Indiana football's Aiden Fisher shifts focus to achieving NFL dreams
· Yahoo Sports
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football linebacker Aiden Fisher can cross another childhood dream of his list.
Fisher, who helped IU win a national title as the first Hoosiers defender to earn multiple first-team All-America nods, is spending the week in Indianapolis at the NFL combine.
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"I used to dream about days like today, and this week," Fisher said on Wednesday. "It's a surreal experience. About a week ago, we were talking about travel plans and you got to go the combine is when it really set it. I used to dream and pray about being in this position, so I'd be a fool not to sit down and smell the roses a little bit."
That was something Fisher struggled with during Indiana's historic undefeated season as he kept a regimented daily routine that centered around preparing for his team's next opponent. He admitted it was "weird" getting back to Bloomington after beating Miami and not diving right into film study.
"I remember talking to Pat Coogan, Riley Nowakowski and Fernando, the game ends, we get back on the following day and we have nothing to prepare for anymore," Fisher said. "I think we just played together for so long, we were so excited to do it."
Before traveling to different destinations to train for the combine, the group spent about a week together just hanging out.
"We watched the (national title) game a couple times, just kind of sat back and relived the memories," Fisher said. "It will be a week I'll remember for the rest of my life."
Why Indiana football linebacker Aiden Fisher won't do testing at the NFL combine
Most players arriving at the NFL combine spent the better part of two months training for the event, but that isn't the case for the record number of Hoosiers who received invites. Their season didn't end until Jan. 20 and most of them didn't leave Bloomington until the following week after attending the team's championship celebration at Memorial Stadium.
Fisher had accepted an invite to the Shrine Bowl — one of the major collegiate all-star games — but ended up backing out.
"There was a solid little regen, a health period where I just had to get my body and legs back under me," Fisher said. "A season like that where you are getting beat up a lot, playing physical teams in the playoffs, it took me about a week or two to get my body back healthy, to get running again."
While the many NFL combine drills testing speed, agility and strength are important, the last thing he wanted to do was risk an injury preparing for the event. He gave himself the time he needed to recovery and decided to hold off on doing the testing until IU's pro day in April.
"I think that's the difference, right now, you aren't really training for football," Fisher said. "You are training to run fast, you need to be at your best every day, especially with your health. For me, there was no reason to rush this thing, especially with our pro day as late as it is."
The combine will still give him a chance to meet with NFL personnel from across the league and he will still participate in the positional drills at Lucas Oil Stadium
"I think it's been widely accepted with the season as late as it was, it's not that big of a problem," Fisher said of skipping the testing.
Indiana football's Aiden Fisher is a projected Day 3 draft pick
Fisher is currently predicted to be a Day 3 draft pick in this year's NFL Draft. Per the NFL Mock Draft database, he's projected to go in the sixth round (No. 182 overall).
When asked what he would bring to an NFL roster, Fisher pointed to his versatility.
"A lot of my game is built off quick read, instincts, for me being able to stop the run is something I pride myself on," Fisher said. "I think I've done a good job of that and my pass coverage has taken huge leaps every year. For me, just being able to do it all and not be a one-dimensional linebacker."
Fisher, who finished the 2025 season with 97 tackles with 10.5 for a loss and 4.5 sacks, touted the strides he made playing for Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines. He was a three-year starter for Haines going back to their time at JMU and wore the green-dot helmet each of the last two seasons for the Hoosiers.
He's confident that their time together will allow him be able to pick the playbook wherever he lands.
"As a high school kid, scheme to me was there's the ball I'm going to get it," Fisher said with a laugh. "Getting to JMU where it was a complex system where you had to learn a lot, my freshman year was definitely a challenge for me, just trying to get a grasp of the playbook. The way that he's able to implement a system, teach it to you, but also teach you the ins and outs of football along the way, it was never that we're just going to learn our system. We were going to learn other people's system, we are going to learn offense and football as a whole. That's done amazing things for my development."
Fisher also pointed to the time he spent playing in the Group of Five at JMU for making him a more well-rounded player.
"I think in the Group of Five you see a lot more exotic stuff, a lot of teams will do a crazy things," Fisher said. "I was able to see a lot of hard things schematically."
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: How Indiana football's Aiden Fisher turned the page on grueling 2025 season