Just about any way you measure D’Angelo Ponds’ freshman season at James Madison, it was a rousing success.
The West Park, Fla. based cornerback arrived in Harrisonburg last summer as a solid recruit for the Dukes, but under the national radar.
Ponds was a 3-star prospect out of Chaminade-Madonna Prep H.S. in Miami. He was ranked the 1,563rd best player in the 2023 class according to On3’s average of the national recruiting sites, and just the No. 140 cornerback. His only Power Five offer came from Syracuse.
Indiana has had success with players who had similar recruiting resumes. Micah McFadden and Ty Fryfogle come to mind. But like Ponds, most players with that profile go the Group of Five route — at least initially.
It didn’t take long for Ponds to turn heads in year one. Although he didn’t start right away as a freshman, Curt Cignetti noticed him early on last August.
“He had special qualities when he came in as a freshman in fall camp,” Cignetti said last week of Ponds.
“Great competitor, super intelligent, can really move and play the ball in the air.”
Ponds’ “special qualities” extend beyond the field, as evidenced by his being named this week to the 2024 Lott IMPACT Trophy preseason watch list. The award is the only major college football award that considers character. Named after former NFL Hall of Fame star Ronnie Lott, the Lott Trophy annually goes to the Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year, a player who has had the biggest impact on his team both on and off the field.
But a year ago, Cignetti wasn’t quite right to take a chance with Ponds as a true freshman starter.
“There was some things he had to clean up in terms of technique,” Cignetti said.
After JMU’s pass defense struggled early in the season, Cignetti soon realized Ponds was part of the solution.
In week four of his freshman season, Ponds was inserted into the JMU starting lineup at Utah State.
How’d he do?
Ponds sealed the victory with an interception with 43 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter in a seven-point game.
“It was really a shot in the arm for our entire defense,” Cignetti said of Ponds’ midseason entry into the starting lineup.
As a true freshman in 2023, Ponds appeared in 13 games with 10 starts and was tabbed a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America and was a semifinalist for the Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
He was a second-team All-Sun Belt pick after he posted 13 pass breakups and two interceptions. His 15 passes defended ranked No. 11 in the FBS, and he finished with 51 tackles – 32 solo – to go along with 2.0 sacks.
According to Pro Football Focus, Ponds had the best coverage grade in the nation for a true freshman defensive back.
Going into the spring, Indiana didn’t appear to have major needs at cornerback. But the sudden departure of Kobee Minor, who earned honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition for the Hoosiers in 2023, created a clear void.
In Jamier Johnson, Cedarius Doss, JoJo Johnson, and Jamari Sharpe, the Hoosiers still have experience at corner, but no one really with a proven track record of success at the Power Four level. Ponds still has to prove he can level up as well.
Ponds stands at just 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds, but Cignetti knows this is a cornerback who can make an oversized impact.
He’s seen it.
“He’s a big get,” Cignetti said.
But big or small, in Cignetti’s system, Ponds stands in the same place he did with his head coach a year ago.
“He’s going to have to earn it, nothing is given,” Cignetti said. “That’s the way it’s got to be. There’s got to be competition, that makes everybody better, but I was thrilled we were able to get him.”
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
