![\"Indiana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28041992-1024x682.jpg\")
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D’Angelo Ponds was a star at cornerback during Indiana’s championship season after following Curt Cignetti from James Madison. James Lang \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n
April 24, 2026Updated 8:39 pm EDT<\/p>\n
The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n The New York Jets made Indiana cornerback D\u2019Angelo Ponds the 50th pick of the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n A classic boundary corner in Bryant Haines\u2019 Indiana scheme, Ponds thrived in man coverage, leading his team in passes defended in three collegiate seasons. He followed Curt Cignetti from James Madison after Ponds earned freshman All-America honors in 2023. He was named first-team All-Big Ten in both of his seasons with the Hoosiers, scoring four touchdowns on two interception returns and two punt-block returns in his career.<\/p>\n A second-team All-American by the AP in his final year, Ponds was named defensive MVP of the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal against Alabama. He repeated the feat in the Peach Bowl semifinal against Oregon after taking the first play from scrimmage for a pick-six. In the College Football Playoff championship game against Miami, Ponds set a championship game record with three passes defended as the Hoosiers completed a 16-0 run on their way to a 27-21 win.<\/p>\n \u2018The Beast\u2019 breakdown<\/p>\n Ponds ranked No. 21 on Dane Brugler\u2019s top 300 big board<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Brugler said about Ponds in his annual NFL Draft guide<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cEver since pee-wee, Ponds has been the smallest player on the field, which places a permanent chip on his shoulder and sharpened his skills in other areas. With quick-twitch footwork and body control, he has the cover talent to play tight in man-to-man or bait and drive from depth. He does a great job staying in phase and creating on-ball production at the catch point. He plays with a confident swagger, though bigger athletes will have an unquestioned advantage on him.\u201d<\/p>\n Coaching intel<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what a head coach who faced Indiana in the first half of last season said in Bruce Feldman\u2019s mock draft<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cOh man, he\u2019s such a good player. We tried him because he\u2019s a smaller guy. We threw a \u2018go-ball\u2019 on him and he played it perfectly. He was physical. He\u2019s really athletic. Got in phase and just kept making plays. He\u2019s very competitive, very tough. He tackles. He blitzes. He\u2019s very instinctual. Plays zone, plays man. He\u2019s an awesome player.\u201d<\/p>\n Nick Baumgardner grades the pick<\/p>\n Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets just drafted another Aaron Glenn. Ponds is a small corner who, like his new head coach, plays like a man twice his own size \u2014 with a boulder on his shoulder the size of New Jersey. This is a tremendous fit and very good value. Grade: A<\/a><\/p>\n Come back later for more analysis of Ponds.<\/p>\n Apr 25, 2026<\/p>\n Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"D’Angelo Ponds was a star at cornerback during Indiana’s championship season after following Curt Cignetti from James Madison.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[23771,9,24,55,54,430,22,56],"class_list":["post-209048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n