Notes and Quotes From Tom Allen's Media Monday Ahead of Ohio State

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana head coach Tom Allen took to the podium on Monday for the first regular season Media Monday of the 2023 season. Below are the notes and quotes from his media session.

NOTES:

Injuries:

-       None, Injury Report will be available prior to kickoff

Players of the Week:

-       None

TOM ALLEN QUOTES:

On which areas Allen feels more comfortable with about his team and what area is Allen less comfortable with

“I think throughout camp, as you guys have asked and we've talked about different positions, I think an area that kind of sticks out numerically is our defensive line and just having some new guys there and the way those guys have performed during camp. So just excited to see those guys play. I think that's going to be one of the strengths of our defense.

Then our receiver room has a lot of depth to it. I like that room a lot. I feel the same way about it and getting those guys through camp and working through injuries. Nothing serious there, but just everybody has pulled things along the way that you work through. Feel good about where we're at with those guys and those positions.

And I need a big week this week. Obviously we're still in game week mode or preparation for that, just continuing to build our offensive line. The depth there is always big. It's always important. I like the progress those guys have made, but we'll continue to work in that area as well and keep building.

I think the biggest question mark is just a lot of new faces in the secondary, and they'll be tested at a very, very high level right from the get go. Definitely excited about that.

The kicking battle is an ongoing thing. Guys have made a lot of progress there. Excited about where we are. I feel way better about that than I did a couple of weeks ago. Those guys have performed very, very well in our mod game situation where they get a chance to really -- all their kicks are game situations for them. So I thought they responded well there. Special teams was crisp and sharp. Got to play our best football right out of the gate.”

On the place kicking situation

“I would say Chris Freeman is going to be our kickoff specialist. He was our specialist all last year. He's done a great job with that. He's done really, really well all fall camp.

The field goals themselves is where we're still kind of working through. I think it could be a situation where it's distance driven based on certain parts of the field, different areas where guys are better at, even locations, hashes, and maybe more probably distance than anything.

But at the same time, we've got some new opportunities here, and I feel good about the multiple options we have. Both Chris and Nico have really done well. I feel like those guys have put themselves in position to be ready when called upon. We'll probably let the situation dictate that.”

On the Big Ten’s Initiative to Announce Lineups 2 Hours Prior to Kickoff

“It was obviously discussed several weeks ago within the Big Ten at our meetings. Obviously we were expecting that to happen, so that was really driven by our leadership and our conference.

I think the coaches were -- we had some questions at first, just how it was going to look and work, but I think it's pretty -- it's not real specific. Obviously if a guy's out, he's out. That's one thing where if you list him as out, he cannot play. That's one thing that's different. Instead of saying, hey, this guy is probable in these situations. And the second category is a guy who could play, may not play.

So I think it's good. It's good for all of us to have that clarity and that openness about it. There has been a couple of teams over the years that have done this. I know Wisconsin did this, and has always done this for a while since I've been here. The couple times we played them, they would put theirs out.

I think in regards everybody knows why they're doing this. So I think it's something that's good and we're all on the same page. We kind of wanted to be the leader on that as a conference. Our new commissioner really, really pushed for this, and I think he was right. I think it's the right thing to do.

And I think our guys -- it doesn't affect our players. We'll have a systematic way of communicating that and putting that out before kickoff, and I like the fact that everybody's doing the same thing.

On if having so many new players has changed the way he prepares for game day

“ It has. It's affected some things we've done in practice. It affected the way we did our mod game, just having so many new guys, just making sure it was probably more true to a real game than it's been since I've been here just because of having a number of guys that are new with us that are going to be playing.

A lot of times you get new faces, but those guys aren't playing as much. But I think you're going to see there's a lot of new faces that are going to do a lot of the playing. I think it's important to do that.

And even as this week unfolds, yes, it's our first true game week. Obviously to be able to go through the schedule and flow and all the things we're doing and being very prescriptive about that with our guys and our coaching staff and the meeting time with our players.

I just think, when you have new individuals, even when you have a few new coaches as well, so just making sure there's no game day things that haven't been covered thoroughly. I want to make sure we're really, really on point with all that to allow them to be able to be in a routine and be able to play their best and function at their best as a coaching staff.

Yeah, I think there's no question that the newness of a lot of guys has caused us to really be kind of very, very purposeful in everything we do. We always have been but even to a higher degree for sure.”

On players who improved their stock during fall camp

“I think Amare Ferrell is a guy that sticks out to me. Been here since January, true freshman, really good football player. Really he's a guy that we've said, you know what, we've got to get him involved on special teams, and he's risen on the depth chart.

Jordan Grier is another one that has elevated his status on our team and I think really improved a lot as a player. Then in the course of the spring, I expected that and wanted that from these guys, especially a guy like Jordan who's been here.

Like Amare, you really don't know. It's his first fall camp he's ever been in, and he had spring football as a high school athlete from the state of Florida. But being here and being here all summer, just changing his body through the off-season coming through the summer and just being a guy that, when you put the pads on, just shows up. I think that's a really good thing. That's what you want.

I think Lanell Carr continues to be a guy that is playing with a lot of confidence right now with regards to what he sees in practice. It needs to translate to the game without question, but he's a guy that's been playing at a higher level maybe than we even expected in the beginning. So I'm really excited about that.

Those are guys that need to do that at a high level for sure. I think Donaven McCulley continues to elevate his game, and to me that's something I really challenge him about. He's worked extremely hard this off-season and just being able to be a guy that can make game changing plays, which is what we need on that side of the ball and need to create explosive plays on offense to be able to allow us to move the football and do good things in that regard.

So those guys stick out to me.”