Indiana Linebacker Aiden Fisher Makes A Big Difference Even When He Doesn’t Play

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher was in a rare position on Thursday during the Hoosiers Spring Game.

He was watching.

Given that Fisher played in 744 of Indiana’s 810 defensive snaps in 2024, for him to be on the sideline was a noteworthy moment.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said after the game that Fisher’s absence was due to Fisher’s “knee being dinged up” and said it wasn’t serious.

As the de facto captain of the defense, it was a chance for Fisher to observe rather than participate.

It’s not something he likes, but he made the most of it.

“It pushes you to be in an uncomfortable position. But I think with the role that I have being a leader, that's when I can show it the most,” Fisher said.

“It's easy for me to go out there. I'm going to make an explosive play. Everybody will rally around you. What are you going to do when you can't be the center of everybody?” Fisher asked rhetorically.

For Fisher, that meant rallying the troops. In his place were linebackers Rolijah Hardy and Isaiah Jones – not unusual given that both were big contributors during the 2024 season. Kaiden Turner started at linebacker, while Daniel Ndukwe and Hosea Wheeler played more prominent roles on the defensive line.

“My biggest thing is, make sure I'm supportive. I'm not taking my eyes off anything. Make sure I'm watching linebackers play because at the end of the day, they're going to run off the field and they're gonna ask me, what happened?” Fisher said.

“So I want to make sure I'm there to help them, let them see it how I see it, and make sure I'm not taking any plays off mentally, so I can help them sharpen their game,” Fisher added.

The table is set for Fisher long before he’s on the field and whether he’s playing or not. Fisher went into the process of how he goes about getting new teammates up to speed with Indiana’s way of doing things.

That process begins long before he ever talks to most of his fellow teammates. He goes to a trusted source first.

“Me and Mikail (Kamara) will talk about it. We came in and we will sit down and watch a game and he's asking me and picking my brain. ‘How do I know what's coming from an offense? How do I know their blocking scheme? What lineman is going to travel to second level or not?’ So by doing that, I can pass it to Mikail,” Fisher said.

“He's passing it to the D line room. I'm getting it to linebackers. Everybody's way more knowledgeable when it comes to just the game and the scheme side of things with football,” Fisher explained.

After that? It’s just a matter of reps.

“Then (it’s) just getting them comfortable with the checks I make, the verbiage I use, all those little things end up amounting to those big things that will happen on game day,” Fisher said.

An interesting thing that both Fisher and Cignetti talked about was getting freshmen up to speed.

For the first time in several seasons, rosters aren’t dominated by older players given an extra year of eligibility by COVID-19 amnesty.

“You forget what coaching 17-, 18-year-old kids is like, especially ones that come in and enroll in school in January in the NIL era,” Cignetti said.

Cignetti also mentioned that he needs his freshmen to “grow up.” That’s where Fisher and other veteran players come in. Perhaps with the stick before the carrot.

“Personality-wise, a lot of reality checks happened. I think a lot of freshmen and the young guys got humble,” Fisher said.

“From then on, they kind of put their heads down and started to work. And you saw that progress every single day, so it was the best for them,” he said.

All of this occurs before Fisher takes a snap. He didn’t take any on Thursday, but he still played a big role.