Pre-Spring Position of Interest: Stud DE

Lanell Carr held down the Stud DE position for Indiana in 2024, but he's graduated with only underclassmen left behind him in 2025.

Right now, we are experiencing one of the most quiet – if not the most quiet – stretches of the college football calendar. Recruiting is in a Dead Period until March 2, when a Quiet Period opens up for the duration of most Spring Camps, as recruits and transfers visit campuses. Since last month, the team has been working with Strength and Conditioning coach Derek Owings behind the scenes.

Fans won’t have much to gather about this team – outside of videos released by those within the program, various press conferences with Curt Cignetti, and any potential reports from the local media – until they can watch the team during its Spring Game on April 19. By then, there will have been some departing and incoming transfers that will shake up areas of the roster. But for the most part, this is what Cignetti and his staff are working with for 2025:

• 2025 Scholarship Chart

• 2025 Anticipated Depth Chart

As it stands, there are some areas where there is more to be learned. Those are the areas I’ll be taking a close look at in the coming days, but today, we’re focusing on the Stud DE position.

What exactly is the Stud DE?

Several of the most effective defenses in today’s college football are variations of the 4-2-5. Indiana fans are very familiar with the 4-2-5, as Tom Allen brought it with him as DC in 2016 and carried it throughout his tenure. including his last season in 2023, when he hired Matt Guerreri – who has a reputation for being an effective teacher of the 4-2-5 dating back to his days with Jim Knowles at Duke – as the Hoosiers’ DC. Knowles helped lead Ohio State to a championship with the 4-2-5 defense in 2024, and then he signed a record contract to build off the schematic foundation Allen left behind at Penn State.

Bryant Haines ran the 4-2-5 at James Madison, after he took over as DC in 2022 and then brought it to Indiana. What makes the 4-2-5 special is its multiplicity, and that multiplicity begins with – but doesn’t end with – hybrid positions like the Rover (linebacker-safety hybrid, sometimes called Nickel, Husky, Bullet, etc.) and the Stud DE (linebacker-defensive end hybrid, sometimes called the Bull, Jack, etc.).

The players at each of these positions can vary between either poll of those hybrids. For example, Amare Ferrell began the 2024 season at Rover but moved to safety, opening up Rover for Terry Jones, who plays more like a linebacker. Lanell Carr played Stud for Indiana in 2024 and played a bit more like a linebacker than Jalen Green did for JMU in 2023. Carr would drop into coverage more often, while Green would get after the QB, as he eventually led the nation in sacks in 2023.

Why is Stud DE significant to the Indiana defense?