Charlie Becker on Indiana offense, big plays from Fernando Mendoza
Charlie Becker was on the receiving end of two big passes from Fernando Mendoza. He breaks it down after the win over Wisconsin.
- Indiana receiver Charlie Becker made a crucial catch to help the Hoosiers win the Big Ten championship against Ohio State.
- Becker’s father is a former Ohio State linebacker, adding a playful family rivalry to the victory.
- After limited playing time, Becker had a breakout year, becoming a key player in Indiana’s undefeated season.
Indiana football receiver Charlie Becker’s clutch catch late in the Big Ten championship game, which helped seal the Hoosiers’ 13-10 win over defending national champion Ohio State, was a snapshot of what has made Becker the player he is since his high school playing days at Father Ryan in Nashville.
All of the ingredients that make Becker special — his 6-foot-4 height, blistering speed, and catching ability — were on display when he stretched out to haul in a 33-yard pass from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza on third down late in the fourth quarter to help Indiana stay perfect at 13-0.
“We’ve seen all of that from Charlie since he was in the 10th grade,” his Nashville Father Ryan football coach Brian Rector said. “He’s a good 6-4, and that is the thing you notice. But the speed is just unreal and the other thing people don’t expect is his jumping ability. This guy can jump out of the gym. And he’s obviously a great pass catcher. He used all of that on that big catch.”
Becker’s breakout year has been a key in IU’s historic season. He has 26 catches for 515 yards and two TDs this season.
The No. 1-ranked Hoosiers finished with the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff and earned a first-round bye. They will face No. 9-seed Alabama (11-3) in the Jan. 1 quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide is the No. 9 seed in the CFP.
Why Charlie Becker taunted dad when Indiana beat Ohio State
Becker scanned the crowd looking for his father at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis when the final horn sounded in the Hoosiers’ win over Ohio State.
But it wasn’t an emotional moment he wanted to share with his dad. It was nothing like that. Charlie wanted to taunt David.
“I immediately looked for my dad,” Becker said with a smile after the game. “My dad is a former Ohio State linebacker, so it was nice to be able to beat them and rub it in his face a little bit.”
The ribbing didn’t bother David Becker. He had checked his Ohio State allegiance at the gate and was thrilled with his son’s performance. Charlie ended up with a team-high six catches for 126 yards with Omar Cooper Jr. missing most of the game with an injury.
“The smile on Charlie’s face after the game was just incredible,” said David Becker, whose college football career ended with a back injury in 1996, but played in three games as a redshirt freshman with Eddie George and former Titans coach Mike Vrabel in 1995. “Then we watched them get on the bus and coach (Curt) Cignetti looked at me, winked, and pointed at Charlie and said, ‘That boy had himself a game.’
“That was a big deal considering everything Charlie’s been through this season. He was pretty bummed at the start of the year because he wasn’t playing much and I kept encouraging to control what he could control, be patient, and his time would come.”
Why was Indiana football WR Charlie Becker under recruited?
A tall receiver, who was a track standout, seems like the type of player who would be heavily recruited in high school. But that wasn’t the case with Becker.
“There is no question, no question at all, that he was under recruited,” Rector said. “It blew me away. His dad and I talked, his mom and I talked and they would ask, ‘Why not this place?’ or ‘Why not that place?’ and I didn’t have a good answer for them. I still to this day don’t have good answers.”
Becker had offers from schools other than Indiana, which was far from the powerhouse it has become today, but not from a lot of Power Four schools. Vanderbilt had offered along with Mississippi, Northwestern, Appalachian State, Memphis and Middle Tennessee State.
He was the No. 26 recruit in Tennessee in the 247Sports composite. Along with David playing at Ohio State, Becker’s older brother Cole was a linebacker at Appalachian State.
“I never understood why he was overlooked because, not only was Charlie a great football player, he was a star track kid,” Cole Becker said. “When I was in college, at the end of the year, I would always try to come home for the state track meet because I knew he would just blow people out of the water in his races.
“It was almost more fun to watch him run track because you knew he would win every time than to watch him in a football game.”
Becker won the TSSAA Division II-AA 110-meter high hurdles state championship in 14.51 seconds and 300 low hurdles in 38.89 seconds.
Rector said he clocked Becker consistently at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
“There were times where I clocked him in the high 4.2s and low 4.3s,” Rector said. “We always joked about that. I’d get him mad by saying, ‘I must’ve timed that wrong’ or that my stopwatch wasn’t working right.”
Charlie Becker waited for his turn at Indiana
Becker played sparingly, mostly on special teams at Indiana in 2024.
Cignetti had three key receivers — Cooper, Elijah Sarratt, and E.J. Williams Jr. — from last season at his disposal in 2025.
Becker appeared destined for another season on special teams.
“I think it was a situation like Charlie’s high school recruiting, where he was being overlooked,” Cole Becker said. “I think he looked at it like, ‘I was in the same situation two or three years ago when no one believed in me.’ During frustrating times like that he just had to remember it’s all going to work out.”
It started working out for Becker against Maryland on Nov. 1 when he caught a 52-yard pass. In the following game at Penn State, Becker showed that he and Mendoza, who is now his roommate, had established a connection when he had seven catches for 118 yards.
“We knew he had skills. He’s long. He’s always done a great job on special teams,” Cignetti said Nov. 10. “He made some good catches when he had a chance to play this season, but in that venue (at Penn State) to make those plays he was the offensive player of the game.”
Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter. Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU Athletics-centric podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the latest on IndyStar TV: Hoosiers.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
