Cignetti Changes The Dynamic at Indiana | Adam Breneman on Big Ten Football

coach welcome to the Big 10 how's it feel feels good uh I want to start with now that you're a few months into the job more than a few months how how do things feel now compared to day one you you took the Indiana Job a lot different I mean it's been a very smooth transition other than December which was quite turbulent because it was a quick hiring process and day one I had 10 offensive starters in the portal half my defense they didn't tell me that I wouldn't have told me either so but we brought 22 new guys in that we really like that have been starters allc conference guys with production numbers and we kept the right guys on the team but after that from January on it's been pretty smooth because I've had such great continuity on my staff and people in leadership roles responsible for summer program defense offense have been with me a while and uh we know how they know what I want yeah uh for all the talk about your offense at JMU last year and what you built there your defense was just as good almost as good top 20 in scoring defense last year um how do you view the current Indiana defense and where can that unit really Excel well our philosophy defensively is wreck havoc up front we're always in the top five of the country in sacks tfls against a run we had a number of guys we're counting on uh that did not practice in the spring because of postseason surgery and we added six guys after Spring ball defensive players to positions to strengthen our defense philosophy is not going to change now the execution and consistency and performance need to improve yeah you still haven't named a starting quarterback for the season uh what are you looking for before you name that starter for 2024 you know I'm not big on anointing a guy I mean when Todd Santo was Player of the Year in the league and our last four quarterbacks have all been Player of the Year in the league and they were all different we just ran him out there for the first snap of the first game we never named him like Curtis roor right I really like him a lot he's here for a reason he had a really good spring he's had a great summer and he I sleep a lot better at night with him the the only coach you retained from Indiana was your offensive line coach um what have you seen from that offensive offensive line unit do you think they have what it takes to compete in the Big 10 yeah I mean I'm really impressed uh with Bob bad and uh what he gets out of his guys on the field I felt like we had a good spring yeah and uh we we have seven or eight guys we feel good about we we we're probably fairly set at four spots in a three-man competition at one yeah um and that with Nick Kidwell not being out there who was maybe the best offensive lineman in the Sun Belt last year till he got hurt uh you know he's coming back from an injury yeah so you know I think uh we keep keep on the field we got a chance to be okay yeah a lot of talk about the new look big 10 with the four new teams and also in year one you know it's kind of just what you're what you're used to in year one so what's your outlook on the new look conference with kind of that more National approach I see it as a great League yeah that just got a lot better and has an exciting new trajectory yeah and uh you know the future is really bright got a lot of respect for those schools and coaches as well as the all the all the schools and the Big 10 and people that lead them uh who on your team or what about your team do you think will surprise some people this season hard question answer I think we've got so many guys that didn't practice in the spring because of postseason surgery we got some new transfers post spring that we're really high on uh and um I think we got a lot of guys that really could emerge um I like our team uh we're an experienced team uh a lot of guys are used to winning and used to producing yeah and uh that excites me yeah last question coach day one a training camp when you're meeting with your team what's going to be your message about the season to them you don't know yet I'm not telling you I thought I'd get it out of you come on appreciate coach thank you