It’s game week and the 1st depth chart is here

The first game week of the 2021 Indiana football season is here. To commemorate the occasion, IU released its first depth chart of the fall on Monday morning.

There aren’t any major surprises to report — nor are there any glaring differences between this two-deep and the one the Hoosiers released at Big Ten Media Days in July. We knew after the second full-contact scrimmage that Stephen Carr had taken the lead in the running back competition, for instance, and with so much returning experience on both sides of the ball, there wasn’t a ton of movement expected. Besides, as exciting as it is to see this particular paper published each August, it’s not exactly the most accurate predictor of who will line up for the first snaps of the season on Saturday. Time has told us as much.

It is worth noting that IU has four transfers — Carr (Southern California), center Zach Carpenter (Michigan), receiver D.J. Matthews (Florida State), and defensive end Ryder Anderson (Mississippi) — penciled in as starters. Two more transfers, defensive tackle Weston Kramer (Northern Illinois) and Bull Jaren Handy (Auburn), are also poised to see regular snaps as part of the defensive line rotation. Although I don’t know the exact calculation IU uses to line up names in the D-line depth columns, I do know the placement of those players doesn’t always mean a whole lot. Handy and Michael Ziemba, for example, will surely get their snaps, depending on the situation.

Anyway, we’re only five days away from seeing exactly how the lineups and packages will shake out against Iowa. The full depth chart can be found below:

OFFENSE

LT

77 Caleb Jones, 6-8, 362, Sr.

70 Luke Haggard, 6-7, 305, Sr.

LG

56 Mike Katic, 6-4, 312, So.

73 Tim Weaver, 6-6, 315, So.

C

50 Zach Carpenter, 6-5, 320, So.

79 Charlie O’Connor, 6-2, 303, Jr.

62 Cameron Knight, 6-3, 281, Fr.

RG

72 Dylan Powell, 6-3, 310, Gr.

71 Randy Holtz, 6-7, 340, Fr.

RT

76 Matthew Bedford, 6-6, 310, Jr.

66 Aidan Rafferty, 6-6, 298, Jr.

WR

13 Miles Marshall, 6-4, 212, Jr.

18 Javon Swinton, 6-2, 187, So.

1 Camron Buckley, 6-2, 198, Gr.

WR

7 D.J. Matthews Jr., 5-11, 160, Gr.

12 Da’Shaun Brown, 6-2, 180, So.

WR

3 Ty Fryfogle, 6-2, 205, Sr.

2 Jacolby Hewitt, 6-1, 198, Jr.

QB

9 Michael Penix Jr., 6-3, 218, Jr

14 Jack Tuttle, 6-4, 212, Jr.

RB

5 Stephen Carr, 6-1, 215, Gr.

20 Tim Baldwin Jr., 6-0, 211, So.

10 David Ellis, 6-0, 214, Jr.

TE

86 Peyton Hendershot, 6-4, 254, Sr.

89 Matt Bjorson, 6-3, 241, Sr.

88 AJ Barner, 6-6, 245, So.

DEFENSE

DE

10 Ryder Anderson, 6-6, 266, Gr.

6 James Head Jr., 6-5, 262, Sr.

DT

94 Demarcus Elliott, 6-3, 307, Sr.

99 Weston Kramer, 6-2, 290, Gr.

DT

50 Sio Nofoagatoto’a, 6-3, 315, Jr.

55 C.J. Person, 6-3, 292, So.

BULL

92 Alfred Bryant, 6-2, 250, Sr.

13 Jaren Handy, 6-6, 255, Jr.

87 Michael Ziemba, 6-3, 260, Sr.

42 D.K. Bonhomme, 6-3, 235, Jr.

LB

47 Micah McFadden, 6-2, 232, Sr.

8 James Miller, 6-2, 223, Jr.

44 Thomas Allen, 6-3, 240, Sr.

LB

4 Cam Jones, 6-3, 224, Sr.

46 Aaron Casey, 6-2, 228, Jr.

HUSKY

9 Marcelino McCrary-Ball, 6-0, 214, Sr.

31 Bryant Fitzgerald, 6-0, 208, Sr.

CB

2 Reese Taylor, 5-11, 185, Sr.

23 Jaylin Williams, 6-0, 182, Sr.

S

1 Devon Matthews, 6-2, 205, Sr.

19 Josh Sanguinetti, 6-1, 185, So.

S

0 Raheem Layne, 6-1, 200, Sr.

5 Juwan Burgess, 6-1, 199, Sr.

17 Jonathan Haynes, 5-11, 205, Gr.

CB

3 Tiawan Mullen, 5-10, 180, Jr.

7 Christopher Keys, 6-0, 185, Fr.

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK

93 Charles Campbell, 5-9, 175, Jr.

80 Chris Freeman, 6-2, 190, Fr.

KO

90 Jared Smolar, 5-11, 221, Sr.

80 Chris Freeman, 6-2, 190, Fr.

93 Charles Campbell, 5-9, 175, Jr.

P

94 James Evans, 6-1, 222, Fr.

92 Chase Wyatt, 5-11, 196, So.

LS

95 Sean Wracher, 6-4, 200, Jr.

97 Jake Wellmann, 6-1, 225, Fr.

H

92 Chase Wyatt, 5-11, 196, So.

90 Jared Smolar, 5-11, 221, Sr.

KR

10 David Ellis, 6-0, 214, Jr.

2 Jacolby Hewitt, 6-1, 198, Jr.

PR

2 Reese Taylor, 5-11, 185, Sr.

7 D.J. Matthews Jr., 5-11, 160, Gr.