Indiana Football, Monshun Sales and recruiting with the best

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In just two years at Indiana, Curt Cignetti has accomplished seemingly all there is to accomplish in the sport. He did the impossible in bringing the Hoosiers their first National Championship, first Heisman Trophy winner, first Rose Bowl victory, and on, and on.

By now, his detractors are mostly acting in bad faith, pretending that Indiana is either richer than its competition or unfairly “old,” but these criticisms point to a common denominator – that Cignetti has relied on the transfer portal for the talent he’s needed to win at this level.

The 2026 team will be no different. For the third straight year, a transfer quarterback is expected to be the starter. Nick Marsh and Turbo Richard headline a big offensive skill portal class, which Indiana needed to replenish after a program-record eight players were selected in the 2026 NFL Draft.

To sustain this success though, Cignetti will likely need to do the one thing he has not done yet in his career, recruiting elite high school prospects as a head coach.

The idea that Cignetti has never succesfully recruited as a head coach is patently false. Many of the stars of the 2025 title run, like D’Angelo Ponds, Aiden Fisher, Mikail Kamara, and Elijah Sarratt, were recruited by Cignetti in high school or the junior college ranks and only transferred to Indiana to follow their coach. All four are now in the NFL.

Cignetti also has experience recruiting elite players as an assistant at Alabama, where he played a part in landing Julio Jones and Mark Ingram.

Through two years at Indiana, though, perhaps the lone historical achievement that he has not yet claimed is highest-rated high school recruit in program history. That title still belongs to Dasan McCullough, who committed to Tom Allen while the former’s father was on the staff.

Monshun Sales is an even different caliber of prospect than McCullough, who signed with the Denver Broncos this offseason. He’s over 100 spots higher in the national rankings for his class than McCullough was, the top at his position, and very well could be an early-round NFL prospect in just three years.

Landing Sales wouldn’t just be big for Cignetti’s career, it would be huge for the trajectory of the program as a whole. While prior staffs, like Allen’s, cashed in on their limited success with some big gets, Indiana hasn’t been in contention for a prospect like Sales, at least not in quite some time.

If Indiana wants to keep beating teams like Ohio State, Alabama, and Oregon (x2), it’s going to have to start recruiting like them. Before Sales’ announcement Friday, the Hoosiers’ high school recruiting class is 47th nationally, not necessarily what you’d expect from a national champion.

Signing a top 15 prospect is a statement to the recruiting world. Not only is it a sign of the program’s momentum, winning and sending more players to the NFL than ever, but of a willingness to keep doing so. Landing five star football prospects is a pricey endeavor. One that Indiana has not done successfully yet.

Even if Sales were to commit and eventually change his commitment, as many top recruits do, it would be a sign that Indiana is capable of beating Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, and Texas off the field as well as on it. If Cignetti wants more seasons like 2025, he’s going to have to be in these fights on a regular basis. The fickle nature of elite recruiting just comes with the new territory the Hoosiers are in.

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