'Got Our Work Done': Indiana Football Opens Fall Camp with Urgency

Curt Cignetti had already swapped polo shirts when he entered the media room less than an hour after Indiana football's first practice of summer camp Wednesday. The stand next to his podium featured two blue Gatorade Zero bottles.

But on a crisp Bloomington morning with high-80-degree temperatures, Cignetti felt his team weathered the conditions and produced a quality opening session.

"It was hot, and it was humid," Cignetti said, "but I thought the older guys, experienced guys, pushed through it well. The team, in general, did push through it well. We got our work done. Took a business-like approach. It's good to be back and good to get going."

Cignetti, naturally, hadn't watched the tape from Wednesday's practice — that was his next step after finishing his press conference. When he turns on the film, he's looking for core principles.

"I think we have to have a great sense of urgency, have great focus," Cignetti said. "Maximize our opportunities across the board and really develop these guys, identify roles, who can do what, build depth, promote competition and then get ready to play the opener against Old Dominion."

Indiana begins Year 2 under Cignetti exactly a month from Wednesday, as it kicks off Aug. 30 inside Memorial Stadium. Twenty practices separate the Hoosiers from the start of their next chapter, and Cignetti is focused on an incremental build-up each day.

But his mind is also fixated on Week 1. He addressed Old Dominion in the first team meeting of summer camp, warning against overlooking a Sun Belt competitor. Cignetti's James Madison teams played Old Dominion in both 2022 and 2023, the latter of which featured a narrow, 30-27 Dukes victory.

Cignetti has been on the winning side of a Sun Belt upset over a Power 4 team — James Madison beat Virginia in Week 2 of the 2023 season. That's merely one of several instances Cignetti used to prove the Sun Belt's strength. He also cited the 2022 season, when Marshall beat Notre Dame and Appalachian State defeated Texas A&M.

The list, Cignetti said, goes on and on.

"These Sun Belt teams are very capable," Cignetti said. "They have a history of knocking off P4 teams. They're good teams. When you play them early in the year when they're healthy and they're at full strength, they're especially dangerous.

"Throw in the first game, certainly the first game (and) what's changed, what's different from last year. So, we have to be ready to go, but we will be."

Cignetti and the Hoosiers have tried putting 2024 in the rearview mirror. Past success, Cignetti said, is a predictor of what teams and coaching staffs are capable of doing, but the heights Indiana reached last fall will have no direct influence when it steps on the field for the first time this fall.

"You're as good as you are today," Cignetti said. "You got to put the work in. You got to find the edge every day. It's that kind of business where the margin for error is very slim, and that's what makes it such a great game and such a great profession. It's challenging."

As for the month-long challenge that takes place in the team's weight room and practice field at Mellencamp Pavillion? Ensuring Indiana's culture has no fall-off.

Cignetti wants to see consistency in performance. His core contingent of James Madison transfers — defensive end Mikail Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher, cornerback D'Angelo Ponds and receiver Elijah Sarratt — and several returning Hoosiers are already well-versed to the team's daily standard.

But there's still a learning curve for the freshmen and transfers, Cignetti said. Those who participated in spring practice had a taste of it, but didn't get the full serving.

And as the season nears and intensity grows, the standard only gets higher. Cignetti hopes his team's individual and collective performance follows a similar trajectory — which is evaluated each day, each drill and each play.

It's all part of the climb back to the top.

"When you get 11 guys doing their job the way you want them to do it and teach our brand of ball," Cignetti said, "there's really no limits on what you can accomplish."