Defensive lineman Wyatt returning for 5th season with defending champion Hoosiers, AP source says

Defensive lineman Kellan Wyatt has decided to return for his fifth season with the defending national champion Indiana Hoosiers, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Friday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

Wyatt becomes the second starting linemen from last season’s title run to come back since last week’s U.S. District Court ruling in Colorado granting players from the 2022 high school graduating class one more year of eligibility. Coach Curt Cignetti confirmed Wednesday that all-Big Ten honorable mention defensive end Stephen Daley also had returned following the ruling.

The NCAA plans to appeal the court decision.

Wyatt started the first seven games in 2025 before a season-ending knee injury. The transfer from Maryland finished his first year at Indiana with 27 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks. He has 11 career sacks but was not selected in April’s NFL draft, which along with the court ruling opened the door for his return.

The addition of Wyatt to an already deep, experienced group of defensive linemen could make Indiana’s defensive front even stronger.

“Whether we had really good depth there or not, I think the return to play doesn’t change a whole lot because you don’t want to throw a guy out there until he’s ready to where he gets hurt,” Cignetti said Wednesday when asked about Daley, who will be limited early in practice as he returns from the injury. “There will be competition. Guys that can play winning football, they’ll play.”

Indiana now has four defensive linemen who started regularly last season — Wyatt, Daley, Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino — back. Plus, Cignetti has added veteran transfers Tobi Osunsanmi and Chiddi Obiazor from Kansas State and Josh Burnham from Notre Dame to a position group that returns its top five sack leaders.

“Like you said, getting off on the quarterback, I think that’s one of the best things about our defense,” said linebacker Rolijah Hardy, who led the team with eight sacks last season. “Try to help the back end, the DBs by getting after them so they don’t have that much time, so I think returning those five is really big for us.”

Daley suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Hoosiers’ celebration following their 13-10 victory over Ohio State, giving Indiana its first league crown since 1967. He missed all three playoff games as the Hoosiers won their first national championship and became the first major college football program to post a 16-0 mark since the 1890s.

Despite recording 5 1/2 sacks, a Big Ten-leading 19 tackles for loss — No. 3 in the Football Bowl Subdivision — in his first season with the Hoosiers, he also was undrafted.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football