Coach Tom Allen Previews Indiana vs Louisville Game
Coach Tom Allen Previews Indiana vs Louisville Game
Transcript
00:00 There you go.
00:01 Hey, Coach, how's it going?
00:02 I'm good, Matt. Doing great.
00:05 I wanted to ask you, on Monday,
00:06 Taven talked about going through the competition,
00:08 and, you know, obviously there was a lot of pressure,
00:10 a lot of stress as he was going through it.
00:12 I just was curious about what you've seen
00:14 from his demeanor this week now that he's the guy.
00:16 Do you see maybe a more kind of relaxed,
00:18 more at ease, more confident guy out on the practice field?
00:22 Yeah, I think so, and I think there's no question.
00:24 I mean, there were points and times, I think,
00:25 with both guys that you could see
00:28 the pressure of it during fall camp,
00:31 kind of getting to him a little bit,
00:32 so I just think just to have that process completed,
00:35 I think, helps you feel more comfortable,
00:38 at practice, probably more than anything.
00:40 He's appeared comfortable during games,
00:42 I think, the first two,
00:43 but I just think that it's probably a lot harder
00:46 on the players than most people realize, you know,
00:49 and so I think it's an important part of maturing
00:53 and growing as a quarterback,
00:54 and then learning how to handle pressure
00:56 because you're going to have a lot of it applied to you
00:58 at this position, you know,
00:59 throughout the whole course of the season,
01:00 so, but, yeah, I think, you know,
01:02 once the decision's made and you get through that
01:04 and you know that this is your role now,
01:07 for both guys in a lot of ways, too,
01:09 so, but especially for him to be able to just to know
01:12 that, hey, this is -- you're the guy,
01:14 and go lead and go be your best every day in practice.
01:18 Zach, on Todd?
01:21 All right, I suspect I may know the answer to this,
01:24 but I guess I was hoping to try
01:26 and get a little bit out of you on Cam Kemper,
01:29 at least -- at the very least, you know,
01:30 I think we saw him kind of on the sideline,
01:32 no helmet, but still in pads, Saturday after he came out.
01:36 Is it fair to assume there's not a concern
01:38 about kind of reinjuring the knee,
01:40 or is there anything more on that?
01:44 Yeah, so, I mean, we use the availability report each week,
01:46 and that's kind of been --
01:48 it's going to become the way that we communicate our guys,
01:50 you know, updates on things, so I'll leave that,
01:53 but, yeah, he's had a good week of practice.
01:59 Jonathan Jackett.
02:01 How about a legal running back for Barton?
02:03 I hope I pronounced it on the right.
02:05 He's been good for them.
02:07 Is there a comparable running back
02:10 that you see in the Big Ten that you can kind of face
02:12 your defense on and kind of tell me about his importance?
02:16 Yeah, I think he's very, very important to what they do.
02:19 You know, he's a very talented player,
02:21 especially late here in his career, very productive,
02:24 finishing up last season
02:26 in these first two games this season, so really impressive.
02:29 You know, comparison-wise, you know,
02:31 the Henderson kid from Ohio State,
02:33 from a speed perspective, he's one of those guys
02:35 where if he gets a crease, he can take it to the house
02:38 wherever you're at on the field, so not everybody can do that
02:41 and has really good vision
02:43 and has more power than probably you would think
02:47 in a guy his size, so really good running back,
02:50 has elite speed,
02:51 and he's a guy that we have got to have a great answer for.
02:56 Yeah, go ahead.
02:58 Hey, Tom. With the offensive line,
03:00 it seems like you've rotated a lot of guys
03:02 the first couple weeks.
03:03 I understand some of that can be score and opponent,
03:06 but do you feel like you have a group of five
03:09 that you're settled on, or do you still want to rotate,
03:12 I guess, this week or moving forward at all?
03:14 Yeah, we're still working through that.
03:16 I think that, you know, you want to be able to have,
03:18 you know, eight guys that you feel like you can play
03:21 in any combination to get to those five that you want
03:23 because that's the nature of a season
03:25 and how things usually unfold in the physicality of this league
03:28 and how we're going to have to play multiple guys,
03:30 you know, based on that each week,
03:32 so I feel like we're growing that group
03:34 and have more and more guys in the mix,
03:36 and so, yeah, I think you'll continue to see that,
03:38 and we had several guys that didn't start
03:40 and still played 40 snaps last week,
03:43 and that's important for us, and so we just --
03:45 I've said all along, I feel like we've got more depth
03:48 in that position, and it's kind of showing up already,
03:51 and we'll continue to do that because we've got to,
03:53 once again, be able to finish games strong,
03:56 and part of that is being able to be fresh
03:58 and keep our guys, you know, in a position
04:00 to be able to play consistently well each and every week.
