Curt Cignetti is willing to push Indiana WR Donaven McCulley. And it might be working.

BLOOMINGTON – By his own admission, Curt Cignetti doesn’t often do what he did at the beginning of this month.

Cignetti did it just once last year, and it worked. He did it again two weeks ago. He might be getting similar results.

On April 2, to use the precise date, speaking with reporters after a Tuesday practice, Cignetti heaped praise on his receiver corps before adding something of a shot across Donaven McCulley’s bow. McCulley, Cignetti said then, “need(ed) to pick it up a little bit.”

More: Here's what IU coach Curt CIgnetti said following spring game

“I don’t do that a lot,” Cignetti said Thursday night, referring to public prodding of an important player. “I did it once last fall with our quarterback (at James Madison), and he really responded.”

On Thursday’s evidence — including a slick touchdown catch over top of coverage on a red-zone post route — McCulley is finding his way now as well.

“I thought he made a really nice catch on that first touchdown,” Cignetti said. “I saw him really respond.”

McCulley’s recommitment after entering the portal during the postseason coaching search marked one of Cignetti’s biggest early wins in his new job.

The QB-turned-receiver from Lawrence North fielded offers from schools like Michigan, Penn State, Florida State and Texas A&M before electing to stay in Bloomington. His return spearheaded a receiver-room remodel that saw four transfers — including prolific former JMU wideout Elijah Sarratt — add depth, experience and potential dynamism to the position.

But McCulley was the prize. Indiana’s leading receiver a season ago, he found his stride in the back half of his junior year, clocking 28 catches for 420 yards and five touchdowns in the Hoosiers’ final five games of 2023. Stretched over a 12-game season, that per-game performance would yield 67 receptions, 1,008 yards and 12 touchdowns.

At his best, McCulley became a nightmare for opposing secondaries, defensive backs feeling forced to either concede catches or commit pass interference. Yet deep into the spring season, Cignetti didn’t feel like he’d seen that player who could find such a rich vein of form so easily in games.

Hence, the public callout. Cignetti said Thursday night he doesn’t issue them often. It’s also probably safe to assume he saves them for specific moments (and specific players). If you hold that card so close, you’re only putting it on the table when it has a chance to yield maximum return.

At James Madison, it was a quarterback who went on to lead the Dukes to a Sun Belt Conference title. At Indiana, it’s the former quarterback Cignetti needs to grow into one of the Big Ten’s best wide receivers.

“I know what his goals are — to be a great player — and it starts with the way you practice, your attention to detail, how you study off the field, how you prepare,” Cignetti said. “Those are some of the areas he's got to improve in.”

Couple the two thoughts together, briefly.

Cignetti knows what McCulley wants out of football, and to what extent a first-year coach can, Cignetti sees that in him. He’s also so demanding of McCulley he gave him rare criticism, a tactic most recently used to focus a quarterback who eventually won conference player-of-the-year honors.

Coaches don’t publicly demand more from bench players, and they don’t break their own rules for scrubs. Everything about his behavior suggests Cignetti sees something in McCulley, maybe even more than fans did last fall. But a coach who’s been around his share of talented receivers across the course of his career also knows what separates the best goes beyond talent. He recognizes where McCulley excels, and where he falls short, and in Cignetti’s mind, this is the most efficient distance from that second column to the first.

Thursday night was encouraging. McCulley ran his route well, caught a contested ball and earned his touchdown. He had one or two more good moments, in a truncated spring finale disrupted by necessary rotation across both Indiana’s offense and defense.

It was also just a step. A necessary and meaningful one, but still just a step, the next mile marker on the journey to a 2024 season IU hopes will repay all the hope and faith Cignetti’s first months on the job have generated among fans.

If that happens — if the turnaround comes — it will be a lot easier if Indiana’s No. 1 plays a leading role.

“He still has some improving. Everybody’s got to improve,” Cignetti said. “But I’m glad we got him.”

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IU football spring game shows Donaven McCulley remains a key weapon