Amare Ferrell and Jailin Walker represent how Indiana football has come together

PASADENA, Calif. – The Indiana football team has made such a seamless transition into the ways of first-year football coach Curt Cignetti that you forget it doesn’t normally work that way.

Rosters that have the fluidity Indiana had between the 2023 and 2024 seasons don’t typically come together in an instant. Even with a long offseason, spring preseason and fall camp, you never really know what the chemistry is until the actual games begin.

Many teams have trouble integrating transfers with players already on the roster. Some teams have trouble getting all players on the same page as quickly as they need to with a new system.

On both sides of the Indiana court, these issues could have arisen. There are 13 James Madison transfers who had prominent roles, mixed in with Hoosiers players who stayed and transfers from elsewhere. Indiana had the third-fewest scholarship players returning from 2023. It all could have gone wrong, especially if resentment had arisen.

Not so, as evidenced by Indiana’s 3-0 start and dominant 42-13 win over UCLA on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

Two defensive players spoke to the media after the resounding win and represent two sides of the Hoosiers’ roster combination for 2024.

Safety Amare Ferrell is a sophomore who played in 12 games as a freshman for the Hoosiers in 2023. He has moved up to a starting role in 2024 and has two interceptions in three games.

Linebacker Jailin Walker came with Cignetti from James Madison. Walker, who is recognized as the “captain” of the defense along with former JMU linebacker Aiden Fisher, has the know-how to make Cignetti’s system work and tell his teammates how to be effective within defensive coordinator Bryant Haines’ schemes.

Along with nine other defenders on the field, they have combined to make Indiana’s defense nasty. The Hoosiers have only allowed an average of 7.6 points in three games.

“The standard is to play aggressive, physical and make plays. Every game, you have to show that aggression, do your job and the story continues,” Walker said, downplaying some of the fouls that arose from Indiana’s style of play.

For Ferrell, he feels a clear difference between his freshman year and his current year.

“You can tell things are a lot different on both sides of the ball and on special teams. The coaches demand perfection on every play and that leads us to Saturday,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell has been a big reason Indiana has been able to win the turnover battle in all three of its games so far. However, one turnover he wasn’t a part of — Mikail Kamara’s recovery of UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers’ fumble at center on UCLA’s first play from scrimmage — went a long way toward making things easier for Indiana’s defense against the Bruins.

“It’s a good feeling when you turn the ball over on the first play of the game and you know your offense is going to score because of it. It definitely gave us peace of mind,” Ferrell said.

It helps that the defense has the utmost confidence in the offense. And why not? All six of Indiana’s scoring drives ended in touchdowns against UCLA.

“Every time we get it, we expect them to score. We have that faith in them. We have a lot of players in that offense and we trust them a lot,” Ferrell said.

For Walker, this was the first opportunity for him and his fellow JMU transfers to showcase the talent they possess and put it to the test against a Big Ten opponent.

Collectively, they passed the test. Fisher had 9 tackles, Walker had 7 tackles, including one for loss. Cornerback D’Angelo Ponds had one pass deflected before being ejected for targeting an opponent. Defensive tackle James Carpenter forced Garbers out of bounds for a sack.

Walker downplayed the importance of producing against a higher level of competition, although he also acknowledged that it was important to show what they could do.

“It’s a big deal for us, for the team and for IU,” Walker said of his strong performance in a Big Ten game. “The guys? Our mentality is football is football. So 11 guys are going to be on the field and we’re going to bring our 11 and we’re going to play our best basketball and do our best for IU.”

This diverse group of players has quickly bonded and has also begun to appreciate the growing fan support they are receiving. Of the 47,811 spectators who attended the Rose Bowl, many were dressed in cream and crimson. Several of them gathered above the Indiana tunnel to show their support for the team after the victory.

“It’s amazing. Coming all the way from Bloomington to California, it was amazing that we had the fans here,” Ferrell said.

Walker is learning how vocal the support for Indiana football can be when the wins start to pile up.

“It’s a nice feeling to have the fans here. Shout out to the fans for coming out west,” Walker said.

“They give us energy, they excite us, and when we make a play, we can hear them. When everyone plays with energy, it makes us jump and fly to make big plays,” Walker added.

Big plays from a defense that has come together quickly.