Indiana football: Highlights, starters and stats from 2024 spring game

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football’s offense put together a comeback 34-25 victory over the defense on Thursday in the final minutes of the team’s 2024 spring game at Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who worked with the first-team offense the entire night, completed eight straight passes on the offense’s final drive. He gave the offense the lead with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Andison Coby with just 45 seconds left.

More: Why Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti followed a new trend during spring practice

He was 10 for 13 for 65 yards on the drive.

While Indiana football didn’t officially keep stats for the game, The Herald-Times went through the tape and compiled the numbers from Thursday night’s exhibition.

Here’s a look at the highlights, stats and starting lineups:

Who started for the first-team offense and defense in Indiana football’s 2024 spring game?

First-team offense:

• QB: Kurtis Rourke

• RB: Justice Ellison

• LT: Carter Smith

• LG: Drew Evans

• C: Mike Katic

• RG: Bray Lynch

• RT: Trey Wedig

• TE: Zach Horton

• WR: Myles Price

• WR: Elijah Sarratt

• WR: Omar Cooper Jr.

First-team defense:

• DE: Jacob Mangum-Farrar

• DT: Marcus Burris Jr.

• DT: Robby Harrison

• DE: Mikail Kamara

• LB: Aiden Fisher

• LB: Isaiah Jones

• Rover: Amare Ferrell

• CB: Jamier Johnson

• CB: Jamari Sharpe

• S: Shawn Asbury II

• S: Josh Sanguinetti

There were some notable players sidelined throughout spring camp expected to start this fall including defensive tackle James Carpenter, linebacker Jailin Walker and offensive lineman Nick Kidwell.

Wide receiver E.J. Williams was dressed out, but didn’t play on Thursday night. coach Curt Cignetti previously told reporters that the Clemson transfer was dealing with an injury. Defensive end Lanell Carr, who started 10 games last season, also sat out the spring game.

Indiana rotated place kickers Alejandro Quintero and Derek McCormick on extra point attempts. McCormick missed the only field goal attempt from 51-yards out. Returning kicker Nicolas Radicic didn't play in the spring game.

How did the team’s score?

• 1st 11:40 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; DEF 3, OFF 0

• 1st 7:36 OFF: Jackson, Tayven 11 yard pass to McCulley, Donaven (Quintero, Alejandro extra point); OFF 7, DEF 3

• 1st 5:39 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; OFF 7, DEF 6

• 1st 2:26 OFF: Ellison, Justice 2 yard rush; OFF 14, DEF 6

• 2nd 12:18 OFF: Lawton, Ty Son 15 yard rush; OFF 21, DEF 6

• 2nd 11:29 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; OFF 21, DEF 9

• 2nd 10:05 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; OFF 21, DEF 12

• 2nd 6:40 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; OFF 21, DEF 15

• 2nd 6:06 DEF: Jones Jr., Terry interception; OFF 21, DEF 19

• 2nd 4:41 DEF: McCormick, Derek 51 yard field goal missed; DEF 22, OFF 21

• 2nd 3:35 DEF: Forced turnover on downs; DEF 25, OFF 21

• 2nd 0:45 OFF: Rourke, Kurtis 3 yard pass to Coby, Andison (Quintero, Alejandro extra point)

• 2nd 0:00 OFF: Shouse, Drew 17 yard rush

There were 12 offensive drives overall with the first-team offense and defense on the field for six of those them, the second-team got four drives and the third-team had two drives. The first-team offense ran 52 plays and had 257 total yards. The second-team offense ran 21 plays and had 176 yards.

Indiana’s quarterbacks consistently moved the ball

• Kurtis Rourke: 20 for 30 for 148 yards, TD

• Tayven Jackson: 10 for 13 for 170 yards, TD, INT

• Tyler Cherry: 1 for 3 for 8 yards

Rourke didn’t get much of a chance to throw the ball much down field, but he was efficient. He looked most comfortable running IU's two-minute offense at the end of the game. He used the entire field on the 15-play, 75-yard drive and completed passes to five different targets.

More: Why Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti followed a new trend during spring practice

He limited his mistakes to an early intentional grounding call that Cignetti himself called and a near interception intended for McCulley near the end of the first quarter. Kobee Minor jumped the route and would’ve had a pick six if he held onto the ball.

Jackson started out hot by completing his first eight passes.

His second pass attempt — a 40-yarder down the sideline to Coby — was one of the best of the night. He connected with Coby again for a 65-yard gain (the longest play of the night) and threw a 11-yard strike in the back of the end zone to Donaven McCulley, but that success came at the expense of IU’s second-team defense.

Jackson was responsible for the lone turnover of the night on an interception to Terry Jones Jr.

Indiana running backs make the most of their opportunities

• Kaelon Black: 4 carries, 39 yards

• Elijah Green: 9 carries, 25 yards

• Justice Ellison: 3 carries, 12 yards, TD

• Ty’Son Lawton: 4 carries, 25 yards, TD

• David Holloman: 1 carry, 4 yards

• Daniel Weems: 2 carries, 3 yards

• Drew Shouse: 1 carry, 17 yards TD

Indiana running backs had 29 carries for 119 yards with three touchdowns. While they were modest overall numbers, IU's new running backs made key third down conversions and showed the athleticism the room was sorely lacking last year.

No. 0 was the game’s unofficial MVP

• Andison Coby: 4 catches, 116 yards, TD

• Myles Price: 4 catches, 42 yards

• Elijah Sarratt: 4 catches, 34 yards

• Zach Horton: 4 catches, 27 yards

• Trey Walker: 3 catches, 14 yards

• Omar Cooper Jr.: 2 catches, 20 yards

• Miles Cross: 2 catches, 23 yards

• Elijah Green: 2 catches, 2 yards

• Donaven McCulley: 1 catch, 11 yards, TD

• Justice Ellison: 1 catch, 5 yards

• Ty Son Lawton: 1 catch, 4 yards

• Sam West: 1 catch, 4 yards

• Daniel Weems: 1 catch, 8 yards

Coby started out playing with the second-team offense and showed some nice chemistry with Jackson, who he got plenty of work with last year. Coby got the second-team offense across midfield with an explosive play on each of their first two drives.

Sarratt and Horton got going late with three catches on the final drive, but it was a bit of a mixed bag for the rest of the group.

McCulley worked primarily with the second-team offense and was only targeted three times. He had a nice touchdown grab ad drew a pass interference call when linebacker Isaiah Jones was forced to drop back in coverage against him. He was targeted only one other time.

The receivers combined for three drops on the night, a statistic that Cignetti wasn’t happy with and mentioned multiple times during his post-game press conference.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Highlights, starters and stats from Indiana football's spring game