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This Indiana football pass rusher feels 'a lot more confident' going into Rose Bowl
LOS ANGELES — If the near-monthlong layoff between the Big Ten championship game and the Rose Bowl created some undue stress for Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti, it undeniably did some of his most important players good.
Perhaps no one more so than Mikail Kamara, last year’s All-American edge whose 2025 has been slowed by injuries and extra offensive attention.
‘It’s good to be in the middle’: How IU football star Mikail Kamara adjusted his mentality during a trying season
LOS ANGELES — Indiana’s first bye week might not appear a notable point in the season from the outside.
But that week off, at the end of September and beginning of October, is when everything changed for Mikail Kamara.
The standout edge entered this year with lofty goals, setting his sights on reaching 20 sacks and setting a new IU single-season record. After leading the Hoosiers with 10 sacks in 2024, aiming for the program record book felt lofty, but attainable.
But things weren’t going according to plan for Kamara. He went into that bye week with two tackles for loss and one sack. The team was off to a great start, with a 5-0 record and ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll ahead of a pivotal game at then-No. 2 Oregon. And Kamara was still making an impact, but not in the way he’d envisioned.
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From FCS to Rose Bowl, Mikail Kamara helped build Indiana’s historic turnaround before there was a blueprint
LOS ANGELES – On June 19, 2019, James Madison’s first-year head coach, Curt Cignetti, earned his first commitment of the 2020 recruiting cycle. A 6-foot, 241-pound defensive end from Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia was eager to play FCS football for the Dukes.
On Jan. 1, 2026, Indiana’s second-year head coach, Curt Cignetti, will coach the No. 1 Hoosiers in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 58 years. A 6-foot-1, 262-pound, All-American defensive end is ready to make an impact up front against Alabama.
“The way that my career was going, I never would have expected to be in the Rose Bowl,” Kamara said at Rose Bowl Media Day on Tuesday. “Making the change and coming to Indiana is when that hope started to become alive again.”
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