Indiana football was looking for a versatile and proven RB in the portal. Enter Roman Hemby, who ‘fits the bill’ for what IU was targeting

A major strength for the Indiana football program in 2024 entered the offseason as a major weakness. The running back room that was one of the top in the Big Ten and the country was losing its top two rushers, and would be returning just one player at the position. But, Indiana didn’t waste any time when digging into the transfer portal to land a proven and experienced Big Ten running back.

When Roman Hemby entered the portal after four successful seasons at Maryland, he was immediately one of the top players at his position. Indiana had the role for him available, and more importantly, he had the perfect skillset that IU was looking for.

Hemby combined for 2,347 yards across four years with 22 touchdowns and a 4.9 yard per carry average with the Terrapins. He also had nearly 1,000 yards receiving and five touchdowns throughout his career. And, Indiana saw that diverse skillset on full display earlier this season.

Hemby was one of just three 100+ yard rushers on the season against IU, going for 117 yards and a touchdown while adding five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.

“Yeah, I was impressed with his game against us here in the fall and obviously been watching tape of him for a while,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said last month. “He’s got a lot of experience. Got a lot of career total yards, whether it’s rushing or receiving.”

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Hemby had 134 carries for 607 yards and six touchdowns this season — his lowest usage rate of his career. He also caught 40 passes for 273 yards and one touchdown. In 2023, Hemby ran for 680 yards and had four touchdowns, adding 349 receiving yards on 38 catches, earning All-Big Ten honorable mention.

His best season came in 2022, however, when he had 989 yards and averaged 5.3 yards per carry — both career highs. He also had 298 receiving yards on 33 receptions.

In is career, Hemby has 14 carries of 20+ yards and 19 receptions of 15+ yards. While Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton were steady and explosive with the ball in their hands out of the backfield, they weren’t heavily involved as pass catchers — with just 25 receptions combined between the two. Neither had more than 19 receptions in a season, while Ellison didn’t reach 100 yards in a season through the air.

So that dual-threat ability from Hemby is what stood out for the IU coaches and made him a top priority — ranking among the top running backs in the FBS in receptions each of the last two seasons, and with 22 games in his career (52.4 percent) with at least three receptions.

“Kind of fits the bill what we look for because our backs do catch a number of passes also,” Cignetti said. ” … And we lost our top two guys. So he was a perfect fit for what we were looking for.”

Despite an up-and-down past three years, and production not reaching the peak that it did during his freshman campaign, the reviews from inside the Maryland locker room speak volumes for the type of player he can be for Indiana football.

“Tremendous vision, speed, catches the ball well out of the backfield,” Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said this year. “… The value that Roman Hemby has contributed to this program, you can’t put a tag, a price tag on it. So I hate that maybe he’s looked at that, he didn’t have a great year this year. But if you look at what he’s done for us in a tough year, he’s worth everything that he’s earned here.”

SEE ALSO: With ‘blue bloods knocking at the door’, Curt Cignetti made sure IU football retained its most important piece of the puzzle this offseason — Bryant Haines

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