Hoosiers’ NFL Exodus: Ranking the Top 2026 Departures
Indiana’s national championship football team saw eight key starters head to the 2026 NFL Draft, each departure carrying a different weight. The list runs from Pat Coogan, whose anchor at center ensures continuity despite two capable backups, down to Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman-winning QB whose leadership and clutch play defined the perfect 16-0 season. Running back Kaelon Black, linebacker Aiden Fisher, and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds also anchor the top five losses, but IU’s depth and incoming talent—Turbo Richard at RB, Isaiah Jones at LB, and several young DBs—promise to fill gaps. Special teams and offensive glue, like tight end Riley Nowakowski and duo of receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr., will test Indiana’s recruiting and development as they chase a repeat run without their 2025 heroes.
Gather ‘round, Hoosier faithful, for the great Indiana exodus! It’s like a wild prairie stampede, except instead of bison hoofing it, it’s NFL scouts trampling your roster. They’ve drafted everyone from your beloved lineman-slash-vocal-leader Coogan to the quarterback who basically invented perfection. Sure, IU recruited a few understudies to take the stage—castoffs from Boston College, a Heisman doppelgänger in Josh Hoover, and an ACL comeback kid—but let’s be honest: there’s no replacing someone who snaps the ball like a Western sheriff dropping the gavel. But cheer up! There’s always next season’s draft to terrorize Bloomington.
76 Teams, 10 Seasons: Hoosiers’ March Madness Remix
This deep dive explores how expanding both men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments from 68 to 76 teams—set to debut in 2027—might have rewritten Indiana’s last decade. From Tom Crean’s near-misses and Archie Miller’s roller-coaster tenure to Mike Woodson’s initial revival and Darian DeVries’ debut, each season is reimagined under a 76-team bracket. Key takeaways: seasons where IU was among the first four out would’ve been Dance-bound again, sparing some coaching careers and altering fan expectations. The hypothetical rewind illuminates margins of success and failure, showing how eight extra slots could turn heartbreaks into high-fives.
Picture this: the NCAA decides every coach deserves a trophy, so they hand out eight extra invitations like candy at Halloween. Suddenly, those dreaded first-four-out sighs become celebratory fist pumps! Would boosters still plan the coffin for Archie Miller after a 19-16 season? Probably—but hey, now they can trash-talk in a bonus round. And imagine Mike Woodson’s legacy: three straight tournaments, no questions asked. Darian DeVries might have gotten a pep rally before he even coached a game. It’s the kind of bracketical wishful thinking that turns every bubble team into Cinderella for a day—until the ball drops again.
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