BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana was at risk of trailing and allowing points in the first quarter for the first time all season Saturday against Washington.
As he led the Huskies to the Indiana 31-yard line, quarterback Will Rogers looked to swing a quick screen pass to the outside. But defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker and cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, a pair of James Madison transfers, teamed up for a game-changing play.
“I seen him not dropping, so I was just like, ‘Oh, he’s still right here.’ So I just reached my hand out and I got his arm and kind of his hand a little bit, and it affected his throw, and D-Lo did the rest,” Tucker said “I was hype. I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ I was running with him to the end zone. I almost escorted him to the end zone.”
“I was blitzing and somebody tipped the ball and it came right to me,” Ponds said. “That’s just a testament of trusting the process and being where you gotta be, and the ball will come to you. It honestly felt unreal, that was my first career pick-six. I was praying for it.”
Ponds returned the interception for 67 yards and a touchdown, giving the Hoosiers a 7-0 lead with 7:41 left in the first quarter. And that was only the beginning of Ponds’ heroics Saturday.
Early in the second quarter, Rogers lofted the ball to wide receiver Denzel Boston with Ponds providing one-on-one coverage. It may have appeared to be a mismatch in favor of the 6-foot-4, 209-pound Boston against the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Ponds, but the sophomore cornerback didn’t back down.
Ponds credits his good technique on the play, boxing out Boston and jumping to contest the pass. Both players got a hand on the ball, but Ponds maintained his focus after it was tipped and intercepted it as he fell to the turf.
“His size really didn’t affect the pass or anything like that,” Ponds said. “… When we go against those guys, that’s who I want to go against. That’s the reason I came to the Big Ten, just to go against those guys like that and play against top competition. I feel like if I can do that, I’m definitely able to go to the next level.”
“His technique, his mentality, whatever the case may be. I don’t know what it is, because if I’m a quarterback out there too, I’m throwing the ball his way, too, seeing some of the receivers out here,” Indiana defensive lineman Mikail Kamara said. “But he just has the dog in him, where he knows if the ball is coming, he’s gonna go make a play on it regardless.”
Ponds finished Saturday’s game with five tackles, two interceptions and an assisted tackle for loss. He strived to intercept more passes this year, and on Saturday alone he matched his interception total from 2023, when he was named a freshman All-American at James Madison.
He credits preparation during the week, which made him feel good going into Saturday’s game against Washington. That performance led to Ponds being named the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.
“He’s got good talent, but he’s got competitive character,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. “He’s a competitor, and he wants to be great. He’s got day-in, day -out consistency. He does the things that help him improve on a daily basis, and that’s his goal. He wants to be the best football player he can be, and he loves the process and everything that goes into that, and he’s intelligent.’’
Through eight games at Indiana, Ponds has totaled 40 tackles, five pass breakups, three tackles for loss and two interceptions – fourth or higher in all categories among Hoosiers. Among qualified cornerbacks nationally, Ponds ranks sixth in Pro Football Focus’ grade for defense (85.7) and sixth in coverage (87.8).
In addition to his coverage skills, Ponds has proven to be a reliable open-field tackler. He made six solo tackles during Indiana’s win over Nebraska, and he has the third-highest tackling grade at 78.0 among Hoosiers with at least 180 snaps this season, per PFF.
“People see my size and think I can’t tackle, but I think that’s one thing that they see during the game and it shocks them,” Ponds said. “So that definitely plays a big part in my game.”
Kamara said Indiana’s defense prides itself on winning its one-on-one matchups. When he watches the tape, Ponds doesn’t lose, even against much taller opponents like those in the Washington game.
Kamara really began to notice Ponds last season during James Madison’s 16-14 win over Troy in Week 3. As a true freshman, Ponds made four tackles and two pass breakups, helping the Dukes’ defense limit Troy to a 54.3% completion percentage.
“I was pass rushing, I would see the ball get out and then Ponds just smacking it down,” Kamara recalls. “Every single time they tried Ponds, it never worked. Like keep doing it, but it never works. So I just love Ponds.”
Ponds originally committed to James Madison in the class of 2023 out of Chaminade-Madonna Prep in Hollywood, Fla., where he won back-to-back state championships during his junior and senior seasons. He was rated as a three-star recruit, No. 1966 in the nation and No. 170 among cornerbacks, per 247Sports. His only Power Five offer out of high school came from Syracuse.
Cignetti said players from that area take a lot of pride in being a “baller,” and he characterized Ponds as just that.
“It made me who I am today,” Ponds said. “South Florida is a football place. That’s where the best football is played in my opinion, and it definitely helped me a lot. I played football since I was four, so that’s kind of all I know. People call it Florida Water, I don’t really know what it is. It’s a lot of people growing up playing football and just like me, that’s all they know.”
Since transferring from James Madison to Indiana, Ponds hasn’t noticed much of a difference between playing in the Sun Belt versus the Big Ten, other than the game slowing down for him as he gains more experience. Cignetti said Ponds, along with 12 other James Madison transfers, wanted to play at the highest level and has shown he’s more than capable.
Ponds thanked Cignetti for believing in him when others didn’t.
“He believed since day one when I came in here. When he recruited me, he said this was possible,” Ponds said. “He said we were gonna go undefeated, and he said that when he recruited me here.’’
Ponds credits part of his development to going against Indiana’s wide receiving corps in practice every day, something he considers iron sharpening iron. High expectations surrounded Ponds when he joined the Hoosiers after earning several freshman All-American awards and making All-Sun Belt second team last year.
He embraced that.
“People call it pressure, but that’s the way I like it,” Ponds said. “Pressure is privilege, like they say. But there definitely was pressure on me, but I didn’t really take that. I just be me.”
Ponds and the Hoosiers travel to Michigan State this weekend with a chance to tie the program record with nine wins in a season and achieve the best start in program history. They’ll face a Spartan offense with quarterback Aidan Chiles, who Ponds said likes to throw the ball deep, run play-action and mix in some option plays.
Humble and eager to extend Indiana’s undefeated season, Ponds said he would grade his play this season as a B- or a C. He wants to keep proving people wrong Saturday against the Spartans.
“We’re not satisfied. We’re not done,” Ponds said. “It definitely means a lot, with people saying what they were saying at the beginning of the year. … But we didn’t come here to say we wanted to go 8-0. We’re not satisfied at all.”
