What Curt Cignetti Said As Indiana Football Prepares For Florida International

First-year Indiana football coach had his first pre-game press conference on Monday.

Todd Golden | Aug 26, 2024

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, seen here during a fall camp press conference, spoke to the media on Monday about Saturday's opponent, Florida International. / Indiana athletics

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Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Fall camp is over. Now the real deal begins.

Indiana's football team will host Florida International at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in the season opener. The Hoosiers' matchup with the Golden Panthers is the first of an eight-game home schedule. Indiana plays four of its first five games at Memorial Stadium.

It will be Curt Cignetti’s first game in-charge of the Hoosiers. Here’s everything Cignetti said in his pre-game press conference at Memorial Stadium.

Opening statement:

Cignetti: A lot of work to be done before we kickoff. Obviously before we kickoff, we have to have a great week of preparation starting with today to put ourselves in the best position to be successful and play our best. FIU? Coach (Mike) MacIntyre does job, has throughout his career.

Extremely dangerous quarterback, dual threat kind of guy that throws ball well, extends plays, can run and we’ll have to do a great job on him.

They've got a deep stable of receivers, returning two or three receivers and adding more guys from the transfer portal. Impressed with the running backs, the guys all return that they played last season, experienced in the secondary, at safety, corner, leading tackler returns, linebacker and specialists are good, kicker, loan snapper, punter, return the people. So you know, it'll be a challenge. We’ll have to play well, and want to see us play fast and physical and cut out some of the mistakes we made in the first two scrimmages, penalties and (missed) assignments, things of that nature, but also play smart, disciplined and poised. So that's the fine line there, but we do want to attack, to be that kind of team and play well.

Q: Kurtis Rourke, does he remind you of any quarterbacks that you've coached? And how has he developed as a leader? Ty Son Lawton was telling us he kind of brought the group together after the first scrimmage and kind of lit a fire under them. What have you seen from him in the locker room kind of getting the guys together?

Cignetti: He probably reminds me of (former James Madison quarterback) Cole Johnson, who we had for two seasons. His last year with us, he had a tremendous year at 41 touchdowns, two interceptions (four) and he threw for over 4,000 yards (3,779 yards in 2021). They’re both more pocket guys, but still can gain positive yards with their legs. Really smart and heady. He's played a lot of football, respected by his teammates. He's not a real rah-rah guy on the field, which is fine. You know, you need kind of by example on the field, but he's got the respect of all his teammates

Q: Curt, I guess, just your philosophy, as much as anything else, on how you handle freshmen that you might want to see get some snaps? Where you maybe set the bar for guys that you don't worry about the redshirt, where you maybe set the bar for guys, where you think, ‘Let's give him a couple games and kind of see where he gets to.’ Just how you kind of handle basically, the question of whether guys get a redshirt?

Cignetti: Well, the best guys play, really. We're a veteran team, even though we got a lot of new guys, we got a lot of seniors on the football team, So I wouldn't anticipate seeing any freshmen out there. It doesn’t mean you might not see one or two, but it's all based on who can help us be successful and who can play great, winning football. So then things change every week. Right now, going into the first game, I don't see many freshmen in very significant roles,

Q: Obviously, after Nick Kidwell went down (after his knee injury), you’ve had competition on the offensive line, not just because of him, but overall. Where are you at in that competition and how do you feel about those five guys right now that look like they maybe starters?

Cignetti: I feel good. And like I said previous, right now you're looking at Drew Evans, Bray Lynch and Tyler Stephens. You know, three guys in the two squads, and they all can snap also. We’ll see who we try out there for the first series.

Sep 16, 2023; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; FIU Golden Panthers quarterback Keyone Jenkins (1) throws a pass against the UConn Huskies at Rentschler Field at Pratt & Whitney Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Q: Curt, you mentioned FIU’s quarterback, Keyone Jenkins, what do you feel like is the biggest thing where he causes trouble? And what is the biggest thing where you can cause trouble for him on Saturday?

Cignetti: He’s an extremely capable passer, but when he gets out of the pocket, he does a really nice job of extending plays. And even though he's a really good athlete that can tuck it and run and gain a lot of yards, you know, he's going to work to throw first, and does a nice job of finding people when he extends plays.

We’ve got to win up front. You know, our defensive line? We’ve got to put pressure on him, keeping in the pocket, and not give him much time. We got to get to him. We need a game from our game line.

Q: Curt, how with this first game of the season, how much do you kind of see this as an opportunity to set the tone for what this era of Indiana football will look like?

Cignetti: I don't look at it that way. This is the opponent. I'm spending every second of my day with a sense of urgency, trying to help put us in the best position being as good as we can be. And that's how we look at things as coaches. I think, across the country.

Q: We know that you're a process-oriented guy. I'm curious what the process looks like now that it's a game week you're away from fall camp. How do the meetings go? When does preparation start for next week's opponent? All things like that.

