2019 Indiana Football Fall Camp Report: August 5th

Image: Andrew Walker Hoosier Huddle

Written by Andrew Walker

Indiana Football was back on the practice field today, and from the very beginning, the place was electric. A shoulder pads but not full speed team practice followed some of the position drills. During team practice, redshirt Junior Marcelino Ball was a missile on the defensive side of the ball. In the lineman drills, the offensive line looks great, but the defensive line looks better. Peyton Ramsey, Jack Tuttle and Mike Penix were all given the opportunity to display their passing ability, but it was the redshirt Junior Ramsey that played the most QB1 today. 

Observations

• DBs’s looked extremely fast today

• Tuttle has the quicker release, Penix has the stronger arm, but Ramsey is the most accurate

• Defense was craving contact

• Defense had a full speed blitz drill, coaches were pleased with effort

• Takeaways and batted passes were heavily celebrated and emphasized

Mark Hagen

General Thoughts

“I think there's been good competition. But then actually, when you go against the offense has been a high compete factor on every snap. And that's what these guys got to realize is I want to play, right. That's what I've got to prove, right, I can't just assume that something's going to happen. Naturally, whenever you play the football game is like, you're competing in a one on one situation, whether it's defending your gap, we're going to pass rush on an O lineman, and that's how I try to break it down is every play, right? Is it is a play of competition, right? You're either doing your job or you're getting blocked, if we can boil it down to that, and guys just hate not winning, right? I didn't win this rep, I got blocked or I lost my gap, whatever it is, then you come back to the next play and just fight. And so that's the mentality that we're trying to establish that carries over into the position battles. But at the end of the day, to these guys are fighting to help each other too, because we know, you know, we gotta have a lot of guys ready. So I've seen it so far. But again, it's only day four, and it's a long season.”

On young guys that have been surprising

“I like what Demarcus Elliot's done. And then you come in, you know, we lost, you know, significant numbers there at the nose position, I think Juan came in, and it was weights down from where it's been in the past. And he knows he's got to be ready to play more snaps, but I think didn't get D Mac here. He goes by D. Mac, he's come in and done a good job. And then, you know, I think He's come in and learn the system. You know, so I feel better about that position than I did, maybe back in December when it was, who's gonna be there? You know, and then I think there's excellent competition. We know what Jerome Johnson can do. Right? Now you've got my opinion, you got four guys. You know, you got John Kane, you've got Shamar Jones, you've got Gavin McKay. But I think CJ Person is 285/90 pound guy, you know, so I'm excited to see how that sorts itself out here, as we move through camp in the early part of the season."

On Jerome Johnson

“You know, he, you know, was pretty and what he does, he's not a not a great athlete, but is a high, high, high effort guy. And he's just relentless and how he flies, he just keeps on coming. I love it, I think it you know, it can it can rub off on everybody. We all sit in there as a position group, you know, and the meetings and whatnot and watch the video and, and I just I just love how he gets after it, you know, and he's a guy that's, you know, going to continue to become more flexible and change his body and maybe become more fluid as he gets older. So just just love his his relentless nature and what he brings to the mix. You know, just from a D line standpoint is, is we you know, we have a mix of some guys that have played but we if you look at the 10 guys that played 20 snaps or more last year, six or seven of them are gone. So I'm a guy that plays a lot of people so you know, yeah, I'm glad that we have a Gavin Everett and and Alan Stallings, and even the James Head played about 25 snaps a game and a Jerome Johnson, who are those next four to six guys that are going to give us snaps because I know there's Jerome Johnson's a better player, if he's playing 45 snaps versus 60 or 65 snaps. That's just that's just the laws of nature laws of science. Besides you know what I mean? So we've got to be able to keep him fresh with the John King and Shamar Jones, a Gavin McCabe wherever it is maybe CJ Person, so he's playing his best football and a game late in the third and fourth quarter." 

On leaders in practice

"Seeing that's not necessarily amongst the whole group, but I see him taking a guy or two on the side and coaching them up. And that's, that's always the first step if you're not a natural leader, so I see it, it's coming in, everybody's going to do it their own way to, you know, so we've got a nice mix of some guys that open their mouth and other guys that will take a guy to decide, but we're getting it in all kinds of forms and fashions. And he said, you know, what Jerome can do? What does he do? Well? Well, I think he's just very, very explosive. You know, I think he's a very good run defender. Now, sometimes he gets antsy, he'll jump out of this gap to go make a play at times, where he's, you know, sometimes gotta rein himself in a little bit. I think, just really, really good run defender, I think the thing that he realizes he's got grow as a pass rush guy, and he's got the tools to do it. He's just not really had the confidence in it. So that's one area of focus that he's had here in the offseason."

