‘We can throw waves of D-lines at teams’: IU football’s defensive front aims to wreak havoc in 2026
- Ian Plaskoff
- 29m ago
IU football’s defensive line was one of the best in the country a season ago.
It has a chance to be even better in 2026.
The Hoosiers finished the 2025 season with the most tackles for loss, the second-most sacks and the second-fewest rushing yards per game allowed in the FBS. In the current era of college football, a team with this level of production would be expected to experience significant turnover along its defensive front.
Indiana did not experience significant turnover. In fact, the Hoosiers made an already elite unit stronger.
Indiana returns its top-four sack leaders among its defensive linemen in Tyrique Tucker, Mario Landino, Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt. The same group makes up the top-four in tackles for loss in 2025. Daniel Ndukwe also returns after recording two sacks and three tackles for loss in limited action defensively.
The Hoosiers also brought in four transfers in Chiddi Obiazor, Tobi Osunsanmi, Josh Burnham and Joe Hjelle. All have power-conference experience and add more height and size to an already formidable line.
In 2025, the group of five key returners and four transfers combined for 31 sacks and 68 tackles for loss. Now they all get to play in Bryant Haines’ system together.
“We got depth,” Tucker said on Wednesday. We’re pretty deep and I feel like we can throw waves of D-lines at teams. That’s gonna be a challenge for them to handle.”
Before any opponents get to see what this revamped defensive line looks like, Indiana’s talented offensive line gets to take the brunt of it during camp.
It is going about how you might expect.
“I can say a lot of things about our D-line right now. They give me a lot of problems,” Indiana left tackle Carter Smith said Wednesday with a laugh. “A lot of big guys on the edge. Chiddi’s (Obiazor) tall, strong, fast. Tobi (Osunsanmi) is really fast. Squeak (Tyrique Tucker) and Mario (Landino) are very disruptive inside. Iron sharpens iron. We go out there and we bang heads and make each other better every day. That’s all we can do.”
It is not a one-sided affair. The daily battle between position groups has bred competition. Competition breeds improvement. That is exactly what fall camp is for.
“Every day they get better and they challenge us to keep being better, keep raising our standard,” Tucker explained. “And then in time, we raise our standard, it wakes them to raise their standard. So it’s kind of like iron sharpening iron.”
There was significant fodder about Indiana’s lack of size up front a season ago. The Hoosiers proved it to be insignificant. Just for good measure, they did get larger in 2026 as well.
The following statistics are averages for Indiana’s top four defensive tackles and four defensive ends in 2025 and for the projected top four defensive tackles and six defensive ends in 2026.
Indiana’s defensive tackles in 2025 were 6-foot-2.5 and weighed 295 pounds. In 2026, they are 6-foot-2.25 and weigh 304.5 pounds.
The defensive ends in 2025 were 6-foot-1.75 and weighed 259 pounds. In 2026, they are 6-foot-2.83 and weigh 258.8 pounds.
The tackles are, on average, almost 10 pounds heavier, and the defensive ends are over an inch taller. It may not seem like much, but the difference is noticeable. Every incoming transfer is at least 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds. Obiazor and Burnham are both 6-foot-4 or above.
The track records and frames both say that Indiana’s 2026 defensive line will be a wrecking ball against opponents. The green-dot linebacker behind them, Isaiah Jones, reassures that past production and unproven potential means nothing.
“It’s a new team. This team’s got to prove everything they want this year,” Jones said.
The new team has all the weapons it needs. Maybe even more. It has been testing its weapons on itself all camp long.
The early reports seem encouraging.
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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