Indiana Football Searching for Next Man Up After 'Big Hit' Kellan Wyatt Injury

Stephen Daley leaned back in his chair and put his left hand behind his head. The senior defensive end dropped his eyes to the floor of Indiana football's Don Croftcheck Team Room at Memorial Stadium while his hand moved back and forth on his neck.

Daley faced the challenge of explaining the seemingly unexplainable: The difficulty of watching a teammate lose, most likely, the remainder of his final college season.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said Monday in his press conference that redshirt senior defensive end Kellan Wyatt suffered a knee injury against Michigan State, and it looks "long term." Cignetti added he's "not sure if we'll see (Wyatt) the rest of the season or not."

One glimpse at Wyatt's stat line — eight tackles for loss and two-and-a-half sacks — illustrates his productivity but perhaps doesn't do justice to his overall impact on the Hoosiers' defense.

Wyatt was a quality run defender at the end of the line of scrimmage. He made 13 run stops, the fifth-most on the team, and earned a run defense grade of 76.2, the eighth-best mark, according to Pro Football Focus.

The 6-foot-2, 257-pound Wyatt has played 243 defensive snaps this season, the ninth-most on Indiana's roster and second-highest mark among all defensive linemen or edge defenders, trailing only Mikail Kamara at 260.

Wyatt has also dropped into coverage more than any of the Hoosiers' other edge rushers. He's played 56 snaps in coverage, per PFF, while Kamara ranks No. 2 with 15 snaps. Wyatt's ability to play in space and navigate short areas added a valuable element to Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines' disguises and blitz packages.

Now, the Hoosiers are forced to move forward without Wyatt and all he provided from a pass rushing, run defending and versatility standpoint.

"Yeah, that's a big hit," Daley said Tuesday. "Me and him and Mikail were having a good rotation between the strong end spot in the stud position. And he was having a great season."

So, what happens next? Indiana entered this week trying to find the answer.

"It's kind of just next-man up," Daley said. "So, kind of throughout the practice, I guess, we'll see who is going to step up for the position (and) help me and Mikail out. But also, me and Mikail kind of know, like, our reps are going to go up and we just got to toughen up."

Daley is expected to take over Wyatt's starting spot. Both players transferred to Indiana after spring practice and faced the same acclimation process to learn their teammates, playbook and general surroundings in a short space of time to start the season, all with the hopes of bettering Indiana's defense on the Hoosiers' push to improve upon their 11-2 mark last season.

Wyatt started the journey. Now, Daley has the chance to finish it.

"He's a guy I really wish we had a couple years because he's a tremendous athlete and once he's learned the defense, he's really making fast progress," Cignetti said Monday about Daley. "He has size, strength, speed, suddenness. He plays hard.

"He'll take on even more of a role now."

Daley was the Hoosiers' Defensive Player of the Week against Michigan State after collecting two sacks.

The 6-foot-1, 273-pound Daley grew into an impactful player in a rotational role. Entering the Hoosiers' noon kickoff Saturday against UCLA, he's played 210 total snaps while registering 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He has the team's best run defense grade at 85.5 overall, according toPro Football Focus, and he's tallied nine quarterback hurries, the second-best mark on the team.

"I definitely feel a lot more comfortable now," Daley said. "Just able to react faster and know what my expectation is of the defense. So, the second we line up, I'm not thinking as much. It's like they call the play, I'm like, 'Alright, offense lined up like this, bam, I know what I can do. I know what I can and can't do. When I maybe take a shot, when not too.'

"So, just allows me to play a lot faster and free."

Kamara and Daley form a quality duo, but the Hoosiers remain steadfast on finding a third piece to make another trio. There's no clear answer.

Redshirt senior Andrew Turvy has played 23 snaps on defense, the fourth-most among Indiana's edge rushers, though he's played only six snaps against Big Ten teams — five vs. Illinois and one at Oregon.

Redshirt sophomore Andrew DePaepe has played nine defensive snaps, while his younger brother, William DePaepe, has played eight such snaps and generated two pressures and one sack. Sophomore Daniel Ndukwe has played seven snaps.

Perhaps the Hoosiers will play more trio packages — three-linebacker sets with senior Aiden Fisher, redshirt junior Isaiah Jones and sophomore Rolijah Hardy — or kick defensive tackle Mario Landino, who played field defensive end last season, back to the outside.

Regardless, Indiana will be forced to adjust without Wyatt, who wore an abundance of hats on the nation's fourth-best scoring defense.

The Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) return to action at noon Saturday against UCLA (3-4, 3-1 Big Ten) on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.