𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The modern recruiting era dates back to the beginning of the 21st century. Indiana’s football team has signed a top-100 prospect just once over that span, safety Dasan McCullough in the Class of 2022.

Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti is busy at work making sure that changes.

For the second time in a week, Indiana landed a commitment from a top-100 prospect when four-star quarterback Lukas Prock, ranked No. 69 nationally in the 247Sports Composite in the Class of 2028, pledged to the Hoosiers on Thursday afternoon. Prock, who plays at The Hun School in New Jersey, picked IU over Notre Dame, Michigan, Florida, Ohio State and many others. This after five-star wide receiver Monshun Sales committed to Indiana last week over traditional powerhouses Texas, Ohio State, Alabama and LSU.

Assuming both players sign — Sales in December during the early signing period and Prock next year — the Hoosiers are on track to land their two highest-rated recruits of the modern era.

Not too shabby for a team traditionally comprised of under-recruited two- and three-star prospects as Cignetti continues to flip everything we ever thought we knew about Indiana football on its head.

“Coach Cig is a straight-up guy. It just clicked instantly,” Sales said last week when he announced his commitment on the “Pat McAfee Show.”

The Hoosiers, who won their first national championship in January, did so with a quarterback in Fernando Mendoza who was a two-star recruit coming out of high school.

Cignetti, who was previously the head coach at JMU, has built his reputation around developing talent and getting the most out of prospects who weren’t necessarily on the national radar coming out of high school. But since the Hoosiers’ magical run in 2025, top talent has started to view Indiana in a different light.

Cignetti has 17 commits in IU’s 2027 class, which ranks No. 31 nationally and includes seven blue-chippers and five top-300 prospects. The Hoosiers signed three blue-chippers in their 2026 class and a total of two from 2023 through 2025.

Prock is the first commit in Indiana’s 2028 class and the type of prospect Cignetti can (and almost certainly will) recruit around.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Prock enjoyed a sensational junior year, completing 73.1 percent of his attempts for 4,330 yards and 41 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. He threw for at least 300 yards in nine of 12 games, including two with 500-plus yards and one with 600-plus.

There’s still plenty of time before Sales and especially Prock can make it official, but Cignetti has fundamentally changed the way Indiana can recruit moving forward.