Left Tackle Carter Smith Eager To Lead Indiana Offensive Line

Retaining Carter Smith despite interest from big-name programs was one of Indiana’s most important offseason moves heading into coach Curt Cignetti’s first season.

Indiana offensive linemen Carter Smith (65) and Drew Evans (62) pictured during spring practice. / Indiana Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With 12 starts at left tackle as a redshirt freshman last season, Carter Smith had the makings of a program building block for years to come.

But as Indiana transitioned between head coaches Tom Allen and Curt Cignetti, retaining Smith would take some work. He kept his options open and announced on Nov. 27 he was entering the transfer portal.

Smith visited Florida State, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech. But none of the programs interested in the 6-foot-5, 308-pound lineman could offer what he said became the deciding factor: Indiana offensive line coach Bob Bostad.

“Keeping Bostad was huge for me,” Smith said after Thursday’s practice. “He’s very highly regarded. He’s been in the NFL. He’s been all over college football. So with experience like that, there’s no way I couldn’t come back.”

Bostad was the lone coach that Cignetti retained from Allen’s staff, and he has 26 years of coaching experience. He coached 11 first-team All-Americans at Wisconsin and had stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans.

Allen hired Bostad before the 2023 season to coach the Hoosiers’ offensive line, which saw steady improvement despite still grading out below average on a national scale. In 2022, Indiana ranked 118th out of 133 FBS teams in Pro Football Focus’ (PFF) pass blocking grade and 121st in run blocking.

But under Bostad’s direction, a line consisting of much of the same personnel improved to 67th in PFF’s run blocking grade and 104th in pass blocking. All four returning starters – excluding Smith, who played just two games in 2022 – improved their offense grade from 2022 to 2023. Additionally, sacks allowed decreased from 38 to 25, and rushing yards per game increased from 110.8 to 120.1.

Last season, Smith had a 67.6 PFF grade for offense, which ranked second among Indiana offensive linemen behind Matthew Bedford, who transferred to Oregon for the 2024 season. Smith’s best pass blocking games came against Maryland, Illinois and Ohio State. 

Continuing that trajectory of offensive line play will be key as Cignetti aims to improve upon a Big Ten-worst 9-27 stretch over Allen’s last three seasons. Along with Bedford, Indiana’s starting right guard, right tackle Kahlil Benson transferred to Colorado, center Zach Carpenter transferred to Miami and left guard Mike Katic is moving to center for his sixth-year senior season at Indiana.

Cignetti added Wisconsin transfer Trey Wedig and James Madison transfers Nick Kidwell and Tyler Stephens to compete for starting roles with other returning Hoosiers. 

Smith originally joined Indiana as part of Allen’s 2022 recruiting class that ranked 25th nationally, the program’s highest composite ranking on 247Sports since it began ranking classes in 2000. He was a four-star recruit, ranked No. 207 nationally, No. 19 among offensive tackles and No. 9 in Ohio, attending Olentangy Liberty High school.

He was Indiana’s second-highest ranked recruit in the 2022 class, behind Dasan McCullough, who has since transferred to Oklahoma but earned second-team freshman All-American honors and an All-Big Ten honorable mention with the Hoosiers as a true freshman in 2022. 

Now one of the most experienced Indiana offensive linemen, Smith said his next steps in 2024 are continually progressing and becoming a role model for the younger linemen. Reflecting on last season, he learned it’s important to forget the last play and focus on the next one.

Smith said Bostad has maintained his same coaching points from last season, and it was huge for Indiana to get Katic back for another year after he initially declared for the NFL draft. He also feels it has been helpful to have Kidwell and Stephens on board, who know the playbook well from their time at James Madison. 

“Me and Mike, we’re kind of the frontrunners now, but we have a lot of older guys that came in from JMU, as well,” Smith said. “So it’s all on us to lead the way for the young guys, and I feel like they’re progressing pretty well, too. As a whole unit, it’s been going pretty good for us. We’re making progress every single day. … I’ve got an important position to fill in, and I plan to do that for my team.”