Spring Practice No. 10 Notes and Observations

Raheem Lane (17) defends Ty Fryfogle (3) in red zone drills Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

After running over 100 snaps in their scrimmage on Saturday, the Hoosiers were back on the field in shoulder pads to start the final third of spring practice. It was also a special day in Bloomington as many former Hoosiers took part in IU’s Pro Day.

Observations

-       The Hoosiers worked a lot on fundamentals including run blocking on offense and blitzing on defense.

-       QB Michael Penix was involved more in drills.

-       Not as many scrimmage reps as previous practices.

Coach Allen Quotes

·       On how Tuesday’s practice went: “Really good day today. We had our first big scrimmage on Saturday, so we had over 100 snaps. A lot of good evaluation for our guys and today came back with a good shells (shoulder pads) practice. I thought we had some good execution, a lot of good reps, trying to get these guys brought along and keep getting better, which is a lot of our guys. I like the progress. Like the effort, like the energy. I think this team is, step-by-step, getting a little bit better every day.”

·       On his takeaways from Saturday’s scrimmage: ““I thought the defense won the day. We don’t keep score in that regard, but I just thought that they did a good job of eliminating big plays and keeping them out of the end zone. We had a few guys who did not participate on offense, but at the same time I just thought that the energy, the pursuit to the football, the speed was evident. Just a lot of good amounts of hats to the ball. You freeze the frame at a certain point when you are watching film, you have a lot of good execution. A lot of young offensive linemen getting lots of good reps. I think Matthew Bedford is the kind of guy that stuck out to me, that’s showing really good signs of figuring some things out as a new guy just getting here. It’s one thing to do some good things in the weight room, but to do it on the field, you know, when they’re coming at you at full-speed and our defense does a lot of things. So, it’s not necessarily very easy for a young guy to pick all that stuff up, so he jumped out. I think Miles Marshall is another guy that continues to make plays for us. He needs to, he needs to step up and do some great things. Defensive line-wise, I think Madison Norris, flash. I thought that Jonathan King did some good things as well for one of our young guys. I think Cam Jones really popped to me. We’ve played him at several different spots. He’s playing some inside linebacker now, our Stinger spot. He’s spent half the time getting trained at free safety and half the time getting trained at linebacker and really did some really good things. I thought Kristian Pechac ran the ball really hard and did some good stuff as well as Ahrod Lloyd in the backfield. Those guys have been given a lot of good reps. Quarterbacks continue to develop and move along the way we want them to. So, it’s just a process. We can talk about a lot of different guys, but I think that learning a new offensive system and getting our young defense a chance to keep growing has been encouraging.”

·      On the plan to play Cam Jones in different spots: ““I think we’ll zero-in on one when we get closer. I think that the goal was, he played this whole last year at Husky, and felt like we needed to get him a lot of just consecutive reps at free safety and then we wanted to get his final reps at Stinger. Then, basically seeing how things flesh out with our roster. He’s just proven to be a very valuable guy and we have got to get him on the field. So the more he can do, the more positions he can master, the more versatile he’s going to be for us. Where ever we put him, he just shows up and makes plays. He’s special.”

·      On QB Jack Tuttle’s play on the field: “I think that, even today, just really strong-armed throws. Being able to get (the ball) into some tight windows that are hard to defend. He’s a guy I think works extremely hard. We were impressed initially by his weight room work ethic, which coach Ballou has a pretty good feel for a guy’s mental toughness and ability to have a certain type of mindset and preparation. He showed that coming into spring ball. There’s no doubt, it’s hard to learn a new system and he’s been, with Mike (Penix) not taking live reps, he’s gotten the two reps and sometimes with the ones, but mostly with the twos. It’s a lot to throw on you with a new system, but you just see those flashes of arm talent and his decision making and then he has the ability to escape and get out of the pocket and make a guy miss to extend the play. Those are the types of things that have shown out to me. The more he learns it, the more comfortable he gets you just keep getting better and better.”

·      On Tuttle’s speed: “He’s listed as a pro-style quarterback, whatever that means, the way they categorize guys. To me, as I would always say, it’s about ‘can you extend plays?’ Can you be able to make a guy miss who is trying to pursue you in a pass rush, be able to get out of the pocket, step up and get a first down? He can do all those things. He can pull the ball on the zone read and get first downs and make you pay for not honoring that. So yeah, he’s definitely more athletic than I thought just by watching his film, but at the same time he ran track in high school. He was a guy that I thought had some of that in him, but sometimes you get them here and they’re a little more than you thought.”

·      On the frustration of Tuttle’s situation: ““Yeah, that could probably be a good way to say it. You control what you can control and this is one I have zero control. There’s just a timetable we hope to have an answer here real soon. But once again, it’s not my decision.”

·      On Michael Penix’s progression: “We actually did some things today to get him more involved. We’re never going to have him in there when it’s live or even when we are going to get full...we did get him in some blitz period which is very important. We extended our ‘Skelly’ reps today to get him some more reps. So trying to do more of the things he can do without compromising his knee. But his progress has been excellent in his rehab. So, just want to get him engaged as much as possible. So, it’s three guys we are trying to get ready every single day.”

·       On Peyton Ramsey’s improvement: “He has. I just think that the poise, just understanding the game. He’s so competitive and he just makes such good decisions. He just continues, he’s learning a new system too. So that part of it is equal for all three guys. You can just tell he’s been he’s been here and done that in a lot of ways and he’s just bigger, stronger. He works so hard in the offseason. He does everything right as has always been the case. He’s a great leader. I think he has grown in his leadership. He’s being more verbal with the ability to confront guys and be they guy that holds guys accountable for the little things and not just take care of yourself as older guys should do. That part’s been great. He’s a tough kid, makes a lot of good plays and runs our offense. He’s doing a great job.”

Videos

Mentioned: Mike Penix, Cam Jones, Jack Tuttle, Matthew Bedford, Kristian Pechac, Ahrod Lloyd, Peyton Ramsey