How Indiana football plans to attack the summer with NCAA restrictions in mind

Indiana’s spring season is over a month in the rear view mirror, while its regular season is just under 100 days away. Fans might already have begun building anticipation for the 2026 season, but there’s still a ways to go before the Hoosiers take the field as defending national champions.

And with time to spare this summer, that begs the question: what Indiana football doing to prepare for the 2026 campaign with 10 weeks until fall camp begins.

With no organized practices or official team activities, there’s limitations for what the Hoosiers are actually allowed to do, but that won’t stop IU from getting better through the avenues that the NCAA mandates.

This includes strength and conditioning, as well as non-contact field drills. It also permits 7 on 7, but coaches are not allowed to oversee these drills in an official capacity.

The official rules, per the NCAA are as follows:

• The coaching staff designates a nine (9) week period where student-athletes can be involved in voluntary weight training and conditioning activities. During eight (8) weeks of that period, student–athletes may participate required summer athletic activities for up to eight (8) hours per week. Student-athletes may engage in required strength/conditioning activities, film review, and non-contact skill instruction activities.
• No more than 2 hours a week can be spent on film review. No more than 2 hours a week may be spent on non-contact skill instruction activities. No protective equipment can be worn during skill instruction, but a football can be used to conduct these drills.
• The remaining week of the nine-week summer period is designated as discretionary time. Student-athletes can voluntarily participate in workouts during this time. Strength and conditioning coaches can be present for any strength and conditioning workouts for health and safety purposes.

With all these rules in mind, practicing looks a lot different than it does during spring ball and fall camp, but that doesn’t mean Curt Cignetti isn’t focused on improving his team, even if that means delegating what goes on to the strength staff.

“I’m pretty hands off,” Cignetti said. “I put that in the strength and conditioning staff’s hands. We’re allowed to do a little with them, and our position coaches do, but not much. So bigger, faster, stronger, keep them healthy, get them more flexible, quick.”

The strength program is slightly altered this summer though, as former strength coordinator Derek Owings took the same position at Tennessee, while Tyson Brown stepped in to fill the role at Indiana.

Brown was with Cignetti at Elon for a short stint, giving some familiarity between the two as Brown looks to uphold Cignetti’s philosophy in the weight room.

Rest and recovery are just as important as any other facet of strength training, which is something that Cignetti has said time and time again throughout his tenure — and something he attributes Indiana’s success with longevity to.

“More is not always more,” Cignetti said at the Hoosiers at Huber’s. “Sometimes less is more. Keeping healthy so that when it’s time to start training camp in August, these guys are in the best position to excel.”

Summer provides the best time to get the body ready for the grind that is a full football season, especially one that could extend to up to 16 games. And after a spring practice period that saw several Hoosiers out with lingering injuries, summer will provide an opportunity to continue to recover to be 100% when fall camp begins.

“I let Derek run the show because he did a great job,” Cignetti told Josh Pate last month. “And with Tyson, I just said,’ look, keep him healthy. Don’t get him hurt training. Get him a strong, fast, flexible, great nutrition, rest and recovery.’”

Beyond strength training, players will work on their individual skillsets as well. It varies person to person, with newcomers, like quarterback Josh Hoover, with more work to do in order to become fully acclimated by the time fall camp rolls around.

Hoover cited his goals for the summer as to “improve in the offense and being comfortable and learning and just developing the chemistry with these guys.”

“I think it’s just a day by day process and you gotta go to work and attack it every day and that’s what we’re gonna do. So I’m excited about it” he added after Indiana’s spring game.

The TCU transfer is preparing to lead Indiana’s offense, others are focused on getting their bodies healthy, and Cignetti is always working to gain an edge on the opponent. He’ll be studying film all throughout the summer, while also keeping up with recruiting and maintaining the standard that Indiana football demands.

NCAA regulations limit what can actually be done over the summer, but that doesn’t mean Indiana is taking things lightly. Every day is an inch closer to fall camp and the regular season, and because of that, each day demands the same focus and discipline as any other day on the calendar.

The improvements seen during fall camp get their beginnings over the summer, and even without organized full-team practices, Indiana plans on having a summer filled with the building blocks of another successful season,

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