Notes and Quotes From Fall Practice #3

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers welcomed the Big Ten Network into practice today as the football team put on shoulder pads for the first time this summer. Head coach Tom Allen and offensive coordinator Mike DeBord met with reporters after practice. Here are some of the best of their quotes from Friday.

2017 Fall Camp: Coach Allen following Practice 3 from Peegs.com on Vimeo.

Tom Allen

On learning that ESPN's College GameDay is heading to Bloomington for the season opener:

I tweeted it out last night.  It was already the biggest home opener that we have had because we knew they were going to be ranked very high in the preseason, they are ranked No. 2 in the poll yesterday, No. 1 in a previous, so they will be No. 1 or 2 to start the season.  To play a conference opponent this early that is ranked that highly has not happened yet.  Now you add in that College Gameday is coming and that makes it a little bit bigger.  We are excited, we showed that to our guys yesterday in the meeting.  Obviously, it is just the next big game here, we have played a lot of those in the last few years for sure.  To have that kind of environment, I have coached 25 years and it has happened one time.  It is a unique thing that Bloomington has not yet experienced.  It is pretty special and our kids are excited for it, for sure.

On Mike DeBord as the offensive coordinator:

He is confident.  He does not get rattled.  He knows what he wants and he just systematically gets it done.  He does not get too excited when things are going well early or frustrated when they do not go the way you want, so it is a calming effect for everybody.  That is good because I am pretty excitable, so we make a pretty good compliment to one another.

On how the first three practices have been:

I did not really like today in terms of the overall structure.  It was things like the play was scripted to be lined up here and somebody did not follow it.  Those things irritate me, because I want things done the right way.  As far as on the field, I thought it was really good.  The offense was making plays, we were working through some things on the defensive end so we were expecting to give some things up.  I thought it was our best offensive day so far, yesterday was the best defensive day.  That is what you want.  You are going against each other, so it is going to be give and take.  I have never walked off the field thinking that both sides had a good day.  I feel that when you are working on your stuff and going against yourself it is good to have some back and forth.  The effort has been great, the kids are working hard.  I love the mindset that they have had.  They have had tremendous lock-in at the evening meetings.  They have tremendous buy-in.  Those things matter to me and I am seeing a lot of that right now.

On what makes an offense tough to face in the red zone:

First of all, the perimeter jump balls.  We have a lot of those guys.  To me, that is a physical issue that sometimes we do not have an answer for.  If you try to take that away, it weakens you up in other spots.  If the offense has one of those guys, we can kind of handle it, but if you have two and a third guy in the middle that stresses you, like Ian Thomas, it creates a lot of problems for a defense.  You have to decide, do you pressure or do you cover.  I know that we have the pieces offensively to put pressure on a defense, which excites me.  It frustrates me as a defensive guy during practice, but that is good for us.  I think that teams that can get down in there and mix it up will keep them on their heels.  I think that we have the skill-set of guys to do that.

On freshman who have stood out so far in practice:

have asked of him.  He is a very powerful kid.  He is learning how to play hard and getting into shape to play more snaps.  He is hard to move right now.  He is a big ol' boy.  For some of the things we are asking him to do, he is a perfect fit for that.  He is a guy that we really like.  Bryant Fitzgerald is another one that is just different.  I knew that he was a really special player.  I told people last year that I thought he was the best player in the state in terms of offense, defense and special teams.  The guy can play s lot of positions.  He can return kicks and punts.  We need that depth.  LaDamion Hunt, a cornerback, has caught my eye.  He is a big, good looking kid as a corner.  He is so eager to do all of the little things that you ask him to do.  We are really excited about him.  Juwan Burgess is another one that sticks out to me.  You see them out on the field and you see that they have something to them.  There are several others, but once again, that is a very broad class that covers a lot of different positions.  I think it is going to be a class that we are talking about for a while because they are a very strong foundational class for us.

On J-Shun Harris being back on the field

I have never had the privilege of watching him at full strength.  He is another one that is eager to do whatever you ask of him, so I am so excited to have him back.  I know it has been a hard road for him to get back, but we need his explosiveness in the return game as well as from the slot position.  He has the ability to make guys miss and do all of those little things.  He will keep developing and keep getting stronger and better as the season goes on.  He is so coachable.  He does what he is supposed to do and goes where he is supposed to be.  He has talent, you cannot coach those quicks.

Mike Debord

On what it takes to be successful in the red zone on offense

Obviously if you're running the ball down there, there is going to be safeties that are tighter. So you have to do a great job of blocking the front up there. But everything in any part of the field starts with protection of the guys up front, that's where it all starts. But down there throwing the ball, we're putting in things scheme wise that these players haven't done, that's one thing. The other thing is, and I said this earlier, I feel like I have to do a great job of putting the ball in the end zone with throws. I learned that a couple years ago where it was almost like trying to play perfect. When you get down in the red zone, everything gets tighter, the coverage gets tighter, the linebackers are tighter, the safeties are up in there. It's hard to play perfect so you have to put the ball in the end zone. That's what we concentrated on today.

On how he wants to build the offense

It always depends on the drill. When I'm calling plays I can't get feisty. But I feel like this – and it's the culture Tom Allen has built here – but we're going to be positive, we're going to teach and we're going to demand. That doesn't mean you can't get a little feisty there but you want to be positive with these players and that's what we are. I feel like I am a teacher, I feel like all of our coaches are teachers and there is a lot of ways to teach. I have my way and I'm not saying it's the right way or the wrong way but I just have my way. There's times I do get after them a little bit and there's times I'm patting them on the back. I think we're building confidence on offense, I really do. To build confidence, you've got to be a confident coach. Grant Heard talked about that two days ago in our staff meeting about being a confident coach out there all the time. I have great confidence in our players, I have great confidence in all our coaches and so I try and coach that way.

On what freshman are standing out:

I think in the offensive line, Harry Crider has done a really good job. Caleb Jones, as big as he is wow that man can move. He's going to be a really good football player. Those are two of the guys up front. Peyton Hendershot is going to be a really good tight end. I can keep talking but this is a really good class and we're excited about it.