Indiana linebacker and London High School graduate Isaiah Jones trips up Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin in last season’s Big Ten Championship game. Jones is back for his senior season and set to play middle linebacker. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Coach Curt Cignetti continued to make headlines during 2026 Big Ten Media Days, but the heart of the Hoosiers is still lunchpail players like Isaiah Jones, the son of a former Ohio State player and pride of the London Red Raiders.
Chicago, IL —Last season, Indiana football authored what’s been described as the greatest Cinderella story in the history of sports.
The Hoosiers began the year as the losingest program in major college football history, and they ended it as national champions.
In another plot twist, the guy at Big Ten Media Days this week who arguably best represents the program’s DNA — the leading candidate to be Mr. Indiana Football — happens to be a native Ohioan.
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Not only that, he’s the son of a former Ohio State player, which has a lot to do with him choosing to play for Indiana.
Meet Isaiah Jones, the pride of the London Red Raiders class of 2022.
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“I heard London loud and clear and felt the love they were giving me all throughout the playoff run,” Jones said Thursday afternoon. “It’s just a testament to the kids in London and kids around the country that come from a small town, come from a small high school. You can make it to the biggest stage. You can play under the bright lights, and you can make plays. It doesn’t matter how many stars you have coming out of high school, if your high school is a Division I school or Division VII, it’s about the player, and I think I’m true testament to that.”
Some might say Curt Cignetti is the current King Hoosier, and sure, he does have a 27-2 record in two seasons in Bloomington. He led Indiana to its first Big Ten title since 1967 and to the top of the college football mountain for the first time.
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Cignetti was again the center of attention when he was in the International Ballroom at the historic Chicago Hilton on Thursday, but like any good coach, he will tell you he’s nothing without good players.
Jones figures to be one of Indiana’s best this fall, and — hey — he signed with Indiana in 2022 so he’s been a Hoosier twice as long as Cignetti. Jones said he chose Indiana over Duke and Wake Forest when he was a high school senior in part because he wanted to play in the Big Ten like his dad, D.J., did in the 1990s.
Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones credits his dad, former Ohio State tight end D.J. Jones, for not leaving the Hoosiers when Curt Cignetti became head coach.
Pops was a tight end for two Big Ten championship teams (1993 and ’96) and won a Rose Bowl with Ohio State to cap his career.
Isaiah Jones grew up a Buckeye fan, but he did not have an opportunity to follow in his old man’s footsteps.
No matter: He’s forged his own path.
“My dad is my biggest role model,” he said. “I talk to him every day, and he’s gotten me through a lot at IU. And just hearing his stories, the biggest thing he’s instilled in me is work ethic and hard work.”
Isaiah Jones appeared in two games as a true freshman and two more in 2023 while the Hoosiers went a combined 7-17 under Tom Allen.
Allen was fired and Jones could have left via the transfer portal — as many of his teammates did — when Cignetti was hired from James Madison. But Jones stayed in Bloomington.
Indiana fans can thank D.J. Jones for that.
“He’s the reason I didn’t just jump ship,” Isaiah said. “You don’t quit things when things are hard, and he’s never done that. He works really hard, and his work ethic, his commitment has has been instilled in me and my brothers. He’s coached us through all our sports, whether it was soccer when we were in kindergarten, all the way up till football through eighth grade, so just watching him, hearing his stories, knowing that not everything’s perfect. He had a few injuries and had some setbacks when he was in college, and I kind of had the same. And just hearing from him, hearing about the brotherhood that he had, and being able to feel that these last two years like a true brotherhood, it’s been special.”
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The younger Jones had 78 tackles last season at outside linebacker, including 15.5 for loss and seven sacks. Two of those sacks were in the Big Ten Championship Game win over Ohio State in December, and he recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown during Indiana’s victory over Miami in the National Championship Game.
Now he’s back for one more season in Crimson and Cream, ready to revel in the glory Indiana suddenly finds itself basking in while looking forward to earning more.
“I know a lot of those guys went off into the sunset and now are in the pros and kind of ended on the biggest exclamation point I think you can have, but for the guys returning, I think we only see it as a step stool to build off of,” Jones said. “You have a standard you’ve shown the world. You can show the country and all the other teams what you can do, and now it’s time to uphold that reputation and kind of just build off that stepping stone.”
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This season he will move to middle linebacker and wear the green dot on his helmet. That means he’ll be dialed right into defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, a longtime Cignetti confidant who is from Piqua, as the coach makes the call from the booth so Jones can relay it to the rest of the squad.
It’s just the latest evolution in Jones’ career from overlooked recruit to national champion, one he is certainly not taking for granted.
“I’m proud to be part of the Hoosier Nation,” he said. “I’m proud to wear Indiana on my chest. It represents something that no one can ever take away from me. It’s not easy coming and winning your first year type of deal. It’s not that I was this recruit, this star, this hype. It was none of that. It was you had to earn everything, and that’s what we believe as a team.
“Everything’s earned, nothing’s given. If you want something in life, you have to go take it.”
As for Cignetti, those hoping his 15 minutes of fame might end soon probably should give it up. The last of 18 head coaches to speak at Big Ten Media Days, Cignetti slowly strode up the stairs to the stage then seemed to indicate he didn’t really want to be there.
“End of Big Ten Media Days, everybody ready to get out of here and get home? Guess not,” Cignetti said, still seeming a bit road-weary as he eased into an opening statement.
Before long, though, he started to warm up.
Cignetti’s trademark swagger swelled within him as he spoke about his methods, what’s worked at Indiana and his previous coaching stops, what has changed (not much, he says) and what’s to come. To that end, he indicated he’s welcoming the start of preseason practice next week.
Curt Cignetti capped Big Ten Media Days by saying the Big Ten has proven on the field that it is better than the SEC. “We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” he said.
“I’m really excited. I’ve been on vacation long enough. I’m tired of being bossed around by my wife. I’m ready to boss somebody else around and develop a football team,” he said. “It’s all about development, OK? Player development, team development, positional development and developing the intangibles, the mindset and the identity of your football team.”
While the wife line got a few laughs, Cignetti saved the best for last as he answered what he described as “a loaded question” about the “grind” of the Big Ten schedule preparing his team for the College Football Playoff.
“I think your job as the head coach and the assistants is to equip your roster, make it as strong as possible with adequate depth at every position throughout the team,” he said. “When you play that many games you’re going to get some guys dinged and injured, things happen — next-man-up mentality.”
Then he couldn’t resist taking a shot at the SEC, whose commissioner Greg Sankey claimed to be “by far the most competitive, the strongest football league by far” in the spring despite Big Ten teams winning three straight national titles and knocking out SEC squads along the way each time.
“The Big Ten is the best league in football,” Cignetti said. “A lot of really good football teams. It’s hard to win on the road. Very physical football teams, very well-coached. It definitely prepares you for the playoffs. There’s no doubt about that. The numbers speak for themselves.”
Then he couldn’t resist turning the knife, no doubt thinking about the commissioner’s claim of superiority and constant complaints about the process for picking the playoff field.
“We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” Cignetti said. “We believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say we fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. That’s why we’re the best.”
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