From Derrick Henry comparisons to defensive dominance, Stephen Daley's moment has arrived at Indiana

Back home in Winchester, Virginia, the kids used to joke that Stephen Daley was their version of Derrick Henry. The comparison made him laugh — it still does — but it said everything about the kind of athlete he was.

Now, years later, Indiana isn’t joking. The undefeated Hoosiers are 7-0, and with starting defensive end Kellan Wyatt sidelined by what head coach Curt Cignetti called a “long-term injury” on Monday, they’re turning to the man once mistaken, at least in spirit, for the NFL’s bulldozing superstar.

“The kids in the area just kind of compared me to Derrick Henry,” Daley said Tuesday. “It was kind of funny.”

Daley doesn’t carry the ball anymore — although he did line up at fullback for one snap in Indiana’s road win over Oregon.

“He’s a tremendous athlete and once he learned the defense — he’s really making fast progress,” Cignetti said. “He has size, strength, speed, suddenness. He plays hard. He was our player of the game on defense last week [against Michigan State]. He’ll take on even more of a role now.”

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At 6-foot-1 and 273 pounds, Daley looks every bit of a Big Ten defensive end. But back in Winchester, he was something altogether different: a two-way force who filled every column on the stat sheet and every role on the field across multiple different sports.

He holds John Handley High School’s records for career sacks and single-game rushing yards. He was a four-year member of the track team, an All-State selection on both sides of the football and a sprinter and thrower who could outpace receivers and outmuscle linemen — often in the same meet.

During his junior and senior years, Daley qualified for the Virginia state track championships in both the 100-meter dash and the 4×100-meter relay, as well as discus — an absurd combination for someone who weighed over 230 pounds at the time. He finished third in the 100 as a junior and seventh as a senior, running against athletes half his size.

“When you’re at a state track meet, I’m like the only person doing that,” Daley said.

He was everywhere: the basketball court, the track oval, the football field. But football was where it all fused. As a senior, Daley rushed for 1,786 yards and 25 touchdowns, averaging 10.1 yards per carry, while totaling 84 tackles, 14 sacks and five forced fumbles on defense. He broke Handley’s career sack record as a junior and its single-game rushing record as a senior with 334 yards.

As a freshman, he lined up at tight end. As a sophomore, wide receiver. As a junior, fullback. Finally, as a senior, he became the featured running back and the team’s defensive cornerstone. Through it all, one thing never changed — he played both ways, every game.

But when it came time to choose a college path, Daley knew exactly which side of the ball he wanted to live on.

“I feel like offense — nothing against it — but only one person has a chance to really make a play — the person getting the ball and the quarterback,” Daley said. “But defense, everybody gets a shot. Anybody can make a play.”

That perspective defines him now. At Indiana, Daley plays exclusively as a defensive end — a role that’s allowed him to focus all that natural explosion, balance and strength into one purpose. Through seven games this season, he’s produced seven tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks, including two against Michigan State last weekend.

“The second we line up, I’m not thinking as much,” Daley said of how he’s progressed throughout the season. “It allows me to play a lot faster and free.”

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Daley’s rise has been years in the making. His connection with Cignetti stretches back to when the coach was leading James Madison — about an hour from Winchester. As a freshman at Handley, Daley was already pushing 6-feet and 200 pounds when JMU began recruiting one of his older teammates. Even then, the coaching staff noticed him.

Cignetti and his assistants eventually offered Daley a scholarship while at JMU, but Daley chose to begin his college career at Kent State. When he entered the transfer portal after the 2024 season, the familiarity made Indiana an easy choice.

Before his arrival in Bloomington, Daley’s high school career had ended not on a football field but on a track in Lynchburg, Virginia, at the 2022 state championships. He was the anchor leg of Handley’s 4×100-meter relay, waiting for a baton that never arrived — dropped between the first and second exchanges, disqualifying the team before Daley could take off.

It was a quiet, abrupt end to a remarkable athletic career in high school. But the next chapter of Daley’s athletic career has been anything but quiet.

Indiana’s defense is among the nation’s best in total defense, scoring defense, sacks and tackles for loss. It’s an aggressive, physical group, and Daley has found his place right in the middle of it.

“Getting after the offense, making [sure] we’re controlling the terms, getting them off schedule,” Daley said, “it’s definitely been fun to play in this defense.”

From Winchester’s all-purpose phenomenon to Indiana’s rising defensive weapon, Daley has always found ways to stand out — whether he’s carrying the ball, the baton or getting after opposing quarterbacks.

Now, with the Hoosiers chasing something special and Wyatt sidelined for the foreseeable future, Daley’s job is simple: make life miserable for everyone on the other side of the line.

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