Spring Position of Interest: CB2

With 2024's starting CB2 in the portal and Indiana seeking improvement opposite D'Angelo Ponds, what does the competition look like between the top three other CBs?

Readers might remember when I noted D’Angelo Ponds’ size, at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds (before 2024), and how it might not translate to the Big Ten. Well, that’s a non-factor now, it seems. Ponds, if he wasn’t the best CB in the conference, was a top-5 CB in the Big Ten – graded No. 1 among starting CBs by PFF, allowed the fewest yards per reception (8.2), allowed the 7th-lowest reception rate (53.3%), and amassed the 7th-most PBUs (7). He did this all while being targeted the 5th-most times among starting CBs in the conference. In coverage against Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, he was targeted 12 times, allowed 6 catches for 52 yards, and recorded 2 PBUs and an INT.

Ponds is here, and he’s the best CB on the team. The question for the Indiana CBs room heading into the 2025 season is who will step up at CB2?

In 2024, Indiana’s defense was stellar, ending the season ranked 19th in EPA/play allowed and 15th in explosion rate allowed. The front, and the pressure it created, was helpful for Indiana’s secondary and likely masked some shortcomings – that Notre Dame exposed in the CFP – for most of the season, but Indiana’s cornerbacks, when tested, were solid. Much of the CB improvement is also thanks to Indiana CB coach Rod Ojong, who was named to the AFCA’s 35 Under 35 and received the highest non-coordinator raise on staff ($250k) this offseason.

Note: Reception Rate = % of targets completed, Passes Defended Rate = % of targets resulting in PBU or INT, Size of points = total yards allowed by CBs

Teams want to be in the bottom-right corner of this chart. The quick interpretation suggests that Indiana’s CBs were above average in their abilities to make plays on their respective targets and that they were roughly average in terms of allowing targets to be caught (more on this soon). The size of the Indiana point suggests that Indiana was extremely effective at limiting yardage on passes targeting its CBs, especially when comparing to its nearest neighbors on the chart.

If you’re curious about where Indiana’s CBs room finished in each of these categories:

• Reception Rate: 57th

• Passes Defended Rate: 28th

• Yards Allowed: 12th

Jamier Johnson, who has since entered the transfer portal, did a lot of work in shoring up the position, which didn’t have much depth in 2024. In his first full season as a starting CB, he graded 28th of 36 qualifying CBs. Relative to the 18 current Big Ten teams, that is nearly equal to Indiana’s leading starting CB in 2023 (Kobee Minor, 27th) and far better than its CB2 in 2023 (Jamari Sharpe, 36th).

As a result, Indiana’s CBs room saw significant positive change from 2023 to 2024. Below is where Indiana ranked in the FBS in positive change between seasons, in each of the categories discussed above.