04:04 Seth from Zion.
04:07 Tom, Taven kind of talked about on Monday just,
04:09 you know, some of your guys have already played
04:11 at Lucas Oil before at high school,
04:12 and Taven was talking about, you know, those memories,
04:14 but you had that practice near the end of fall camp up there,
04:18 just having gotten your guys out on the field
04:20 there at some point before this Saturday,
04:23 just how much of a difference do you think that makes
04:25 just getting them used to that environment?
04:27 Well, I think familiarity is always a positive thing,
04:29 you know, and as you mentioned, several of our guys
04:31 have played there as high school players coming from Indiana,
04:34 and I think that's a plus for sure,
04:36 and, you know, we wanted to get our guys there in the locker room
04:39 that they're going to be in and be able to get to the flow
04:41 in and out and be able to just --
04:42 to, you know, the lighting, you know,
04:44 catching punts and catching balls
04:46 and just being able to get familiar with that.
04:47 Our specialists as well, so I think that practice
04:50 was very, very important for us, and that's why we did it,
04:52 planned it ahead of time to be able to have that opportunity
04:54 during fall camp. It was a good break as well,
04:56 you know, to be able to change up the normal flow of practice
04:58 and then did a good team-building activity
05:00 together afterwards, so I just think
05:02 that was a well-thought-out process.
05:04 We went through as a staff to be able to do that,
05:07 and our support staff did a great job
05:09 of getting that organized, so I appreciate the leadership there
05:12 to allow us to go do that, you know,
05:14 during that time of the year, so, yeah,
05:16 I think any time you go someplace,
05:18 and it's not the very first time being there,
05:20 I think it helps you with your comfort level,
05:21 so got to go there and got to play well.
05:24 Zion and then Jim.
05:27 Tom, along those lines, kind of as a coaching staff,
05:31 what are some of the differences --
05:32 I know you coached at Lucas Oil a few years ago
05:35 in that Ball State game.
05:36 What are the differences in the communication
05:37 with the coaching staff at an NFL stadium
05:40 versus a college stadium?
05:42 You know, I think from that perspective,
05:44 I think once the game begins, it feels pretty similar.
05:47 You know, I think the biggest thing is for your players.
05:51 You know, for us, communication-wise,
05:53 I think the guys in the box,
05:54 them getting used to being able to --
05:57 you know, the angle that you can see from,
05:58 sometimes that's different in different places,
06:00 and sometimes the NFL stadiums are further away,
06:03 you know, maybe sometimes even higher,
06:05 so just based on where you play,
06:08 but at the same time, I think that --
06:11 I don't expect any issues with that.
06:13 I think we're pretty adaptable for those things,
06:14 but at the same time, we've done it before.
06:17 I think that helps, and a lot of our staff
06:19 was here with that group as well,
06:20 but bottom line is you got to be able to adapt to a new arena,
06:23 a new venue, and it's just a beautiful place,
06:25 so I love playing there, love coaching there.
06:27 It's been just a great place to watch a game.
06:30 It's a great place to coach a game and play a game,
06:32 so excited to be able to be there this weekend.
06:35 James Dandang.
06:36 Hey, Tom, how are you?
06:38 Doing great, buddy. How are you?
06:39 Good, sir.
06:41 You know, there's been so much talk
06:42 about the quarterback situation, and with good reason,
06:45 but going into this game, how important is it to --
06:49 for Taven to get off to a good start
06:52 so he doesn't get rattled and he can just settle right in?
06:55 Because this is basically,
06:56 while it's not really his first game, it's his first game.
06:59 He's the guy. He knows that going in,
07:02 and everything is going to be on his shoulders,
07:04 so how important is it that Indiana is protected
07:07 and is able to do what he needs to do to start this game?
