BLOOMINGTON — Curt Cignetti’s 2026 roster, if not fully set, is at least settled.
With Indiana’s spring semester in full gear, and eyes now trained toward spring practice, Cignetti and his staff can take further stock of their reset locker room, and begin planning for next season.
What does that look like, position by position? What do fans need to know about IU’s next team, and where might there still be questions?
Today, we’ll look at quarterback, where there’s another clear successor, though also a position with some wider question marks.
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Players listed according to years of eligibility remaining.
Quarterback
Names to know: Josh Hoover (1 year), Grant Wilson (1 year), Josh Bell (4 years).
Key talking point
Hoover is, of course, the major name to know here.
The nation’s leading returning passer, Hoover arrives to Bloomington with 9,629 career yards and 71 total touchdowns on his ledger. He was a fixture the last three years for Sonny Dykes’ pass-heavy offense at TCU, with nearly 1,200 attempts since the start of 2023.
By comparison, Fernando Mendoza — whose career trajectory was not dissimilar between Cal and IU — attempted just more than 1,000 passes in that time.
Like Mendoza before him, Hoover arrives as the presumptive starters, especially after Mendoza’s brother, Alberto, elected to transfer to Georgia Tech.
Indiana will want to see Hoover improve his efficiency. He’s thrown 33 interceptions across the last three seasons, and never completed more than 66.5% of his passes in a full campaign. But Hoover, who was once committed to IU out of Rockwall-Heath (Texas) before flipping to the Horned Frogs, possesses both the tools and the experience necessary to slide seamlessly into the job Fernando Mendoza leaves behind.
Key question: Does Indiana want more depth here?
Alberto Mendoza’s departure, coupled to uncertainty around Tyler Cherry following his year off the field, leaves the Hoosiers one quarterback shorter than they carried a year ago, unless Cherry returns.
Wilson is back (more on that in a moment), and Bell will have a year-plus in coordinator Mike Shanahan’s system. Tino Sunseri’s return as quarterbacks coach provides further stability and continuity, Sunseri enjoying a long and successful history with both Shanahan and Cignetti.
There’s not a ton of room to add from here. Most prep quarterbacks of any status will already have a home for 2026, and even loading strength in depth from the portal — while not impossible — becomes less likely as time wears on. Still, this would be the first time in his three years in Bloomington that Cignetti did not carry at least four scholarship QBs into a season, so it’s worth watching.
Grant Wilson’s welcome return
Which made Grant Wilson’s decision to run back one more year in Bloomington well received inside the North End Zone facility.
Wilson swapped Old Dominion for Indiana last winter knowing full well he would play the role of veteran voice. Despite experience starting for the Monarchs across portions of two seasons, Wilson was not expected to compete for the same job in Bloomington, and indeed he spent last fall acting as IU’s third-string quarterback.
Across the course of Indiana’s CFP run, Wilson spoke openly about his comfort in a behind-the-scenes role. Now, though, Cignetti will need him to step into the spotlight just that little bit more.
With one year of eligibility remaining, Wilson elected to remain with the Hoosiers and now stands as Hoover’s clear backup. Maybe Bell passes him in time, but Wilson looks a likely candidate as next man up in the event Hoover is injured at any point in 2026. His team will ask more of Wilson this season. It’s glad to have him back.
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