LOS ANGELES — If the near-monthlong layoff between the Big Ten championship game and the Rose Bowl created some undue stress for Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti, it undeniably did some of his most important players good.
Perhaps no one more so than Mikail Kamara, last year’s All-American edge whose 2025 has been slowed by injuries and extra offensive attention.
After a remarkable first year in Bloomington — which saw Kamara make 47 tackles, 10 sacks, two fumbles forced and three recovered — the erstwhile James Madison transfer has seen his impact blunted this fall. He arrives to this week’s College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Alabama with just 26 tackles and one sack.
Those numbers don’t necessarily tell the full story of Kamara’s season. He’s the second-highest graded lineman on the team, per PFF, and his 48 pressures rank first among Hoosiers regardless of position.
But that extra attention from opponents, coupled to a handful of nagging injuries including a shoulder stinger, left Kamara short of his disruptive best. Which made the time off beneficial.
“That was probably the biggest thing for me,” Kamara said. “It’s given me a lot more confidence in the way that my body feels and how I’ll be ready to play as athletically as I played last year.”
That, Kamara said, has been the biggest challenge of the last several weeks.
The Virginia native has remained a fixture in Bryant Haines’ defenses, but his various health issues prevented him from playing with the instinctive freedom that made him among the most productive edge rushers in the country last season.
His recovery comes at a good time. The only Indiana lineman PFF graded out higher this season, Stephen Daley, suffered a freak injury in the on-field Big Ten championship celebrations earlier this month and will likely miss the remainder of the season.
Daley himself filled a hole left when Kellan Wyatt suffered a season-ending injury earlier in the fall, meaning the Hoosiers are now down two of their most productive edge rushers. There’s arguably never been a more important moment for Kamara to reach back toward his best.
“I feel a lot more confident,” he said, “playing physical, playing fast, and being able to get into that flow state without really thinking about this hurting or that hurting.”
Of course, he alone won’t solve the problem Daley’s absence leaves behind.
Cignetti and Haines have both been cagey about the Hoosiers’ adjustment to Daley’s injury. It will probably involve sophomore Daniel Ndukwe to some meaningful degree.
An Atlanta-area native, Ndukwe was among a handful of players committed to James Madison in the 2024 class who flipped to Indiana after Cignetti took the job in Bloomington. Ndukwe appeared largely on special teams last season, before growing into a larger defensive role this fall.
As IU’s options at the edge have thinned, Ndukwe’s opportunities have grown. Of his 104 snaps this season, per PFF, 68 have come in the Hoosiers’ last three games. Across all of 2025, he’s made seven tackles, five pressures and four hurries.
Kamara said he’s seen Ndukwe embrace increasing responsibility across the last two years, staying after practices for extra side work and siphoning whatever knowledge he can from more experienced teammates.
Kamara described Ndukwe as “more of a true stud/outside linebacker … than I was,” and that the sophomore edge can contribute both rushing downhill and also dropping into pass coverage.
“There’s really nothing in his game that makes me even a tad bit nervous,” Kamara said. “He really cares. He gets extra work with me after practice, we watch film, and whenever he makes a mistake, he understands how big that could be in a game, right?
“So for me, it’s the care factor, that’s one, and then two, he’s a hell of an athlete.”
It remains to be seen whether Indiana’s play post-Daley will involve more than plugging and playing Ndukwe. But there’s no question Indiana will be happy to see its redshirt senior All American healthy and confident again.
If Mikail Kamara recaptures across the next three weeks the same form that made him at times unblockable last season, IU’s defense becomes even more dangerous, at the ideal time of year. A development that started with a well-timed layoff, and some much-needed rest.
“My body,” Kamara said, “feels a lot better.”
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