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Indiana OL Bray Lynch dealt with 'loose bodies' in ankle in 2025, now healthy and ready for senior season

headshotby: Alec Lasley04/21/26allasley

Indiana‘s offensive line was once the weakness of the roster but after three years under Bob Bostad, IU’s offensive line coach, paired with the new staff under Curt Cignetti, it has turned into one of the best units in all of college football.

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One of the backbones of the group has been Bray Lynch. Lynch, entering his redshirt senior year, has appeared in 38 career games with 29 starts — including all 16 games last year. He cemented his role as starting right guard as a sophomore when he started 13 games and helped the Indiana offensive line be semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, the nation’s top offensive line.

Last year he helped Indiana to a top-25 pass blocking line and the No. 3 run blocking line in the country, as well as Joe Moore Award finalists.

But, it wasn’t without some cause for concern. In the fall, he dealt with ankle pain which continuously got worse as the season came closer. So, instead of risking missing time, he held out until the offseason to work on it.

“Yeah, it happened early on in fall camp, but I had some loose bodies in my ankle,” Lynch said on Tuesday. “And I didn’t wanna do anything with it during the season because I’d miss too much time, so waited until the end of the year.”

While he gutted it out, it was something that clearly impacted his play. In 2024, Lynch had a Pro Football Focus grade of 69.0, giving up just 10 pressures. This past season, his grade dropped to 62.4 and gave up 16 pressures.

With Indiana’s 16-game season, his snap count went from 830 in 2024, to 993 in 2025. Despite all of that, his consistency in the lineup was pivotal all year long. And, no excuses were made for any slip in play.

“I will say one thing that definitely helps is adrenaline,” Lynch said. “I mean, you can’t, you don’t feel that much when you’re in the middle of war, going against another team with really good players on the other end of it.

“I wouldn’t say that it limited me in any way. I mean, it’s just a part of the game, it’s part of football. You’re gonna hurt, you’re gonna get banged up, but it’s next play mentality, like coach said and preaches.”

Now Lynch is part of an offensive line returning Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year Carter Smith and another veteran starter in Drew Evans. It also returns a part-time starter Adedamola Ajani and adds veteran Joe Brunner from Wisconsin.

While the core is intact, it’ll be the third center on the line in the past three seasons, as well as the third quarterback in three years.

Now healthy, Lynch is excited about his potential — and that of this offensive line.

“Sky’s the limit, truly,” he said. “We got a ton of experience, and we got some young players, and we got some players ready to fit into a new role. We have a great group of guys, all great families, great head on their shoulders. We got a smart group, and we’re starting to finally build all that chemistry together. It’s taking a little bit, but that just happens with time. But super excited to see this group get after it.”

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