"Dual Means You Do Both" Allen Voices Frustration with IU's Offensive Attack as Hoosiers Struggle Throwing the Ball
/Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle
Indiana freshman quarterback Donaven McCulley came in to Bloomington as a four-star dual-threat quarterback who was rated as one of the top 240 players in the country. The plan was to redshirt him, but plans went out the window when veterans Michael Penix and Jack Tuttle went down with injuries and forced IU to burn McCulley’s redshirt. McCulley has now played in six games and has thrown the ball 82 times while running it 64. On Saturday he threw the ball seven times and outside of the Maryland game, he has looked like he has regressed. That has lead to a frustrated Tom Allen.
“You run the ball with him and he can run the ball. That's great. But it says dual threat. Okay? Dual means you do both. Right? So if you're not dual, then you're just one dimensional.” Allen explained after the game. “All right. So, to me, that's why that word is what it is. So to me, that is definitely his strength is to be able to run the football, but you've got to be able to throw it as well. So to me, I think you can't shy away from that. You've got to be able to do it and obviously do it in an efficient way and not put him in harm's way. But you can't make it to where you just cautiously play the game and call the game.”
It is clear that Allen is showing his frustrations with the lack of an areal attack from the quarterback position and his offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. The Hoosiers finished 8-of-19 passing after walk-on backup quarterback Grant Gremel came in late in the game and orchestrated a 69-yard touchdown drive.
It’s tough to put blame on McCulley, a freshman who was supposed to redshirt. It looked like he took steps forward against Maryland, but has since regressed. It is the job of the coaches to build him back up.
“You play somebody too soon, and it makes it hard. But we didn't have a choice.” Allen said. “And you want to be able to build off of each week. And sometimes when the negatives happen, it can go the other direction and you start losing your confidence. And then you start second guessing yourself. And I think you've seen some of that. So, yeah, I mean, had a lot of conversations with coaches. And it happens in the NFL as well. You play a rookie too soon, he gets a lot of this, a lot of negatives, it just kind of sets him back. So that's the concern, without question, just being transparent with you all.”
The saying in sports is that you play like you practice, but Allen insists that is not the case with what he has seen with McCulley.
“He works hard. He cares. And hasn't played -- hasn't thrown the ball especially on game day like he does in practice. So we've got to get him to that point. So it does show up there, so it's not like he can't. But to be able to do it under pressure, under duress, reading coverages, figuring that stuff out is definitely what you want.” Allen said.
The Hoosiers are averaging 10.9 points per game in conference play. That, mixed with the lack of development and aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball has led to frustrations boiling over.
The Hoosiers have “got to throw the football” as Allen said on Saturday.