On which positions are playing the best

"I'm seeing it, you know, I'm seeing some better things out of them with pass situations right now. So, so far, so good.   Well, depends what position you're talking, you know, those noses are going to typically see more double teams. So they're guys that really, quote unquote, have to push the pocket, they're not necessarily going to get a one on one. You know, the three technique is a guy that you're going to give it two way go, you know, some guys that, you know, can get vertical, make those guards move their feet, and then have you building the athleticism to, you know, have a good counter move off of it. take that a step further. People want to take away a good three technique, you know. So they'll start slide and center that way Well, now your nose has to be able to win that one on one matchup. So it's a you know, it's sometimes it's a it depends on the team that you're playing with two different positions, push the pocket with a nose and your most athletic inside guys. Definitely that three thinking if you give them two way go to"

On guys that are vocal

"I think it's come a little bit more natural, I think for Gavin since he's an older guy. You know, he realized he couldn't look around and maybe lean on some other guys. I mean, the guys that have been leaders, you know, we're gone. And so I force fed him he never batted an eye and he's doing a good job. It's been a little bit more work in progress with James because he still considers himself a young guy. I'd say hey, look, man, he played 25 plus snaps a game last last year, you're not a freshman anymore. And we need you to do this. So he's, he's come out of the shell a little bit. Not quite as vulnerable as Gavin but night and day versus where he was a year ago. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And James is kind of one of those, you know, he's not a real loud boisterous and some guys get themselves going by, you know, how they talk and what they do. And James's, you know, James is driven. He's a very, very driven individual, but it's just kind of a quiet inner strength that he brings in the field. So it's just not natural for him. He's going to get excited when you go back and watch him on his high school video. I mean, he was a guy that you know, when it came time to make plays, and when he did make him I mean, he's a guy that gets excited and that's something you need on influence. Regardless whether your front guy linebacker secondary, you guys, you gotta have fun playing. You also want guys make plays. There's got to be enthusiasm. General fun of playing the game and that's what I'm seeing."

Tom Allen Quotes

Opening Statement

Good day though, I really want to see the film and see what that tells me but really good back and forth both sides the ball making plays for the defense kind of got off to the offense yesterday more overall team periods. And then for the other the offense just did a good job making some plays So, two minutes. And we haven't done that yet so that was the first time having that situation. And I thought the offense had some good poise about them moving down the field systematically and get the field goal so position. So just a lot of good work today we're a little bit shorter than going to have our first full pad practice tomorrow. But I thought that the focus which was our was our key word for today and we're trying to emphasize that that was good. And I think the guys continue to give us great effort which is what you want this time of year so just keep up better every single day.

On the improvements since the first day of camp

“Well, you know when you get in pads, that's when things change, you know, and we're still not live yet but it does get a lot more like football, so I just think the workmen that work mindset of our team as well. They just come in and show up or not a real big rah-rah group in some ways, which I find with a very systematic approach this kind of been that way all summer long and saw that just a businesslike approach to in terms of the mindset towards the work, which also have good energy. And they really seem to work well together and it kind of is over time gets exposed a little bit. Yep. All the meeting time together, stretching, these are all in there together for the most part, teammates right again just kind of building team you can tell that same real positive camaraderie and chemistry which is very important so I think you just kind of see that grow as the practice progress and then just, you know, the more contested balls are out there now that you have pads on. And more of that thud tempo that we use. So, just get to see can make those tough catches and break up on the ball and had a lot of tipped balls which is good by the defense where it shows our athleticism and first to the ball, but also thought today we made some good catches by the offense come up with some of those tight windows so just definitely making progress so it's just a. It says, day by day, step by step.”

On the quarterbacks

“Yeah, i mean i you know i think that Peyton (Ramsey) showed great you know poise there at the end, just kind of manufacturing that drive to get down the field in two minute. Michael (Penix) made some good throws I thought Jack (Tuttle) made some good throws you know as well and so I just think, you know, Jack's, the youngest of the group in regards to the system and in terms of just being here and time here and being comfortable here. And, but did some good things today when we did blitz periods so having them recognize the protection and how to get upset and adjusted so they're very...Peyton probably has the upper hand on that because of his experiences, and some other guys and Michael and Jack have grown in that area. So I'm gonna keep emphasizing that so but you know each one of them has some good things we've got protect football the time that we emphasize takeaways to a large, you know, over the top degree here defensively and so we really ball hawk them a lot so we got some, some takeaways I thought that A'Shon Riggins had a big pick that there and the team period that really can change momentum limit for the defense So, but those are I think each one the guys had some of those but overall we protected the ball pretty well.”