Indiana’s Aiden Fisher, Elijah Sarratt Confident They Can Do What They’ve Done Before

The biggest question confronting Indiana football is whether the Hoosiers can repeat the success of 2024. Indiana finished with an 11-2 record and made the College Football Playoff.

Given Indiana’s history, it’s a fair question to ask, but given the history of some of the individual players on Indiana’s roster? Perhaps the question of repeating success has already been answered.

One of the reasons Indiana was successful in the first place was the nucleus of players coach Curt Cignetti brought with him from James Madison.

They had institutional knowledge of Cignetti’s ways that they could impart from a player perspective to other players.

They had also won at a consistent clip at James Madison and had maintained winning for the Dukes even after a potentially tricky move up from the FCS to the FBS level.

So if some of the players still on Indiana’s roster were part of sustaining success at James Madison, it stands to reason that they’ll approach fulfilling the same mission at Indiana with confidence.

“It's good to have the nucleus and the core of the team back. But even with going to the CFP and having a successful year, that's not going to do anything for us this year,” Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher said at Huber’s on Wednesday. “So obviously, we know what we're capable of. We know what we can reach and the kind of things that we're destined for. We just got to make it happen.”

Fisher played for two seasons at James Madison. Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt only played one season for the Dukes, but he joined a program that had already set a high standard before his arrival. It was imparted in him what the formula is for keeping the wins coming.

“To start the same thing we did last year, improve on the things that we didn't do good. That's just about it,” Sarratt said.

That boils the mission down to its essence, but Fisher – who spent two seasons at James Madison – noted the key element in keeping winning a habit.

“Complacency kills success. You get complacent, you get fat and happy. You're going to be right back at the bottom where you started,” Fisher said.

“So just make sure you know where we started from, which was that 3-9 team that when we got here wasn't very good, and make sure we never even get close to touching that again,” he added.

Sustaining winning also means keeping the buzz that Indiana football generated in 2024 alive and well. Enthusiasm from fans for off-season events like the fundraiser at Huber’s has increased since the CFP season, but it only lasts if the winning goes with it.

“It's buzzing a little bit. Indiana's an exciting place to be and play at right now. Everybody's really excited right in the town,” Fisher said.

“It's not so much of a ‘What are we going to do this year? Are we going to be good?’ (Being good) is the standard now, and everybody knows that. There's a lot of excitement, especially within the team. We have the confidence to do what we're going to do, and it's just an exciting time,” he added.