Big Ten Media Days Note Book: Part One

Day 2 of Big Ten Media Days is underway in Chicago Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Written by Rylie Kyhn

Head coach Tom Allen spoke at Big Ten Media day Tuesday to discuss plans for the upcoming season, expectations, offseason evaluations and player statuses.

Allen on the quarterback competition and Brandon Dawkins heading into fall camp:

First of all, it's an open competition for quarterback. So he's not been named the starter. He'll have to compete for that position. What I've been impressed with him is his personality. It's tough to come into that situation. You come in as a graduate at that key spot and you have players already on your team that are there, and it takes a special guy, I think, to come in have the right personality. He has a humility about him. He's got a great way he carries himself. He hasn't come in with any kind of entitlement or expectation for himself that I just came here to help this team get better help this team win. I love that about him. He's a big physical guy that can run. I haven't seen him throw per the rules, just on film, and I've seen him work out and spent time with him obviously and been able to get to know him as a person. Excited about him.

Allen on roster changes:

“Kiante Walton will not be on our team any longer due to medical reasons. He had some surgeries and some challenges and so he will be taking medical. LaDamion Hunt for personal reasons will no longer be on the team.”

Allen on T.D. Roof being eligible for the 2018 season:

“He made an appeal. That’s one thing, you talk about transfers and the process that you go through. We felt like we had a good case for him so we made the appeal and our compliance office obviously did a tremendous job of being thorough. Georgia Tech cooperated as well and they did what was best for a young man. I just think it’s a great decision for him and for us. I got the news a couple days ago and I was excited, I was pumped and he is really fired up.”

Jacob Robinson meets with the media Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle

Jacob Robinson on eligibility of T.D. Roof:

“It definitely helps us out. As coach Allen just said that’s a position where we lack some experience and depth as well. TD has done a great job since he’s been here. He’s been a great teammate and has worked extremely hard. He’s fun to watch play on the field. He works really hard and plays relentless and that is the kind of guys we’re looking for.”

Allen on the importance of having Dameon Willis back and the eligibility of T.D. Roof both at the linebacker position and the boost they give at an important position:

“I think that it is significant. Anytime you bring young men back that have played, you can’t put a price tag on that experience, the confidence they bring to the room. I watch Dameon interact with our players, we had all players over at our home the last couple weeks in different intervals and different groups. He was there with the linebackers and you can just tell he has that personality. They follow him and he is a tremendous leader you know, he has just played. Then T.D., the same thing, as a freshman in the ACC he was on all four special teams, he made a bunch of tackles for them and then seeing him in the spring. I think you add those two guys and a whole bunch of other guys who are young that are waiting to play as well and they are going to have to fight and compete and claw and scratch to get that playing time but as the head coach of the program I feel a lot better.”

Allen On the impact of the legalization of gambling on his players and team:

“I just think it’s about educating the athletes, you have to do a great job about helping them understand what that situation can create for them. Making sure they see the big picture of all of it. At the end of the day, life is about choices and they are going to have to make those choices.

Whether it’s about gambling or what they choose to do when they are away from us that’s a big deal. As a coach, We are going to have a discussion about it and as a conference, injuries and reports with all that, we will get that all figured out. as long as its all equitable and everyone is held to the standards following it.”

Allen On his comfortability with injury reports:

I would (be comfortable with it) but I think it’s what I mentioned, just want to make sure it’s enforced and everybody does it the same way. When you look at two variables that we can go ahead and say people look at when deciding what the outcome may be, home field advantage and injuries. So to me, these things require a big deal. That’s why The NFL puts a lot of time into it and has strict guidelines for that and I’m sure they will filter down for collegiate football, so we have to make sure it’s a system that we as coaches follow and nobody has a competitive advantage over another coach or another program.

Allen On all of this being more than just football:

“I just think, and you know I tell the parents, if you that when you think about major college football right now, the amount of money that is involved in the league with facilities and coaches salaries and then the pressure and yet, these guys are going to school to get their degree and play college football. Most of these guys aren’t going to be playing in the NFL. We have to remember what we are doing and why we are doing it. It’s my job as the leader of our program to make sure we stay grounded. It’s very important and there is a lot at stake forsake but It’s not life and death. It’s teaching young men to be men and be leaders of the home one day and leaders on the job one day and being men of character and men of class and I believe at the end of the day, that’s my job.”

Allen On Nick Westbrook’s return:

“It’s big for us. I love him as a person. His work ethic has been off the charts and I am just so happy for him to see him run and cut and plant. You gotta get out there and trust it in fall camp. He was out there in the spring with the blue jersey on so he wasn’t being touched but he was planting and cutting during the spring. From everything I have seen he is 100%. Now he just has to go play and do what guys get to do which is catch footballs.”

Allen On Donavan Hale’s return:

“Donavan Hale has really progressed. We had a great plan for him this offseason to get him right and he has followed the plan and he looks as good as I’ve seen him look since I have been around him with regards to the health of his knee and we are excited by his progress and he will continue to grow with that. I just think those are two big receivers that we definitely need.”

Allen On ideal snap numbers fatigue, depth, and rotating:

“We were getting in the 80s for guys and more than that for some and that’s just too many. I’m not trying to state anything other than the facts and the facts were that we had too many guys playing too many snaps. Especially on defense last year and those guys were also on special teams. It used to be you wanna play 50 or so snaps on defense so realistically, I think a guy can play 50-60 snaps on defense and still be ok and that doesn’t count special teams. You’re gonna see us play a lot more guys on defense, you’re gonna see us play a lot more guys on special teams and with this new redshirt rule it can help with that as well. To me, in all my evaluations in the offseason, that was one blaring thing that kept coming back up, was depth and how that affected us negatively in the fourth quarter.”

Allen on the new redshirt rule and targeting guys for certain games:

“You’re gonna have to because the bottom line is, you only get four games. You have a 12 game season so you have four game windows so you’re not gonna be playing four games in a row. You have to have a plan for who is going to play on special teams, who is gonna play on offense and defense in that same game. If you don’t have that planned out ahead of time they won’t get reps for greater play. If you’re just playing them to play them, you’re not accomplishing anything. So during fall camp we have to target the guys we want to have in this pool and in the pool of guys we are gonna say these freshmen are going to be candidates for this and some guys, they just aren’t going to play and we’re not planning on redshirting all of them. So there are a few of those guys. But the ones that we were maybe redshirted, now we are going to get to play them when they are ready to play, and as many snaps as they are ready to play.”

Allen On how the rule changes their evaluation process throughout fall camp:

“It’s like any new rule, it will take time to tell how it all plays out but I think it is so good for them. I just noticed the way they approach it. They are fired up. They realize that they are going to get the opportunity to play.....” “Now they are going to stay engaged which is huge for us.”

Allen On moving Isaac James to cornerback and changes at the husky position:

“To me, he’s still gonna be that guy at the husky position in situations so we had to train him because there are so many different components to playing that position. We used the spring to really get his feet wet with that, get him grounded as a husky. Now we are going to move him to corner which I think is probably his natural position but in situations, he will be a situational husky. That gives us tremendous flexibility with his coverage skills and it gives us a bigger and stronger and one of our faster players (one of our best athletes on the team top to bottom) at corner. For me, you can never have enough corners. I’m excited about his move there. It is something he came to me a while ago about but it was kind of our plan as we moved through spring ball, getting him ready to go full-time at corner and sliding him back to husky when we need.”