07:10 Well, I do think that there's a lot of value in that,
07:13 you know, and I think that any time you play,
07:16 you know, a high-level team, which is what we're playing,
07:19 and you got a young quarterback,
07:21 I think you would want him to be able to get comfortable,
07:24 you know, and be able to get to a position
07:26 where, you know, he feels good with his reads,
07:28 his progressions, and everything he's doing as he runs the team.
07:31 So, and you're right, I mean, I think that's part
07:33 of the growth process we go through,
07:34 you know, as he develops as a young quarterback
07:36 and being able to prepare for this role,
07:39 and I think the same thing is true with Brendan,
07:40 where he has to learn, okay, now being the number two
07:43 right now, then, okay, how do I prepare this week?
07:46 How am I ready when called upon this week?
07:47 He's had the first time going through this process,
07:49 and so being in that role.
07:50 So I think both those guys together,
07:52 and we got to do a great job as a staff
07:54 to be able to establish that early momentum and early flow
07:57 to be able to help them get comfortable,
07:59 and obviously, they're trying to do everything they can
08:01 to create the opposite of that, you know,
08:03 and so we'll be doing the same thing
08:04 if we're playing against a new quarterback.
08:07 So I think that's going to be the challenge
08:09 without question,
08:10 but he has a tremendously high level of poise.
08:13 It's already shown up in the two games he's played in,
08:15 and I expect the same on Saturday.
08:17 We'll take one more. We'll wrap up with Ryan.
08:20 Hey, Coach. A lot of talk going into this game
08:23 is about your team's defense and their offense,
08:25 but what have you seen from the local defense,
08:27 like, watching them? What sticks with them,
08:29 and what challenges do they create
08:30 for your offense here in this game?
08:32 Well, first of all, they play really hard.
08:33 That jumps out on film.
08:34 They're D-line, well-coached, physical.
08:37 I think they got a lot of speed.
08:39 I like their linebackers, the way they can run,
08:42 and I think their secondary is really aggressive,
08:45 and I feel like that they can test a lot of balls.
08:48 They play really, you know, with a lot of confidence,
08:50 and I think that they got a really good defense.
08:53 They really do, and so they don't give you a lot of things.
08:56 You got to earn and take everything,
08:57 so I think that, you know, they're going to be a team
09:00 that, you know, anytime Coach Braum's teams
09:04 are usually known for his offense,
09:05 and that's great, but, you know,
09:08 his defense there is really, really talented,
09:10 and they got a lot of guys that they can rotate in as well
09:13 and play in the front as well as in the back end,
09:16 so I feel like that, you know, they may be --
09:19 not the ones that people are talking about,
09:21 but we definitely -- they got our attention without question,
09:23 and we're going to have to play our very best football
09:25 and offense to be able to move the football score points.
09:28 Ryan, last one.
09:30 This is kind of a two-parter, I guess, first part.
09:33 You know, Tavin, not the only center-grove guy
09:35 you've brought in there over the last couple years.
09:38 Just how -- sounds like he recruited Williams
09:40 and a couple of these other guys there.
09:42 How important is it for you to have a foothold
09:44 in, I guess, what has kind of become
09:46 the marquee high school program in the state?
09:48 Yeah, Coach Moore has done a phenomenal job.
09:50 You know, I was at Ben Davis when he was hired back in 1999,
09:56 was his first season there,
09:57 and the immediate impact that he made was quite obvious,
10:02 and, you know, brought in that whole wing T offense
10:04 and a whole system that they,
10:06 you know, implemented in their youth league,
10:08 and it just grew and grew over time,
10:10 and now they've become definitely
10:11 one of the premier programs in the state of Indiana.
10:13 So to be able to have players from a program of that stature,
10:16 and the thing that I always was impressed with their kids
10:18 was the way they worked
10:20 and how hard he worked them in the offseason,
10:22 how they -- their bodies, you could see it change
10:24 from freshman, sophomore year to junior, senior year,
10:27 and I knew the work that they put in,
10:28 and so getting young men from that program
10:30 that know how to work, expect to win,
10:33 and are well prepared, you know, they're coached hard,
10:36 they're -- they understand the rigor of practice,
10:39 and their physical and their practices,
10:41 and you get that mindset.
10:42 You get a tough, hard-nosed kid that expects to win on game day,
10:47 and I love that mindset, love that mentality.
10:48 So love recruiting those kids from there,
10:51 and we want to continue to get as many as we can.
10:55 All right, Tom. Thank you.
10:56 All right. Have an awesome day, LAO.