How Indiana Could Reshuffle the Line with Joe Brunner Out
Sammy Jacobs
Host · Writer
The big news out of the Indiana football program in the last 24 hours has been the fact that starting right guard Joe Brunner has been ruled out for Indiana’s game against the No. 18 USC Trojans. Brunner, a transfer from Wisconsin, had started all nine games at right guard for the Hoosiers. There are plenty of options that IU can turn to in order to fill his role.
What Indiana Loses in Brunner
Brunner came over to Indiana after being a two-year starter at Wisconsin. He has played right guard, starting all nine games there for the Hoosiers this season. However, the right side of Indiana’s line has not been without its problems. Early in fall camp the coaching staff was planning on playing Brunner at right tackle while moving Adedamola Ajani in to guard. That plan was abandoned just over a week into camp for whatever reason.
According to HUDLIQ‘s radar graph on Brunner he has struggled in 2026, especially in the run game. Brunner is below the average Big Ten right guard in running back success when he is the primary blocker and yards per carry when running behind him. However, he is above average in every other category.
He only allowed sacks on 0.2% of plays when he is the primary blocker and has a pass block win percentage of 73.6% (league average is 69.1%).
Indiana’s Options to Fill Brunner’s Shoes
The Hoosiers actually have several options to fill in for Brunner, some of them may require some reshuffling along the offensive line.
Plug Austin Leibfried In
This may be the simplest move for the Hoosiers to make. Leibfried has been the sixth offensive lineman for IU and has taken a total of 53 snaps this season. He has snaps at center (22), tight end (15), left guard (6), right guard (3) and right tackle (1). Clearly they trust him to play all over the line and that has occurred when IU has gone with their heavy package.
It is a very small sample size, but Leibfried has been IU’s best reserve offensive lineman and it would be easy just to plug him in at right guard.
Move Bray Lynch Back to Right Guard and Leibfried to Center
This involves a little biut more risk as IU would have to rely on Leibfried to be able to take over the line call duties for Lynch. However, he has worked at center as the backup all year and got plenty of reps in the spring while Lynch worked his way back from an injury. By all accounts, Lynch has been fine at center, but he did well at guard last season. This may be overcomplicating things, but it is an option.
Slide Ajani to Guard Play Leibfried at Guard
Another option is to move Ajani into guard, where IU was experimenting with him in fall camp. He has struggled at times at tackle and Leibfried may give IU a better performance at tackle and Ajani could be fine at guard. It is unknown why the fall camp experiment failed, but it could have been because Brunner was not a good fit at tackle, instead of Ajani not being a fit at guard.
Plug in Sam Simpon
True freshman Sam Simpson is technically the backup right guard. He has 23 snaps there this year and has been with the second team when they are on the field. However, he has not seen the field since the beginning of October.
What Will IU Choose?
Most of the signs point to Leibfried just being a plug-and-play at right guard. It has the least moving parts and he has been the best and most trusted of the reserve linemen. Indiana will try and get their five best lineman on the field in whatever combination that OL coach Bob Bostad and head coach Curt Cignetti think give the Hoosiers the best chance to win going forward.
