Indiana Football Feels Jamari Sharpe Poised for 'Big Season' at Cornerback

With his left knee resting on the 30-yard line and his left hand holding his helmet, Jamari Sharpe's eyes fixated on the formation in front of him. He'd already done his part, but he wasn't finished learning and listening.

As he knelt, Indiana's redshirt junior cornerback watched as the Hoosiers' second- and third-string defenders worked through installing formations during Thursday’s practice inside Mellencamp Pavilion.

There was a time where he would have been out there with them. No more.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti labeled Sharpe the projected starter at field cornerback opposite All-American boundary corner D'Angelo Ponds at Big Ten Media Days. Sharpe now leads Indiana's reserve field cornerbacks through drills — he and Ponds are role models for how each back pedal, hip-flip and plant-and-drive should look.

Sharpe's starting spot isn't solidified. Cignetti said Pittsburgh transfer Ryland Gandy and true freshman Jaylen Bell are also in contention for significant snaps, and both have impressed this fall.

Ponds said Gandy and Bell have taken significant steps since enrolling in the spring, and he compared Bell to a younger version of himself.

But Sharpe has the inside track to the job. He's bigger and has more experience in the system. And he's proven to Cignetti and the rest of the Hoosiers' coaching staff that he's ready to cement his spot atop Indiana's depth chart.

"I think he's grown up a lot and improved as a football player," Cignetti said Wednesday about Sharpe. "He has a couple of guys breathing down his neck that have a chance to be good players too, so we've got good competition at that field corner spot."

Sharpe controls his own destiny. He earned the privilege last season.

As Indiana's top backup corner, Sharpe started two regular-season games — one in Week 4 against Charlotte when Ponds missed the first half due to a targeting penalty the previous game, and the other in the season finale against Purdue in place of the injured Jamier Johnson.

Sharpe impressed. He allowed two catches for 12 yards on seven targets against Charlotte, and he didn't give up a catch in 27 coverage snaps against Purdue, according to Pro Football Focus.

Indiana coaches noticed, and even with Johnson healthy and practicing ahead of the College Football Playoff, the Hoosiers started Sharpe with their season on the line. He gave up a 44-yard reception in the fourth quarter, but in his other 32 pass coverage snaps, he allowed only two grabs for seven yards.

Johnson, now at UCLA, entered the transfer portal in January, and Cignetti said multiple times this offseason Indiana didn't lose any player it hoped to keep.

The Hoosiers added cornerbacks this spring, including Gandy and Bell, but their confidence in Sharpe as a starting-caliber player grew evident. His ascent last season warrants it.

"He's been evolving tremendously," Ponds said Thursday. "He's gotten way better since I met him. Jamari has been great for us. I think he's going to have a big season this year."

Neither preseason buzz nor a shot to start is new to Sharpe, who was 19 years old when then-Indiana head coach Tom Allen touted his length, speed and athleticism during fall camp in 2023 and later entrusted him with defending a deep Ohio State receiving corps to open the season. Sharpe ultimately started nine of Indiana's 12 games as a redshirt freshman.

Now, Sharpe, who turns 22 in September, is no longer a wide-eyed teenager trying to prove he belongs. He's seasoned, more mature and ready to show he's reinvented himself. To his teammates, he already has.

"(He) came a long way," said Ponds, who first met Sharpe in the spring of 2024. "Jamari Sharpe is going to be great for us this year."