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Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti adds seven more transfers from James Madison

michael niziolek, the herald-times
·2 min read

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football announced the addition of seven transfers from James Madison on Sunday.

New coach Curt Cignetti told reporters on early signing day the Hoosiers had signed a group of players who wanted to wait until after playing in their bowl game to announce where they were headed.

The news that all seven of them are from Cignetti's former team won't help him shed the villain label he's been given in Harrisonburg. He flipped five JMU verbal commits to Indiana and now has added nine total transfers from the team.

The latest signees include:

Black led JMU with 637 rushing yards (4.5 yards per carry). He also caught 27 passes from 254 yards. Indiana had previously signed Ty Son Lawton, JMU’s second-leading rusher.

Horton had 27 catches for 275 yards and six touchdowns with three of those coming in the red zone.

Stephens played everywhere except center in four seasons at James Madison. He played 957 snaps at left tackle, 637 snaps at left guard, 511 snaps at right tackle and 127 snaps at right guard.

Kidwell was a multi-year starter at right tackle and earned all-conference honors each of those seasons, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury on Sept. 23 in a 45-38 win over Utah State.

He allowed four sacks on 930 passing attempts in his career, according to Pro Football Focus.

Fisher led JMU with 108 tackles (51 solo) with six tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and seven pass breakups, while Walker was second on the team with 61 tackles (32 solo) with 5.5 for a loss, 1.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.

According to Pro Football Focus, Walker was the team’s highest rated overall defender (83.2 grade).

Carpenter tallied 53 tackles with nine tackles for a loss, four sacks, seven quarterback hurries. According to PFF, he was fourth on the team with 31 quarterback pressures.

Indiana was light on experienced depth at both positions.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU coach Curt Cignetti signs 7 more of his former players from JMU