Byron Baldwin wasn’t expecting his sudden rating increase.
The class of 2025 defensive back was rated a three-star prospect by Rivals when he committed to Indiana football in April. 247Sports didn’t have him in its rankings. That changed in May, after Baldwin excelled at the Under Armour Next Camp and caught scouts’ eyes. 247Sports not only added him to the list, but bumped him up to a four-star recruit.
Baldwin also plays running back at St. Frances (Md.) Academy, and he told The Daily Hoosier he always thought he’d get his fourth star when people saw what he could do on offense. So it meant a lot to him to achieve that rating purely for his defensive abilities.
“I felt like people seeing me attack the ball, people seeing me bag people, people seeing me run good routes, I thought that was going to get me my fourth star,” Baldwin said. “So me getting that fourth star from me just perfecting that DB (technique) of my press, my edge, my kick, my everything, it just realized that there’s so much more in store for me than what I could really imagine.”
Baldwin attributed his rising stock and overall success to his football beginnings.
The Baltimore-area product started playing the sport at age six, but started his journey in an unusual way. He spent his first season playing safety — while also playing center.
It wasn’t size that landed Baldwin on offensive line. His coach put him at center because he was the only person on the team who knew how to snap the ball, and he was strong enough to block opponents despite being skinny. It lasted only one season, as he moved to running back the next year.
That experience wasn’t easy for Baldwin, but it taught him a valuable lesson.
“My first year, I used to always ask my father, like, ‘Pop, can you tell them to give me the ball? I want to run the ball.’ He’d say, ‘Man, let the coaches coach. They’re going to put you where you need to be at and they’re going to give you the ball if you need to get the ball. Just let them put you in the position that you think you need to be at,'” Baldwin said. “It built the foundation of what I have now of just working, not really asking for things, but just letting your abilities get noticed when the time is right.”
Baldwin, now sizing up at 6-foot-1.5 and 190 pounds, fit in at safety immediately because of his speed. He was drawn to the position because he likes chasing down opponents and tackling them. He said playing safety was simple when he started out — the sole objective was to tackle the player with the ball.
As he grew up, he got more in-depth with the position, its techniques, and the various strategies involved. Baldwin compared his game to NFL star Jalen Ramsey’s 2015 season at Florida State, when he was a consensus All-American at safety.
“Jalen Ramsey, he was in the box that year, so he was making tackles, he had blitzes, but he was also covering guys as well and strapping guys up and making great plays on the ball. That’s where I think my game models itself after,” Baldwin said. “My mindset is, if anybody has to ever throw the ball towards my side or in my vicinity, it’s not going to be a good day at all, for them.”
Baldwin is coming off a strong junior year at St. Frances, with 89 tackles, 4 pass breakups, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles, per 247Sports. He also competes in track and field — mostly in triple jump, with a personal record of 40 feet last year — and he said that’s helped him improve his running and jumping ability on the football field.
Entering his senior year, Baldwin feels he has a versatile skill set. He’s confident in his ability to cover anybody, make open-field tackles, and set the edge at the line of scrimmage. He mainly wants to sharpen his technique at safety even further this coming year, specifically making the most of his speed. He knows he won’t be able to rely on pure athleticism when he moves up to college football.
But it’s become tricky for him to balance that, mentally, while also just wanting to win games and beat the opponents in front of him.
“It exhausts me more now, knowing that I’m not going against the best of the best, because I have to adjust to it,” Baldwin said. “I feel like when I get to college and I go against the quarterback that throws the ball on time, receivers that really can break on their routes, I feel like it takes more technique than it does athleticism. So right now, I’ve been having to use more athleticism because everybody’s technique isn’t there. But I feel like when I get to the next level and everybody’s technique is there when I can use more of my technique, I can pick and choose and minimize the athleticism that I can use and I can exert less energy by using just my technique.”
Baldwin is now the highest-ranked player in IU’s class of 2025, and he’s one of two safeties in the group.
He chose the Hoosiers over several other Power Four offers, including from Big Ten foes Minnesota, Rutgers, and Wisconsin, both because he felt Indiana was his best on-field opportunity and because of the relationships he’d established with the coaching staff. IU head coach Curt Cignetti offered Baldwin a scholarship when he was still at James Madison, and the safety developed a strong bond with IU safeties coach Ola Adams while the Hoosiers recruited him.
Baldwin made clear that he’s giving IU a player who’s ready to grind and ready to excel.
“I’m really dedicated and my heart is really into Indiana,” Baldwin said. “They’re getting somebody that’s fully dedicated, that’s 100 percent in, that’s just ready to work, that’s ready to adapt, that’s ready to chase, that’s ready to get better, that’s really ready to win and make everybody around me great, really. That’s the type of player they’re getting.”
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