Indiana football 2026 transfer portal tracker: Hoosiers load up for another run
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BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti wasn’t joking when he told reporters over the weekend that he wanted to get the team’s initial transfer portal wrapped up quickly with the CFP semifinals looming.
The No. 1 Hoosiers (14-0) landed a flurry of commitments on Sunday, seven in total, including a potential replacement for Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. They landed three 4-star ranked transfers and five of the commitments they got were from players ranked among the top 150 overall transfers, per 247 Sports.
Indiana‘s recruiting success is the surest sign yet that the program’s back-to-back playoff runs have resonated with players looking to compete on a winning team.
Here are the latest updates on IU’s comings and goings:
Indiana football gets transfer commitment out of South Bend for second straight season (Jan. 4)
Indiana football got a commitment from Notre Dame defensive end Joshua Burnham on Sunday night, per his Instagram account.
Burnham was the seventh transfer IU got on Sunday and joined Kansas State edge rusher Tobi Osunsanmi as the second commitment at defensive end. The Hoosiers three-most experienced defensive ends — Mikail Kamara, Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt — will all exhaust their eligibility at the end of the season.
He played in 40 career games (15 starts) for Notre Dame over four seasons and has one year of eligibility remaining.
Burnham, who was a former top-100 recruit, had double-digit pressures each of the last two years and showed positional flexibility by rotating inside. His most productive season came during Notre Dame’s run to the CFP finals in 2024 when he started 10 games that season (467 snaps) and played 40-plus snaps in five different games.
Indiana football reels in Boston College running back Turbo Richard (Jan. 4)
Indiana landed a commitment from Boston College’s leading rusher Turbo Richard on Sunday night. Richard ran for 749 yards (5.2 per carry) with nine touchdowns as a sophomore in 2025. He averaged 3.8 yards per carry after contact, forced 26 missed tackles and had 15 runs of 10-yards or more, according to Pro Football Focus.
He also caught 30 passes for 213 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Richard was the No. 9 ranked running back in the portal at the time of his commitment. He was a three-star recruit coming out of South Carolina in the 2024 signing class with 28 scholarship offers.
The addition of Richard brings IU added depth to a running back room that’s graduating leading rushers Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black. One of last year’s key transfers at the position Lee Beebe Jr. is rehabbing his way back from injury and redshirt freshman Khobie Martin has shown plenty of promise closing out blowout wins.
Martin rushed 463 yards this season and six touchdowns.
Indiana football adds commitment from Cincinnati safety Jiquan Sanks (Jan. 4)
Sanks turned heads in Cincinnati as the program’s first true freshman to start a season opener since Marquise Copeland in 2015.
He’s hoping to do the same for the Hoosiers.
Sanks, who has two years of eligibility left, has played 24 career games (12 starts) as a versatile defender capable of lining up at any of IU’s safety positions. The Alabama native has 92 tackles (49 solo) with 3.5 tackles for a loss, five pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
Indiana’s previous staff recruited Sanks and he visited campus as part of the 2024 signing class.
Indiana football lands Fernando Mendoza’s potential successor (Jan. 4)
Indiana football landed a commitment from top-ranked TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover on Sunday night.
Hoover, who was a one-time IU commit during Tom Allen’s tenure, comes to Bloomington after a successful stint as a multi-year starter for the Horned Frogs. He topped 3,000 yards and 25 passing touchdowns each of the last two seasons while helping lead the team to back-to-back nine win seasons.
Mendoza hasn’t announced his future plans, but he’s widely expected to enter the NFL Draft as an expected top pick. He cleaned up during the college football award season — he won all the major national offensive awards and was named Big Ten Player of the Year — and became the first IU player to win the Heisman.
The Texas-native was the No. 35-ranked overall transfer at the time of his commitment and No. 9-ranked quarterback.
Indiana football lands commitment from highly rated Kansas State defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi (Jan. 4)
Indiana made a splashy pickup on Sunday night by landing a commitment from versatile Kansas State defender Tobi Osunsanmi. He was the No. 28 overall ranked transfer and No. 4 ranked edge rusher at the time of his commitment.
Osunsanmi was on his way to a career year with four sacks, six tackles for loss and 14 quarterback pressures in his team’s first six games before an undisclosed injury knocked him out for the rest of the season. He had 30 quarterback pressures on just 214 pass-rushing snaps in 2024.
