BLOOMINGTON – Based on social media check-ins, Curt Cignetti’s been pulling some long nights and early mornings in his office since taking the IU job earlier this month.

Cignetti inherited a roster bleeding bodies, as more Hoosiers hit the transfer portal in the wake of Indiana’s coaching change. Between retentions, steady high school recruitment and a few head-turning transfers, Cignetti managed to pull the bones of a roster back together by Wednesday’s signing day.

While no roster is ever completely settled, let’s look at some themes emerging from Cignetti’s work thus far, with signing day upon us.

IU signing day tracker: Curt Cignetti builds 2024 class on the fly

Doyel: Cignetti flipping everything IU's way: recruits, narratives, hope

QB options, short- and long-term

With Dexter Williams and Brendan Sorsby bound for the portal, Cignetti took up a quarterback room young on paper and short on bodies. He remedied both swiftly.

Indiana took Ohio QB transfer Kurtis Rourke earlier this month. A prolific passer when healthy, Rourke finished his career in Athens with 7,666 yards, 50 touchdowns and just 16 interceptions, completing 66.3% of his passes. The bulk of that production came across the past three seasons.

Then, Cignetti turned his attention to 2024, bringing in former James Madison commit Alberto Mendoza from Miami Columbus, and added four-star quarterback Tyler Cherry — once a Duke commit — from Center Grove.

What Cherry's pledge means: 'Keeping this guy home is a pretty big deal.'

In Rourke, Cignetti and his staff have a sixth-year super senior with the proven track record to earn a starting role right away. With just one year of eligibility remaining, Rourke can provide a bridge to the future, as Cignetti and his staff work through a fistful of younger options, including Cherry, Mendoza and returners Broc Lowry (redshirt freshman) and Tayven Jackson (redshirt sophomore).

For both health and performance reasons, quarterback has been a frustration for IU in recent years. Cignetti appears to have given himself enough depth to avoid that in 2024.

Productive wide receivers

The headline skill player announcement of this portal cycle will likely be Donaven McCulley’s decision to return for his senior year. But Cignetti and co. haven’t been shy about upgrading the position with established veterans as well.

Thanks to a flurry of commitments Monday night in particular, Indiana will revamp its receiver room with a fistful of experienced wideouts with this week’s signings as well.

Insider: What Donaven McCulley's return from the portal means

In terms of career production, Wake Forest’s Ke’Shawn Williams (1,385 yards, five touchdowns), Texas Tech’s Myles Price (1,751 yards, 10 touchdowns) and Ohio’s Miles Cross (1,301 yards, eight touchdowns) provide Indiana with both depth and proven production, for a wide receiver group still long on potential but short on snaps.

Cross also brings familiarity and chemistry with Rourke.

Together with McCulley, E.J. Williams, Omar Cooper, Kamryn Perry and a handful of others, this transfer trio rounds out a receiver group that exited the coaching search a position of serious need. And Cignetti might not be done yet.

Key retentions

Arguably some of Cignetti’s best work has been in keeping the small handful of players already on his roster from exiting via the portal.

McCulley was a major win, particularly in terms of competition. Optimism over McCulley returning for his senior year dropped when the likes of Michigan, Penn State and Texas A&M got involved in his transfer recruitment. Yet Cignetti was able to convince the All-Big Ten wideout to give Indiana his last year of eligibility, McCulley announcing last Friday he planned to withdraw from the portal and stay in Bloomington.

He was soon joined by Trent Howland, a running back who, like McCulley, came on strong toward the end of last season. Howland initially announced his commitment to Minnesota, before electing instead to come back to Indiana.

And before either of them, both Jordan Grier and Carter Smith elected to withdraw and remain with the Hoosiers as well. Grier hands Cignetti badly needed experience at the back end of the secondary, and Smith anchors the Hoosiers’ offensive line from left tackle for another year.

Familiarity

Cignetti wasted little time putting some old evaluations back on the table, flipping five former James Madison commits (Mendoza, DL Mario Landino, ATH Jah Jah Boyd, EDGE Daniel Ndukwe and DB Dontrae Henderson) across the 2 1/2 weeks following his hiring.

He followed that by landing a JMU transfer, DL/EDGE Mikail Kamara, who posted 17 ½ tackles for loss and 6 ½ sacks last season in Harrisonburg, as a redshirt sophomore.

JMU running back Ty Son Lawton was among the signees unveiled Wednesday. A redshirt senior, who started his college career at Stony Brook, Lawton rushed for 568 yards and five touchdowns for the Dukes last season.

Cignetti and his staff — itself built with a heavy bend toward his time at James Madison — have appeared to be at least somewhat choosy about the players they bring with them. Only a handful of the Dukes’ 2024 commits landed Indiana offers after the coaching change.

And it’s worth pointing out, with this portal window set to run into January, there could be more transition. James Madison plays in the Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday. Cignetti recently suggested the Hoosiers have a number of silent commits who are waiting until after their bowl games with their current schools to announce their intention to transfer to IU.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football recruiting: Curt Cignetti class has heavy JMU flavor