As fall camp continues on for the Indiana Hoosiers, one position group that IU fans will want to keep an eye on is tight end.
Last year, Indiana's TE room featured plenty of veteran experience in the form of Riley Nowakowski, Holden Staes, and James Bomba. Nowakowski led the group with 32 catches for 387 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Entering the 2026 season, all three of those playmakers are gone.
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Now, Indiana's TE room features six players that are all freshmen. Three are true freshmen, while the other three are technically second-year players after redshirting last season. But no matter how you slice it, Indiana's group of tight ends is extremely inexperienced and unproven. That means the race for earning playing time is wide open.
It will be interesting to see how the TE competition unfolds over the next few weeks. Here are three names to watch as that race heats up.
Brock Schott - Redshirt freshman and Miami FL transfer
In our depth chart prediction prior to fall camp starting up, we picked Miami (FL) transfer Brock Schott to win the No. 1 TE job. It's a small sample size, but Schott has the most collegiate experience of all the tight ends on Indiana's roster. The entire group have just 17 combined snaps of college football under their belts, and 16 of those belong to Schott.
The Fort Wayne native appeared in two games for the Hurricanes last year and collected a pair of catches for 24 yards. He ultimately redshirted and transferred to Indiana. Owning a 6'3" 240-pound frame, Schott was a consensus 4-star prospect and was heralded as the No. 10 TE in the country for the 2025 recruiting class by 247Sports. At this point in time, it's not a stretch to say that he is the frontrunner.
Andrew Barker - Returning redshirt freshman
Andrew Barker was one of 12 Hoosier true freshmen to make his collegiate debut last season. He appeared in just one game and didn't record any catches before redshirting. A three-star prospect from Kokomo High School, Barker is vying for a bigger role in fall camp.
What helps his case is that he is a returner. He is familiar with the offense, knows how the TEs fit in Mike Shanahan's system, and has had a year to learn all that the role entails. Schott has seen more collegiate snaps, but Barker could use his time already spent in Bloomington to his advantage.
Parker Elmore - True freshman
True freshman Parker Elmore is also looking to make an immediate impact in Bloomington. Elmore comes to Bloomington after a stand-out career at Columbus North High School where he emerged as a consensus 3-star prospect. He was also rated as the No. 16 tight end in the country for the 2026 recruiting class by ESPN.
Elmore was the highest-ranked offensive player in Indiana's 2026 class according to Rivals. He is also the tallest of Indiana's TE group, owning a 6'5" 230-pound frame. The hype is there, and it will be interesting to see where Elmore ends up on the depth chart when Week 1 rolls round. With a ton of upside, don't be surprised if he makes an impact right away.
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