Indiana football steamrolled Maryland on Nov. 1 by 45 points en route to its second consecutive 9-0 start.
Despite the Hoosiers’ dominance, a handful of players suffered injuries against the Terrapins. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti provided an update regarding where his squad stands ahead of the final three regular-season games.
“We didn't really come out of that game with anything that we would call significant,” Cignetti said during his press conference Monday. “Just the bumps and bruises that can occur during the course of a 12-game season.”
Although Aiden Fisher, who suffered a left knee injury against UCLA on Oct. 25, made progress at the end of last week and dressed in full uniform for the contest, he didn’t play. Cignetti said he’s “very optimistic” about the senior linebacker.
Senior receiver Elijah Sarratt, who exited the contest with a hamstring injury in the first quarter and didn’t return, is “more day-to-day.”
“He's been dealing with something the last two weeks but has been able to play,” Cignetti said. “Had a little tweak of something else early in the game, and we got him out for precautionary reasons.”
Redshirt junior left guard Drew Evans was out against Maryland with an undisclosed injury. Cignetti said he remains unavailable for the Hoosiers’ game against Penn State at noon Saturday.
Cignetti didn’t provide an update on three other Hoosiers — redshirt junior linebacker Kaiden Turner, sixth-year senior offensive lineman Khalil Benson and sixth-year senior receiver E.J. Williams Jr. — who suffered injuries during the game. Benson and Williams returned to action against Maryland while Turner didn’t.
Sixth-year senior kickoff specialist Brendan Franke, who went down with an apparent lower-body injury Oct. 25, was questionable last week. However, he didn’t take to the field and his status remains unclear.
“We'll know more on everyone as the week progresses,” Cignetti said.
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.
