Despite losing Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt to the NFL, Indiana’s 2026 wide receiver room is a big reason Curt Cignetti’s group starts the season in the top 10, with a legitimate shot to repeat as National Champions.
Both Charlie Becker – whose late season heroics were a big part of Indiana’s 2025 title run – and Nick Marsh are projected to be first round NFL picks next season. It’s up to Cignetti and Mike Shanahan to get these guys on the same page as Josh Hoover, but on paper, this group looks
at least as good as last year’s at the top of the depth chart.
One of the strengths of Indiana’s offenses under Shanahan though has been Indiana’s ability to spread the ball. In each of the last two seasons, at least five receivers and/or tight ends have caught over 20 passes. This means that there will be plenty of touches for guys not named Marsh or Becker, but it remains to be seen just who it will be.
In the past two seasons, Indiana has found success with guys who were already on the roster taking on a bigger role. Cooper Jr. caught 28 passes, fourth on the team, for seven touchdowns in 2024, before exploding for a team-high 69 receptions last year.
The Hoosiers already have one clear candidate for such a jump in Becker, who had 34 receptions last year, behind Cooper Jr., Sarratt, and E.J. Williams Jr. Those three, plus the two leading receivers behind Becker, are all out of eligibility now.
One guy who is on the roster but didn’t appear on the score sheet last year was Tyler Morris, who suffered a season-ending in spring camp and missed all of 2025. He’ll have to adjust to game speed again, but he spent three seasons at Michigan before coming to Indiana, catching 23 passes for two touchdowns in 2024.
Also returning from last season are Davion Chandler and Lebron Bond, who combined for just six receptions last season, but could be poised for a bigger role this year. I would not be surprised if either or both of these guys make a pretty big jump in production.
Chandler could be next up in what could become a line of Indiana receivers from Lawrence North High School in Donaven McCulley, the aforementioned Cooper Jr. and incoming 5-star prospect Monshun Sales. Bond offers an interesting option with his sheer speed and quickness, something that paid dividends for a more experienced receiving corps in 2024.
The other obvious candidate for receptions would be Shazz Preston, who joined Indiana in the offseason after catching 43 passes for four touchdowns last season at Tulane. At 6’0” 205 lbs., he and Morris have extremely similar physical profiles and should be competing for snaps in the slot.
The tight end spot is a bit of a mystery, with everyone on the depth chart being unproven to this point in their careers. The top two will likely be Brock Schott and Andrew Barker, but Schott caught just two passes last year at Miami while Barker saw action in one game at Indiana, in which he did not record a stat.
Last year’s tight end development was something of a mixed bag, with Riley Nowakowski posting career-highs in receptions and touchdowns while Holden Staes was slightly less productive in the passing game than he had been at Tennessee, partially due to a leap in receiving production from the former.
If last year was any indication, the tight ends won’t be forced into bigger roles than they can handle, especially if one or two of Preston/Morris/Chandler/Bond get off to good starts to the season. Under Shanahan, Indiana’s top four pass catchers in 2024 and 2025 were receivers, not tight ends or running backs.
Which brings us to one of the more intriguing possibilities of 2026: Turbo Richard in the passing game. Last year at Boston College, Richard caught 30 passes for 7.1 yards per reception and two touchdowns. Having him as a weapon could alleviate the pressure for receivers and tight ends alike, assuming Shanahan is willing to use him in that capacity.
Indiana has enough possible weapons that I’m not terribly concerned about a couple of guys stepping up, it’s just not clear who it will be yet.
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