National Signing Day 2018: Indiana draws from the South Florida pipeline

UPDATE: Indiana has also signed 3-star defensive end Johnathan King. King was teammates with IU signee Michael Penix Jr. at Tampa Bay Tech, where he racked up 60 tackles and 5.5 sacks as a senior. The 6-1 defensive lineman also held offers from Florida, Miami (FL), and Kentucky.

National Signing Day 2018 is here. Players across the country are signing their National Letters of Intent to play at the collegiate level.

Indiana Football signed many of their recruits during the early signing period back in January, but that didn’t stop them from adding a few more key pieces today.

Indiana kicked off their day with the signing of Jamari Johnson, a 3-star defensive back out of Sarasota, FL. Johnson also had offers from Virginia Tech, Iowa State, and Purdue before committing to the Hoosiers on Jan. 25 and putting the pen to paper this morning. When asked about Johnson, Tom Allen spoke to the defensive back’s versatility:

This could be big for the Hoosiers, as they’ve lost some contributors such as Tony Fields and Rashard Fant to graduation recently.

The other signee today was a big one for Indiana. Tampa Bay Times Defensive Player of the Year James Miller became the second high school senior to snub Florida State this offseason, joining QB Michael Penix Jr in the Hoosier recruiting class. This signing also completes a set, as Penix was the TBT Offensive Player of the Year. Allen said that Miller is a sideline-to-sideline type of linebacker and “makes us flat out better”:

Today’s events help to show that Allen’s staff can recruit in one of the greatest talent hotbeds in the country: South Florida. If they can continue to bring in recruits from that area and keep the pipeline moving Hoosier fans should feel optimistic about the way the roster is headed talent-wise.