- Daley's 19 tackles for loss in 2025 led the Big Ten and ranked third nationally.
- A knee injury kept him out of all three College Football Playoff wins, leaving Dec. 6 as his last snap.
- The eligibility order sends returning players back to their 2025 schools, and the NCAA says it will appeal.
- Indiana is +250 to win the Big Ten and +900 to win the national title.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana defensive lineman Stephen Daley will play a fifth college season for the defending national champion, ESPN reported Tuesday, a day before the Hoosiers opened fall camp. Daley led the Big Ten with 19 tackles for loss in 2025, third-most in the country.
Half His Tackles Came Behind The Line
Daley made 38 tackles in 13 games last season, and 19 of them came behind the line of scrimmage, the number that carries the most weight at his position. Ten tackles for loss is a strong season for a college defensive lineman. Daley's 19 led the Big Ten, ranked third nationally and accounted for roughly one in seven of the 129 tackles for loss Indiana produced across a 16-game season.
He also recorded 5.5 sacks for 46 yards, two forced fumbles and five quarterback hurries, starting six of the 13 games.
Once teammate Kellan Wyatt's season ended after seven games, Daley's production climbed. He had 2.5 tackles for loss at Penn State, three against Wisconsin and 4.5 at Purdue, 10 across his last three regular-season games. He added a 14-yard sack in the 13-10 Big Ten championship win over Ohio State.
A knee injury he suffered celebrating after that game kept Daley out of all three College Football Playoff wins, leaving Dec. 6 as the last date on his game log. Indiana still finished 16-0. The defense allowed 11.7 points a game on the season, 10.8 in the 13 games Daley played and 15.3 in the three he missed.
The Order Sends Players Back, And The NCAA Will Appeal
Daley's fifth year comes out of the class-wide preliminary injunction U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney granted in Colorado, an order that narrowed fifth-year eligibility as CFB camps opened by opening no transfer window, leaving the bar on players who have signed professional contracts intact and counting every returnee against football's 105-man roster limit.
Daley fits inside all three. He goes back to the program he finished 2025 with, and Indiana has the roster spot. Not every name that surfaced over the weekend has that path, and a former Pittsburgh running back the Buffalo Bills had already signed and released runs straight into the pro-contract bar. The NCAA says it will appeal on an expedited basis, which leaves the roster spot provisional until a higher court rules.
The Board Has Indiana Second In Its Own League
| Team | Big Ten winner | National title |
|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | +190 | +600 |
| Indiana | +250 | +900 |
| Oregon | +275 | +800 |
Indiana's +900 title price pays $900 on a $100 winner and implies about 10 percent. The +250 Big Ten number implies about 28.6 percent. Their odds show that Indiana has enough to repeat as national champions and will contend with the top of the conference.
The college football futures board has priced it this way all summer, keeping the defending champion behind a team it beat by three points in December. One returning lineman does not reprice the top of a conference market, because a season-long number already carries 12 games nobody has played.
A healthy Daley registers faster in the weekly college football props markets, where a front generating tackles for loss at his rate presses on team totals, rushing lines and quarterback numbers.
Indiana opens the season Sept. 5 against North Texas in Bloomington and plays Ohio State there Oct. 17. The Big Ten championship game is Dec. 5 in Indianapolis.