Cignetti: Yeah, well, you know, all eyes are on this opponent, and today. Typical in-season, I was up at 4 a.m. and in the office before five. We'll have a light practice tonight, and then tomorrow is first and second down and punt return, and then Wednesday's third down, and Thursday's red area, goal line and two-minute.

Mornings and afternoons are spent preparing for those situations and then we put it all together.

Q: Hey, Coach. Omar Cooper, a potential breakout guy, to use the generic phrase. Those of us saw him a lot of high school saw the potential that was there. What are the things he needs to do this season to go from potential to make a few plays here and there to be maybe the breakout guy who really could be consistently an impact guy for you guys?

Cignetti: I think he just has to take what he's done on the practice field and take it onto the game field, which I'm confident he will and can.

Q: We had (co-offensive coordinator Mike) Shanahan in here a few weeks ago. We had (linebacker Jailin) Walker, we had (Ty Son) Lawton. Each mentioned this winning mindset that you have. How do you shape your specific mindset? For an (Indiana) team that’s won nine games the last three years, how do add that culture here?

Cignetti: I think that's well-documented at this point. But we came in and changed the roster and then you have to change the way people think -- the mindset, the culture, the identity of your football team. And I think we've made progress. But you really can't measure it until you play. And then every week, chapter one of a 13-page book. So, I'm excited to see us play. We do have a lot of work to do before we kick it off, and I'm confident in this team.

Q: You guys have a few cornerbacks down. Do you feel like you have a good grasp of the rotation going into that season-opener?

Cignetti: We really don’t have a few down. We had one miss some practice time in fall camp, and he’s mending very quickly. So we anticipate being close to full strength.

Indiana University's Justice Ellison (6) during the first day of fall practice at the Mellencamp Pavilion at Indiana University on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

Q: You’ve been a part of multiple rebuilds and reboots. Going into this week, I know you’ll know a lot more after you play, but how do you feel about your offense now as compared to other places where you’ve gone into that first game?

Cignetti: I feel good about our offense. We have a lot of veteran players. We have a veteran quarterback. And I think we have a chance to be a good offense and defense and special teams.

But as a coach you've always got concerns, too. I've never had a team I didn't have concerns about something. But my focus right now is on preparing these guys and help them be as successful as possible Saturday. And I feel good about the pieces we have in place.

Q: You've talked before about how small the margin of error is once the season starts. What aspects through fall camp have you seen lessen that margin, and what parts this week do you think really need some work?

Cignetti: I think we were more consistent in practice as camp went on. We weren't an up-and-down team. We still have to more consistently get everybody doing what they're supposed to do assignment-wise, technique-wise.

But part of that is the challenge of camp, too, because you install everything. So the plate is very heavy.

Now, you get into the first game and that plate lighten up a little bit. And we want to free them up from thinking too much so they can play fast and let their ability take over.

Q: What have you learned from previous stops along the way or previous new jobs that has helped you make this transition as smoothly as possible? What lessons have you previously learned to help you this year?

Cignetti: Well, I think in every area that matters, leadership, recruiting, development, retention, managing staff, messaging, how to practice, game-day philosophy, I think every year you do this you get a little better. You learn lessons.

So this is my 42nd year, I think, in this business. And so there hasn't been much I haven't seen, but I'm sure something will come up one day that I haven't yet.

Q: You mentioned getting up at 4:00 in the morning going into the office by 5:00. How late are you staying?

Cignetti: We'll get off the field tonight about 8:15.

Q: Has the pace been that way pretty much same since December, going a thousand miles an hour.

Cignetti: Oh, yeah, and December was very much that way. We have some rest banked right now, coaches and players. So we should have a full tank heading into this week.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the running backs in general and Lawton, in particular, what you expect from them what you hope to see from them?

Cignetti: When you look at Lawton, (Kaelon) Black and (Justice) Ellison, they're all very similar. They can take it between the tackles. They can get the ball outside. They can catch the ball out of the backfield, and they're good pass pro guys. And Elijah Green is a good back, as well as (Solomon) Vanhorse. Lawton is capable of making the big play, catches the ball extremely well, is good inside the 10, and he's got an extra gear, and he's had a lot of suCignettiess. He's a confident guy and doesn't talk very much. He doesn't say much. But on game day, he shows up and you know who he is.

Q: Do you have both coordinators in the booth and does the quarterback communication this year change your game day operations at all on how you kind of organize everything on the field and in the booth?

Cignetti: Yeah, in the past we've had Mike up in the booth and Bryant (Haines, defensive coordinator) has been on the field. Still talking through what we'll do this year. I haven't figured out what we'll do, but the game day communication can change things somewhat, whether you huddle a little bit more. To start a new series, do you huddle, gather them up on the sidelines. There's some things I think you'll see across the country that are a little different than last season.

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