.”

On the number of guys who were out in the spring and if it changes the approach at all this fall:

“Not a lot, I don’t think. Now, our overall numbers by position do affect that rep count. Right now, it appears that we’re in pretty good shape number-wise.

“So, we always increase the reps with the ones as we go, and start to decrease the reps with the threes, but no, I don’t. I think right now, it’s identifying who can do what, and by the end of camp, what we think the roles are going into the first game, and making sure we have enough quality depth and that we’re utilizing our best 11 as effectively as we can.”

On how he judges what constitutes a good practice:

“Yeah, I kinda looked at the first practice, just the flow, alright? Did we have any major organizational snafus? Was the ball on the ground a lot? Like this, a lot of times, early in camp, spring ball, working new centers, center snaps can be an issue, six, eight balls on the ground.

“We didn’t have that today, and the flow was good, the competition was good. I thought the guys did a decent job of sustaining practice. I didn’t think they got overly fatigued, but I think it was a very manageable practice and nobody got hurt, so yeah.”

On who they’re looking at for linebacker depth:

“I mean, we’re looking at a lot of them. We got some older guys, and we got some younger guys, so we’ll see who steps up. I thought Jacob Savage did some nice things at the end of spring and had a really good summer. Henry Ohlinger got hurt. Ja’Dyn Williams had a nice summer. Then we got (Jeff) Utsinger and (Kaiden) Turner, and PJ Nelson and (Kaden) McConnell all back. So we’ll see.”

On the difference between Charlie Becker between this time last year and now:

“Yeah, well, yeah, he’s playing with more confidence and belief. And I thought he had a pretty good camp last year. Maybe the biggest change is how we look at him, right?

“He was just a guy who needed an opportunity. He was a special teams demon for us in ’24, and early in the year when he got into games, he took advantage of his opportunities. And then when (Elijah) Sarratt got hurt, that was our leading receiver seven of the last eight games.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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