It's been less than one month since the end of the 2017 IU football season, but big changes have already occurred to the IU roster.
Junior defensive back Zeke Walker and sophomore running back Tyler Natee both announced their intent to transfer from IU in late November, before junior running back Alex Rodriguez did the same in early December.
Then, in the span of two days on Dec. 20 and 21, IU added 23 signees on National Signing Day, lost star wide receiver Simmie Cobbs Jr. to the NFL Draft and lost three other players from the 2017 roster to transfers.
Those three players were Natee and redshirt freshman wide receivers Phil Benker and Taysir Mack.
Natee announced Dec. 20 via Twitter he would be transferring to Montana State University.
"Sometimes starting over isn’t all that bad, NOW it’s time to show everyone what they were missing. Big Bacon is here," Natee wrote in his Twitter post.
Montana State is a NCAA Football Championship Subdivision program that plays in the Big Sky Conference.
Benker also announced Dec. 20 via Twitter he was committed to the University of Tennessee at Martin. He twice earned scout team player of the week honors with IU, but never played in a game for the Hoosiers.
The University of Tennessee at Martin is also a NCAA Football Championship Subdivision program that is part of the Ohio Valley Conference.
Lastly, Mack's departure was announced Dec. 21 via a Twitter post by Pittsburgh Coach Pat Narduzzi.
The post announced Mack as an addition to Pittsburgh's 2018 recruiting class, although Mack will have to sit out the 2018 season per NCAA transfer regulations. This will also likely result in Mack losing the year of eligibility given to him by his redshirt, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and offensive quality control assistant James Patton were both on the IU coaching staff in 2016, Mack's first season at IU.
In 2017, Mack had 310 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns for IU.
Mack will enroll at Pittsburgh in January.
Cameron Drummond
