The Hoosiers wrapped up Fall Camp on Sunday and had their final scrimmage on Saturday in Memorial Stadium. Indiana head coach Tom Allen took to the podium Monday for his weekly media session.

NOTES:

Fall Camp is Over

Injuries:

- None of Note

Rankings:

IU is ranked 17th in the preseason AP Poll and Coaches Poll

TOM ALLEN QUOTES:

Opening Statement:

“I just wanted to give an update: we had our second and final scrimmage [over the weekend]. With the new legislation for practices, we are allowed to have two full-contact scrimmages, so that was our second one [on Saturday]. Defense won the day, which was [opposite of] the first scrimmage where the offense won that one. That is what you want, both sides of the football showing the ability to respond and play at a high level. Obviously, when you are going against yourself, one side has to have the upper hand and one side has to not on every given play. Holistically, I was really encouraged by the performance of our defense.

I also wanted to say this, and I shared this with our team this yesterday, you go through fall camp, and it is about two-and-one-half weeks. Every time we go live, and there are only certain segments during a normal practice when you are in full pads that you go live, you don't do it the whole practice, and then you have your two scrimmages, which are pretty much all live. [This camp] There were six freshmen that stuck out to me, and I had these guys stand up yesterday in our team meeting: Maurice Freeman, Jordan Grier and Matt Hohlt on defense and Donaven McCulley, David Holloman and Malachi Holt-Bennett on offense. Not that other guys didn't, but when you take the whole body of work, I felt like those guys - and this wasn't something we did as a staff - it was something that I thought 'you know what, we always challenge our players that if you want to have an opportunity to play, you get your coaches attention and make plays when it is live, because live football to me is live tackling, live blocking, everything is live, and you are just going to play to the whistle and that is when you really see who is out there making plays,' and those six guys stuck out to me throughout the course of fall camp. Other guys flashed at times, but those [six] guys were most consistent, so I want to recognize those guys.

Also, I know it was mentioned last week with our women's excellence initiative from IU, but I really appreciate [Indiana director of intercollegiate athletics] Scott Dolson's leadership and [Indiana deputy director for athletics/senior woman administrator] Mattie White, who do a tremendous job. I fully support this and encourage others to do the same as we continue to advance our athletic programs here at Indiana. Excited about the direction of this athletic program and ready to take questions.”

Allen was asked about which veteran players stood out in fall camp and the scrimmages here was his answer:

I would say the guys that stuck out this Saturday were the guys on defense. I thought our secondary played extremely well, not giving up a lot of things and making things really difficult. There were a lot of contested balls and a lot of good pressure up front. We do a lot of [different things defensively], and we are not trying to scheme against each other, and the offense made some plays too. I thought Ty [Fryfogle], as good as we know he is, the thing that really stuck out to me is that you get young men at certain points in their careers, and he made the decision to come back when he could have gone on and been playing in the NFL right now. He had his reasons and we agreed with him. I just really appreciate his approach. You never want to see him get laid out, but he got hit on Saturday in the scrummage and just popped back up. You are trying to avoid some of those things obviously, for guys like him, but it is tackle football. It happens. He just doesn't complain. Some guys when you get to that point [in their careers], they can kind of worry about this or worry about that. He just goes all out. He is tough, he doesn't say anything, he just plays football. I appreciate his attitude and his leadership. For a guy that has been here a long time, he came back for the additional year, and he has elevated himself. He has his body in great condition and he has worked his tail off in the weight room and I just love his mindset. He stuck out to me [on Saturday]. He catches a lot of balls and he and Mike [Penix Jr.] have a great chemistry. I thought our tight ends played really well and continue to play really well. Linebackers played well and took control of the team and ran the defense. I thought that was the best they had done with all of those things. Another guy is Stephen Carr, he continues to pop to me. It was a good day for our program, because it allowed you to work on things and is that one last chance to get into that. Now, you get into a little more into Iowa mode here this week. It was a really good day for our players to be able to get stretched, like 125 snaps [in the scrimmage], so a lot of snaps, a little pressure, the heat, some long drives and trying to get your body mentally and physically ready to play.

COVID changed how teams practiced last season and Allen was asked if he saw any differences from this season compared to last.

“I think are getting a good rhythm with that. You bring up a good point, because everything was so [off-tilt last season] and to try and get back to what does that normal flow look like or feel like [has been important this year]. You think about our current sophomores and current freshmen, you have half of your team, or two classes, that have never been through this flow before because last year was so different. I think that is kind of our goal this week to get into that rhythm. We have changed our pattern from the past [couple of years]: Sunday was our off day in the past and now it is going to be Monday. So, today is off and just getting in that flow. We did some things yesterday on the field because it was a day that we lifted, watched film and had team meetings, special teams meetings and positional meetings, and then we went out on the field last night and did a jog through. That will be a traditional Sunday now. Today [Monday] is the first day of classes, so they have to get in that rhythm with class and then how are they going to come in on their own and foam roll or take care of their bodies and use this as a recovery day for them, physically, and then on their own watching film. We are trying to get them ready for that. Then, we will have a full padded day on Tuesday, shells on Wednesday and spiders on Thursday, then walk through on Friday. We are trying to get them in that rhythm, because as we go through [the season], everything we do we look back to what we did in 2019, not what we did in 2020, because it was so different. We are trying to get back into that. I feel good about where we are with that, but this week will be a good precursor. We will have a mock game on Saturday, not a scrimmage, it is a mock game. We will be in spiders, and it is all situational things. Again, just continuing in that rhythm and follow with a normal Sunday and a normal Monday and then flow through a normal game prep week.”

The Hoosiers are a veteran team and their identity has come into form recently

“I feel better about [where we are at] in regard to that. We have to continue to have the edge that you want in all areas, all three of them. By no means are we [a finished product], we had a good solid scrimmage, but you can see we still have a lot of things to work on ... Every team is different, every group of guys you work with, even though we have a lot of guys back and we haven't made massive changes schematically, it is all pretty similar, but everyone has to make adjustments [from year to year]. You want to make sure you feel good about those and feel like they are giving you what you want. You won't know for sure until you play some games, but at the same time you are getting a good feel for where we can hang our hat with this team. I am not going to give too much away for obvious reasons, but at the same time I feel like both sides of the ball have had a chance to elevate themselves and show in those game-like situations who they are. Then during the week when we do live go’s, it has been back and forth. One period is dominated by the offense and the very next period is dominated by the defense. Or it could come down to the final play [of a practice period]. We do a lot of competitions with our guys, and we will do that again tomorrow. To me, it is just a toughness that you have to develop and that is part of our identity ... I feel like we are getting closer for sure, but we are not in game-week prep yet. Tomorrow’s practice is going to be important to build some of these things. I think the depth chart is becoming a little more clear and the things you feel good about [are showing themselves]. Obviously, as you get close to kickoff you have to do the things that you do well and find creative ways to get the ball to the guys on offense that can help you win games. Then, get your guys in position to make plays on defense when they have to make them.”

The Huddle

Notes and Quotes From Tom Allen's Media Monday: Fall Camp Finale

Hoosier Huddle