Who Will Be Indiana's All-Important No. 3 Option in the Passing Game in 2026?

At a certain point, it felt silly to call Charlie Becker a "No. 3 option" in Indiana's 2025 passing attack. All the guy did in the final seven games of Indiana's national championship run was average 19 yards per catch and 75 receiving yards.

Becker's meteoric rise as one of the nation's most productive receivers after the calendar turned to November is why he projects as a go-to option in IU's passing game in 2026.

Alongside decorated Michigan State transfer Nick Marsh, IU should have a new 1-2 punch in a post-Elijah Sarratt/Omar Cooper Jr. world.

But yes, it's fair to wonder who emerges as the No. 3 guy

Look no further than Becker. Nobody would've told you last August — or even last October — that he was on his way to becoming an essential weapon for a national championship-winning team.

Then, of course, a guy with 6 career catches before Nov. 2025 etched his name into IU lore. One could argue that Becker's emergence was the best way to explain why the 2025 IU offense became so inevitable.

What's unfair is to project that anyone in that No. 3 role will be as clutch as Becker was. He finished the season with more receiving yards on 3rd down (234) than guys like Sarratt (219) and All-American Jeremiah Smith (215).

What is fair to project is that with Becker and Marsh expected to be lined up on the outside, the No. 3 option will either be a primary slot receiver or a tight end.

Tulane transfer Shazz Preston could fill Cooper's role as the starting slot receiver, and not just because he was the No. 56 player overall in the 2022 class when he signed with Nick Saban's Alabama squad.

What's worth noting is that while Preston recorded 723 receiving yards in a breakout season in 2025 — he had 125 of those yards in the Playoff loss at Ole Miss — he's only got 54 career snaps in the slot (via Pro Football Focus).

That's 7.7% of his offensive snaps in four years, the last two of which were at the Group of 5 level.

It remains to be seen what Preston's snap distribution will look like in IU's offense. It also remains to be seen how he'll handle the transition back to Power Conference defenses. He only has 12 career catches against those units.

Again, that's not to say that Preston can't become that type of weapon for new quarterback Josh Hoover. It just might not be as inevitable as some might assume.

Could Tyler Morris be a more natural fit in that role?

It was easy to forget that 14 months ago, Michigan transfer Tyler Morris was expected to have a significant role for IU before he suffered a season-ending knee injury last spring.

Unlike Preston, Morris has both experience against Power Conference defenses and experience operating out of the slot. Morris played 368 snaps in the slot over the course of three seasons at Michigan.

Like Preston, Morris also already has Playoff experience. Even better, he showed off head-turning speed in the Rose Bowl in Michigan's 2023 national championship run.

Yeah, that'll play.

Of course, the last time that Morris was on the field in live action, Michigan planted its flag at the Horseshoe and Ohio State fans wanted Ryan Day fired. Much has changed since that day, both for Morris and the Big Ten as a whole.

IU might have 41 receiving touchdowns worth of production gone from its 2025 squad, but it now has pass-catching options galore who could fuel the next Big Ten or National Championship.

t's a luxury to say the top two candidates to be the No. 3 option are both guys who already shone on the Playoff stage.

Or perhaps one of IU's promising second-year guys will break out

Lebron Bond played 108 snaps as a 5-9 true freshman, and he caught Curt Cignetti's eye in spring. Davion Chandler also was highlighted in spring after he got an opportunity because Becker tweaked his hamstring.

Those guys might not have had earth-shattering seasons as true freshmen, but both got to reap the benefits of IU winning 10 games by at least 24 points. Don't discount the value of those reps.

Who knows? Maybe Miami tight end transfer Brock Schott, who missed spring ball with a torn labrum, will build on his freakish feats and become the top red-zone threat in his return to the Hoosier State.

None of those guys would feel like a surprise if they became the No. 3 option in the passing game. It's safe to say that any one of them recording breakout seasons in 2026 would come as less of a surprise than Becker's.

The opportunity is there for the taking.

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