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By Cameron Kiszla
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The defending national champions are getting one of their top defenders back for a fifth collegiate season.
Defensive lineman Stephen Daley of the Indiana Hoosiers is returning to Bloomington after leading the Big Ten with 19 tackles for loss in 2025.
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Daley, who hurt his knee and missed the College Football Playoff, wasn't signed by an NFL team due to that injury, reports Pete Thamel of ESPN.
What Stephen Daley Brings Back to the Hoosiers
Daley played his first three seasons for Kent State in the Mid-American Conference, but in the Big Ten with Indiana, he truly made an impact.
Daley 19 tackles for loss were big — putting him at third nationally — but so, too, was the timing of them, as many came down the stretch of the regular season.
He had 2.5 TFLs in that pivotal last-second win at Penn State, three against Wisconsin and 4.5 against archrival Purdue.
He then followed that up with another TFL against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. It was in the celebrations of that conference title that Daley sustained the knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season.
He later revealed to Robert Niedzwiecki of his hometown newspaper, The Winchester Star, that he sustained a torn patellar tendon and didn't expect to be at full strength until August or September.
Daley also had a sack apiece against Purdue and Ohio State, bringing him to 5.5 sacks on the season and ultimately earning honorable-mention all-conference honors.
His return means he'll "boost an already deep and talented defensive group up front for the defending national champions," writes Jake Trotter of ESPN.
Christopher Kamrani of The Athletic detailed that "defensive tackles Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino return as anchors inside, while the Hoosiers also added Kansas State edge transfer Tobi Osunsanmi from the transfer portal."
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