Indiana football senior punter Mitch McCarthy, who missed the Hoosiers’ 56-9 victory over Kennesaw State University on Sept. 6, is “sorta day-to-day,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said.
“The punter has got a little bit of an issue,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday, “the first-team guy (McCarthy).”
When McCarthy stepped onto Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium to make his Indiana debut in the Hoosiers’ season opener, he notched a 47-yard punt. However, he limped off the field with an injury.
Cignetti declined to detail McCarthy’s ailment, but he twice described it as a little issue.
In place of the 27-year-old Australian, sophomore kicker Quinn Warren has assumed the punting duties. In his lone punt against Old Dominion University on Aug. 30, Warren sent the ball 38 yards to the Monarchs’ 3-yard line.
Two days after defeating the Hoosiers started the season with a 13-point victory, Cignetti said he and his staff feel Warren is a “really good prospect.”
McCarthy was ruled out before Indiana’s 45-point victory over Kennesaw State. Again, Warren stepped in and delivered for the Hoosiers with punts of 40 and 49 yards. The latter was downed at the Owls’ 5-yard line.
“We've always had a lot of confidence in Quinn,” Cignetti said. “The first one that we downed inside the 5 was a little bit of low kick and we got a good bounce.”
Warren stepping in for an injured starter isn’t unfamiliar.
When kickoff specialists Derek McCormick and Alejandro Quintero both went down with injuries in 2024, Warren took over the kickoff duty. Across seven games in his true freshman season, Warren kicked off 35 times for 2,149 yards. He notched 11 touchbacks while he averaged 61.4 yards per kickoff.
Before arriving at Indiana, Warren was a kicker and punter at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis. He scored 109 points in two seasons as a kicker for head coach Matt Geske, Indiana freshman quarterback Maverick Geske’s father.
Warren also played basketball and soccer. On the pitch, he helped lead Brebeuf to back-to-back Indiana High School Athletic Association state championships in 2020 and 2021. He notched 23 goals and 10 assists throughout his career while also spending time as a goalkeeper.
Last year, Cignetti said Warren was taking advantage of his opportunity, as he’d done a “nice job” in practice.
And again this year, Warren has another opportunity in front of him should McCarthy remain out.
“But he's really capable of booming the ball,” Cignetti said, “and he did a nice job.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
