IU receiver Tyler Morris' role in 2026 season looms much larger after star receiver Omar Cooper Jr.'s early departure for the NFL.
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BLOOMINGTON — Tyler Morris is a rare commodity in today's college football. He's a two-time national champion, three-time Big Ten champion and has been on the right side of success his entire career. Morris is a winner. Any roster he touches, victories seemingly follow.
But last year was different. Not the winning part, but the impact Morris made. He could only do so much standing in street clothes during practices and game days. A torn ACL suffered in 2025 spring camp, just weeks after he arrived in Bloomington, forced a change in circumstances.
Morris, a former four-star recruit, saw his transfer from Michigan to Indiana as a fresh start. He envisioned stepping into a significant role as IU's top slot receiver during the 2025 season, winning big once again, establishing his NFL draft stock and heading off to a bright professional football career. Then it was all taken away before he played a snap for the Hoosiers.
So a long rehab process it was to be. His first year at Indiana would involve a lot of standing on the sidelines. Morris had no choice.
"It definitely was tough, just after just getting here, being hurt so fast," Morris said Wednesday. "But in my mind, I did it before in high school, so I kind of knew like, alright, I've done it before, I can do it again, I already know the process."
This wasn't Morris' first go-around with long-term injuries. It wasn't even Morris' first time dealing with a torn ACL.
His initial sobering experience came over five years ago at Nazareth Academy in La Grange, Ill., where Morris missed his entire senior season with a torn left ACL. The then-Michigan signee couldn't finish his high school career on his own terms. Add in the rudimentary rehab services available as a high schooler, and the process to full health became even more challenging.
But going through it once gave Morris some solace five years later — a small silver-lining after succumbing to an all-too-familiar knee-buckling.
Now at Indiana, he was surrounded by a more capable support system. He had trainers and doctors at his call whenever necessary. A strict rehab plan was laid out almost immediately. His Hoosier teammates tried to keep his spirits high and make him feel like he was still embedded in the locker room.
Sixteen wins, an undefeated season and a national championship wasn't so bad either.
So Morris held his chin up throughout the last year. His presence around Memorial Stadium, in the weight room, on the practice field and standing in street clothes during game days offered a sense of comfort. There were some tough, grueling days, he admits, but the blessings far outweighed the long road back.
"In my mind I was just preparing for this year, just with everything I did as far as recovery and working out and just trying to learn and all that," Morris said. "I just wanted to be as prepared for this year as I could. I would say it took about probably nine months until I was feeling back, just able to run routes and all that."
Despite the downtime, Morris still stayed involved as best he could. While that didn't include putting on pads or running routes, he still tried to keep his mind sharp and his football knowledge growing.
In the film room as where Morris found some semblance of comfort. He regularly broke down tape with IU's wide receivers. He sat in on all the position meetings with offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Mike Shanahan. Even if Morris couldn't directly translate it on the field, he soaked up as much information possible, knowing it'd pay off a year later.
He studied Omar Cooper Jr.'s film particularly closely. Cooper, who moved to slot receiver last season following Morris' injury, thrived in his role and parlayed a career-best season into a first-round NFL draft selection this past spring. Morris sought to emulate the best parts of Cooper's skill set.
"Every time we were watching film, I was really focused on him just because that's my position," Morris said. "Just talking to him about what coverages he's seeing and what he's thinking with coverages and certain concepts and just what he's expecting, I definitely tried to latch onto that a little bit and try to take some of those things from his game to bring it to mine."
Morris didn't let his own experiences go to waste throughout his rehab either. While also trying to grow individually, he felt a calling to still set an example for IU's younger receivers.
After three years of high-level team and personal success at Michigan, Morris had plenty of wisdom to impart in Bloomington. That meant taking some of IU's underclassmen under his wing.
"I think with me not being able to really be out there a lot during practice and not be able to be out there during games, I still wanted to be involved in some way," Morris said. "And the way I saw it was kind of trying to talk to the young guys for the most part because just being around, I understood. The older guys, they understood how I go.
"But talking to some of the freshmen coming up, just trying to build a relationship with them and guys that I knew would be around this year. I just wanted to talk to them, kind of tell them how I see things and get them really ready for next year because I knew that was a group of guys I'd be going in into the season with."
Now back to full strength and with an entire healthy offseason behind him, Morris is allowing himself to look ahead.
Indiana's 2026 season figures to feature Morris in a prominent role, one that he thought would come a year earlier. He enters this fall as IU's projected starting slot receiver next to Preseason All-Americans Nick Marsh and Charlie Becker, and his rapport with new starting quarterback Josh Hoover continues to grow steadily.
