{"id":765428,"date":"2026-02-20T22:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/765428\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:07:09","slug":"hoosier-pride-will-certainly-overflow-during-the-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/765428\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoosier pride will certainly overflow during the 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 20, 2026, 4:53 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The 2026 NFL Draft will be, without a doubt, the greatest edition ever for Indiana<\/a> University and their fan base. There is very little glory, written in the history book of IU football, but current head coach Curt Cignetti is now re-writing it. Just the second college football team to ever go 16-0 in a season<\/a>, the 2025 Hoosiers are just as loaded with talent as one would expected an undefeated national champion to be.<\/p>\n

Their quarterback, Fernando Mendoza<\/a>, won the Heisman Trophy and is the current favorite to go #1 overall. His top target, Elijah “Waffle House” Sarratt<\/a> projects as a second rounder. The wideout on the opposite side, Omar Cooper<\/a>, could go in the second round as well.<\/p>\n

Potentially joining them as a day two pick is cornerback D’Angelo Ponds<\/a>, a dominant player in his own right.<\/p>\n

The Defensive Player of the Game for the CFP title title, edge rusher Mikail Kamara, is also a mid round prospect. Center Pat Coogan, running back Roman Hemby and linebacker Aiden Fisher (all three of which are Scouting Combine invitees) will almost certainly get drafted as well.<\/p>\n

If you’re a wearer of the crimson and cream IU logo, this is certainly the time to puff your chest out. Cignetti definitely sees it in his followers and fan base.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

“A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation,” Cignetti said in an interview with Ratings.org<\/a> this past season. “The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I\u2019d say right now the arrow is pointing up.”<\/p>\n

It is a positive trajectory, to say the least. IU will likely see at least seven players get taken in this April’s draft while another blue chip prospect, LT Carter Smith, has returned to school. The 2025 Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year, Smith was a mid-round prospect, but if he continues on his current learning curve, and further develops during the 2026 season, he’ll be a top prospect for the 2027 class.<\/p>\n

A consensus first team All-American, the Powell, Ohio native has the ideal size and frame to become a NFL franchise OT.<\/p>\n

Obviously, he won’t be the only one to make the move from Bloomington, IN to the NFL in ’27. Cignetti landed a transfer portal class that is just as strong as any in the nation. Indiana football isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 20, 2026, 4:53 p.m. ET The 2026 NFL Draft will be, without a doubt, the greatest edition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95878,7,6,97135,97136,95882,95930,96027,98232,98165,98164,95896,96758,95888,96684,95906,95883,109017,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-765428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sstssportsnfldraft","12":"tag-sstsndraft","13":"tag-tagamerican-football","14":"tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","15":"tag-tagcollege-sports","16":"tag-tagheisman-trophy","17":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers","18":"tag-tagindiana-hoosiers-football","19":"tag-tagnational-sports","20":"tag-tagncaa-big-ten-conference","21":"tag-tagnfl","22":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-tagwaffle-house","26":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116105238713131458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}