It’s a big pickup at a position where IU is losing almost all of its experience with Mikail Kamara, Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt all exhausting their eligibility.
Indiana football snags commitment from one of country’s top ranked transfer receivers Nick Marsh (Jan. 4)
Indiana landed the No. 24 ranked overall transfer (No. 7 receiver) out of the portal by securing a commitment from Nick Marsh on Sunday. Marsh was MSU’s leading receiver each of the last two seasons with 100 catches for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns during that stretch.
Marsh was a former four-star recruit out of River Rouge High School in the 2024 signing class with 39 scholarship offers. The rising sophomore made an impression with receiving touchdowns in each game he played against the Hoosiers.
Indiana starting receivers Elijah Sarratt and E.J. Williams Jr. will be out of eligibility after this season, but the offense could still feature one of the top receiving corps in the country next season with Marsh in the fold. The biggest question mark for IU will be whether or not Omar Cooper Jr. leaves early for the NFL.
If Cooper returns, the Hoosiers starting trio next year of Marsh, Cooper and Charlie Becker would be a formidable one.
Indiana football lands commitment from Wisconsin transfer safety Preston Zachman (Jan. 4)
Indiana landed a commitment from former Wisconsin starting safety Preson Zachman on Sunday afternoon. The seventh-year defender appeared in 35 games (20 starts) for the Badgers as a former member of the team’s 2020 signing class.
He got off to a strong start in 2025 with two interceptions over the team’s first three games, but suffered a leg injury in a Week 3 loss to Alabama that sidelined him the rest of the season. Zachman’s most productive season came in 2024 when he had 58 tackles (39 solo) with two interceptions and four pass breakups.
Indiana will be losing three experienced players at safety after the season with Louis Moore, Devan Boykin and Byrson Bonds (a special teams standout) exhausting their eligibility.
Indiana reserve offensive lineman Mitch Verstegen enters transfer portal (Jan. 4)
Indiana football redshirt freshman Mitch Verstegen announced on social media he was entering the transfer portal on Saturday afternoon. Verstegen, who was a three-star signee in IU’s 2024 signing class out of Kaukauna High School in Wisconsin, didn’t appear in any games during his two years with the Hoosiers.
The Hoosiers have loaded up with at least three signees on the offensive line in each of the last three seasons.
Indiana football corner Amariyun Knighten entering portal (Jan. 3)
Former Northern Illinois corner Amariyun Knighten is entering the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining, according to 247 Sports. The veteran signed with the Hoosiers ahead of the 2025 season and appeared in two early season games.
He made a memorable play in 2024 for NIU with an interception against Notre Dame that set up a game-winning field goal.
Indiana relied on a starting tandem at corner of D’Angelo Ponds and Jamari Sharpe throughout the season. Ryland Gandy was next man up when Ponds missed IU’s game against Iowa with a lower body injury. Sharpe played the second most snaps on the defense (707) and Ponds was right behind him (667).
Pair of Indiana football defensive linemen enter transfer portal (Jan. 3)
Indiana defensive linemen William and Andrew DePaepe are entering the transfer portal, according to 247 Sports. The brothers arrived in Bloomington during the 2024 recruiting cycle with William signing with the program out of Moline High School and Andrew transferring to IU from Michigan State.
Andrew played in four games this season and was credited with three quarterback pressures in a win over UCLA while his brother’s lone appearance came in Week 3 against Indiana State. It wasn’t going to get any easier for them to crack the depth chart with IU signing five defensive linemen out of high school in 2025 and six in 2026.
Who has Indiana football added out of the transfer portal?
- DE, Joshua Burnham, Notre Dame (Jan. 4)
- RB Turbo Richard, Boston College (Jan. 4)
- S Jiquan Sanks, Cincinnati (Jan. 4)
- QB Josh Hoover, TCU (Jan. 4)
- DE Tobi Osunsanmi, Kansas State (Jan. 4)
- WR Nick Marsh, Michigan State (Jan. 4)
- S Preston Zachman, Wisconsin (Jan. 4)
Who is in the transfer portal for Indiana football?
- OL Mitch Verstegen (Jan. 3)
- CB Amariyun Knighten (Jan. 2)
- DL William DePaepe (Jan. 2)
- DL Andrew DePaepe (Jan. 2)
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: Indiana football transfer portal tracker: Latest updates on roster moves
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