What's next for Morris is impossible to say just yet. But he's stronger, wiser and more mature than when he first transferred to Indiana. And for that, he'll carry gratitude into what he hopes will be a strong comeback season.
"I'm definitely just excited for the season to start," Morris said. "It's been so long since I actually played in the game, but I think it's kind of one of them things where I'm just more so grateful just to be able to even go out and play. I'm just really looking forward to the season."
Breakout buzz: Indiana freshman DT Blake Smythe 'making a case to get some playing time'
One new name to know on Indiana's defense for the 2026 season? True freshman defensive tackle Blake Smythe, who's received strong praise for his performance this offseason.
BLOOMINGTON — Curt Cignetti is seemingly often apprehensive about playing freshman so early in their careers. You know, not enough experience, proven production, the kinds of traits Cignetti looks for and has flourished with over the last decade-plus, including at Indiana.
But each year a small, exclusive group of youngsters force Cignetti's hand. Sure, they don't have the in-game collegiate film which Cignetti covets, but they also haven't had the opportunity to produce it either. It's what they do in practice, before the rest of IU's fanbase or college football at large, that breaks the typical Cignetti profile of a ready-to-contribute newcomer.
In 2024 at Indiana, it was Charlie Becker, Daniel Ndukwe and Mario Landino who cracked the two-deep rotation as true freshmen. Last year, it was Byron Baldwin Jr., Davion Chandler and others who achieved the same in their debut college campaigns. In the upcoming 2026 season, a native Hoosier is making his case for first-year snaps at defensive tackle.
Blake Smythe is who teammates have gushed about this offseason. All-American defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker first mentioned Smythe as a standout underclassman during spring camp. Then he did so again last week as fall camp was winding down. Only now, just a few days out from IU's season opener, Tucker's praise for Smythe has reached pay-attention-to-him territory.
"Blake is a fast learner. He kind of gets it right off the rip," Tucker said Aug. 19. "He is a great addition and is making a case to get some playing time. That is for sure. He just does things so well, gets things so fast. It doesn't take him too long to understand things fully and what people are doing around him."
A Hoosier state native from Trafalgar, Ind., just a short drive north from Bloomington and south from Indianapolis, Smythe arrived at IU this past January. He was a middle-of-the-pack three-star recruit, ranked the No. 123 defensive line prospect in the 2026 class.
Though he held offers from a collection of Power Four schools around the Midwest, like Illinois, Michigan State, Louisville and others, Smythe was hardly Indiana's biggest get during the Dec. signing period. In fact, of IU's 22 freshman signees, Smythe was just the 16th-highest ranked according to 247Sports.
But dig deeper into Smythe's high school background, and it's clear why Cignetti and his staff were eager to land the Franklin Community product. In his senior season, he tallied 59 total tackles, 22.0 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks. Across his high school career, he totaled 261 tackles, 52.0 tackles for loss, 20.0 sacks, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and two interceptions.
That's the kind of tangible, on-field impact that'll make Cignetti's and IU defensive tackles coach Pat Kuntz's ears perk up.
So as this offseason got underway, Indiana coming off a 16-0 national championship season, whispers of Smythe's potential began to grow. The 6-foot-4, 300-pounder already had the size and athleticism to compete in the trenches, though his accelerated aptitude of defensive coordinator Bryant Haines' complex scheme set him apart from his classmates.
"He's flashed in ways where he showed twitch intelligence," IU junior defensive tackle Mario Landino said Aug. 28. "But there's also little freshman things and mistakes that always come up and things that we need to work on. He's not a complete player yet, I'm not a complete player yet, but that's what we strive to be is complete players. He's done a good job."
Smythe has taken all he's learned over the last nine months and put it on the practice field. The reports so far have been positive and could position Smythe for consistent snaps as soon as IU's Sep. 5 opener against North Texas.
Although Tucker and Landino are expected to play the bulk of snaps at defensive tackle this season, Smythe is poised to be one of the first names called to rotate into games. He's earned that through a strong offseason of work.
It's not dissimilar from Landino's rise two years ago, and it helps to explain why he sees a lot of himself in Smythe. And for a true freshman to make such a notable first impression that Indiana might have no choice but to play him this fall, it also could be a precursor to what lies ahead for Smythe as his IU career begins.
"He's younger, and when I was younger I had a guy like James (Carpenter) that showed me the pathway and I'm trying to be that guy towards Blake," Landino said. "I think he's made great strides as a freshman and better than I was as a freshman."