Indiana Football Incoming Transfer Profile: Ryland Gandy

Indiana made multiple additions to its defensive secondary this past offseason, making up for transfers out and players graduating. Among that group coming in is cornerback Ryland Garry, who comes to Indiana with two years of eligibility remaining after three years with the Pittsburgh Panthers. 

As a true freshman at Pitt, he appeared in the maximum of four games allowed to retain red-shirt status, but he did not register a stat in those four games. He appeared in all 12 games as a red-shirt freshman, but in an extremely limited role. 

Per PFF, he only saw 53 total snaps in all of 2023, which helps contextualize the fact that he only recorded seven tackles that season. 

Gandy began seeing regular college playing time last year, starting all 13 games and finally recording some statistics that make it easier to evaluate how he will fit into Bryant Haines' defense. 

Gandy's biggest strength is his pass coverage ability. In his first year as a starter, he posted his highest PFF grade of his career, suggesting he's only improving with more playing time. 

In 734 snaps at corner last season, Gandy was targeted 53 times, yet he only allowed 28 receptions (52.8%). Of those 28 receptions, only 3 went for touchdowns while he recorded two passes broken up. He also recorded 40 tackles on the season. 

Tackling is a big concern for Gandy though. In the two seasons that he saw playing time at Pitt, he recorded missed tackle rates of 25% and 27.8%, the latter coming in 2024. His PFF tackling grade was lower than any Indiana player who saw significant time last year. 

This is presumably something Bryant Haines and his cornerbacks coach, Rod Ojong, are working with Gandy on, but until he improves in this regard, he may be behind D'Angelo Ponds and Amariyun Knighten on the depth chart. 

Even if he isn't in the starting lineup, Gandy will probably see significant playing time. Indiana had four corners see more than 200 snaps last season, and only two of the top four corners from last season are listed on Indiana's 2025 roster. There should be plenty of snaps to go around at that position. 

So long as Gandy continues to improve in coverage and starts to make progress as a tackler, there's no reason to think he won't compete for one of those top four spots this coming season. Adding a player like him to the roster should push the guys above him to be better too.