Notes and Quotes from Tom Allen's Media Monday: Maryland Week

Image: Sarah Miller, Hoosier Huddle

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana head coach Tom Allen took to the podium on Monday to update the media on injuries, recap the loss to Ohio State and preview and all-important road trip to Maryland.

NOTES:

Injuries:

• Michael Penix: Week-to-week with a shoulder injury

• Jack Tuttle: Week-to-week with a foot injury

• Tiawan Mullen and Reese Taylor: “Tiawan [Mullen] played a few snaps. He hopefully will get better this week. Did not play near what we hoped he'd be able to play, but he is progressing. Same with Reese [Taylor].”

Players of the Week:

Offensive Scout Team: Eli Jochem

Defensive Scout Team: Chase Washington

Special Teams Scout Team: Patrick Finley

TOM ALLEN QUOTES:

Allen updated the media on injuries and gave a quick recap in his opening statement

“Just wanted to start by saying after watching everything, really our approach was, as I stated after the game, a very disappointing performance. But just chose to -- we obviously watched it. We graded it and all that. But we really chose to flush it and press on with our guys. That was the focus yesterday to just really focused more on [our guys] and their mindset and where we're at physically and mentally, and getting our guys squared away in that regard. That was the emphasis and that we want to be able to flush it and get our guys ready for the next one. That's the focus.

Update with Jack [Tuttle]. He'll be week to week. So, we don't know as of right now his status. Same with Michael [Penix Jr.]. Michael is still week to week. Tiawan [Mullen] played a few snaps. He hopefully will get better this week. Did not play near what we hoped he'd be able to play, but he is progressing. Same with Reese [Taylor].

Now, just really focus now on getting our guys healthy. We'll be practicing accordingly with that goal in mind to be able to do a great job of making sure our guys are fresh mentally and physically when we take the field on Saturday in College Park.

Three guys to mention from the game, because I want to make sure I always recognize our scout team. Eli Jochem is our offensive scout of the week. Chase Washington is our defensive scout of the week. And, Patrick Finley is our special teams scout of the week. We really appreciate their work, just an awesome job preparing our guys and all the effort that they give us every single week is great. So, we continue to recognize those guys.

Excited about this week and a chance to play on the road in a Big Ten game against Maryland. A very talented football team and much respect for their staff and the quality of the skill that they have on offense and the physicality and athleticism that they have on defense.

It is just an important week for us. Every week is a big week. Every week is important. And our guys have to understand that, and they do. So, excited to be able to get our guys back out there tomorrow and get back to work.

Allen Elaborated on Jack Tuttle’s Injury Monday as well:

“I would say what the MRI showed us was that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I guess that was probably the first word I was given. I think with that -- but definitely was enough to where it creates some unknowns for him to be able to know his status moving forward on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully he'll be able to recover from that as efficiently as possible.

And, you know, I would say with Donaven [McCulley], you feel good about certain things that you wanted to be able to do; have him ready for per his skill set and the reps he's gotten to this point. But, obviously, he prepared and practiced and took those reps as the number two all week.

Then, Grant [Gremel] actually took some reps as well, especially more of the third down situations, passing situations. But, yeah, you just go through and prepare the best that you can with your guys. You only have so many reps each week. And, obviously, he was the guy taking those and getting ready for that.

You just go through and then you get that in that moment. It obviously happened very early in the game and then it's raining, so it's really tough for a kid being his first opportunity against such a high-level opponent in tough weather conditions. It just created a tough situation for him without a doubt. I thought he improved throughout the game and am glad he got all those reps. It will definitely pay dividends moving forward, no matter how much he has to play in future. I thought that he got more comfortable doing some things and made some nice runs, took some big hits and popped back up, and made some throws. He just has to continue to grow with that.

It's really about just building things around what he feels comfortable with and can function at a high level with and be able to do things he needs to do to help us win a football game.”

IU’s Defense was gashed by Ohio State Saturday, Allen addressed what needed to be cleaned up:

“I think, first of all, you've got to go through and evaluate, like we did. We go through and do things and watch it very closely and discuss as a staff. There are definitely some things you go back and see. [Ohio State] is obviously a very good football team. I've been here several years now and played them every single year.

After playing them in person and seeing them, it's the best Ohio State offense that we've faced since I've been here. The offensive lines is impressive, big, physical and athletic. They keep getting better and better up front.

Then I thought their quarterback obviously had shown some youth early in the season, but that's in the past. Extremely talented quarterback. We already talked about the receivers. They're three of the best in the country. As a group, I don't know if there's any group better. I can't imagine that.

Then you've got a running back that gives them a home run gear that they haven't always had in that spot, or definitely not last year. So, yeah, it's a really special offense. It creates a lot of problems for you.

We obviously had some injuries in the secondary and tried to do a good job of protecting those guys and helping them out. Kept things in front of us, but too soft in that regard I thought. Gave them too much underneath and a lot of yards there. Then didn't do a good job [with their tempo]. The tempo gives you some trouble but that [wasn't something new]. It just still creates issues because of all the other variables you're talking about. I just think that -- love our defensive guys – it wasn't for a lack of effort. They played hard. But, we didn't tackle as well as we need to.

I think there was a little hesitancy. I thought that was something in our guys that I hadn't seen out of them before this season. Definitely haven't seen it recently. I guess that was another reason for the [first half]. Throw it in the trash. We're not going to overly beat ourselves up in that regard. We obviously make corrections and press on. That was the challenge to our guys. We did not play at our standard without question.

We can't let the last [game] affect the next one. That's what it comes down to for me. That's absolutely not going to happen. Talked to our guys, meeting more guys even today and a lot yesterday and just being able to make them understand that. We have a lot of really good players on defense and we just have certain things we need to learn from this one and press on.”

Allen also addressed the issues on the offensive line as well:

“I would say lack of consistency continues to be an issue. Just going through [the film], I felt like even just watching it again, we're going to go through and look at even just some -- making some -- if we have to make some movements there to get some other guys involved and just to be able to address as guys continue to develop throughout the season.

I think it's been isolated breakdowns. You know, you've got certain things happening the way they're supposed to on certain plays and then the next one not. But it can happen. It was just isolated situations where one guy got beat one-on-one. Happened several times. It can't happen in those games, those situations, key third downs when it creates a tackle for loss or penetration that just disrupts everything.

Communication at times wasn't what it was supposed to be. It's been frustrating and disappointing without question up front. They've got to just keep battling and have to get better. We've got to coach them better and improve those guys. Like I said, we'll make some adjustments if we need to this week to get the result we want. But, yeah, it's an area that we need to have step up.

Obviously with injuries we've had at quarterback and the ability for our guys to be able to effectively move down the field like we did that first drive and get in the end zone. So it shows you what we can do when you do things the right way and you communicate effectively; block, ran the ball, threw the ball. That's what you have to do consistently throughout the game. To me, that's going to be the focus and that's a constant thing.”

Allen talked about how he would prepare Donaven McCulley to start Saturday:

“I think that with the unknowns that you have with Jack, you have to just fully prepare him mentally and physically and from a reps perspective. We'll see how the week plays itself out as far as how much that happens with Jack.

The bottom line is you know Jack's obviously played and gotten a lot of reps in the past, where Donaven needs to get as many reps as possible. You have to have that mindset. He's going to be the guy, and then we'll see what happens. Bottom line is that would be the approach is to get him ready and get Grant ready as well. Those two guys have to be getting the majority of the reps and getting themselves in position to play. So that's going to be the approach.”