Spring Practice No. 7 Notes and Observations
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Indiana is halfway through spring practice Image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Spring Practice Day Seven Notables
March 26th, 2019
The Indiana football team was back to work on a frosty, yet sun-splashed morning as they reached the mid-point of spring practice. The Hoosiers once again were fine tuning on both sides of the ball working on individual fundamentals and special teams before heading into “team” drills. There was a workman-like, no nonsense feel at practice as head coach Tom Allen made his voice heard on the megaphone more than once about effort and creating takeaways. The Hoosiers were in shoulder pads in their second practice after spring break.
Observations
· The Hoosiers were in shoulder pads.
· The defense dominated most of the morning session. The offense had their moments, but the defense got rolling during team drill and the two-minute situations.
· The defensive line, especially Madison Norris, James Head and Gavin McCabe made life hard on the offense.
· Each quarterback had bright spots throwing the ball as well as some misfires.
· The defense created only one takeaway, but created plenty of negative plays.
Notes
· Update on injuries: “Not so much to probably notice. I think there are your typical things. We’ve got guys get dinged up. We’ve got to look at one of our linebackers…Thomas (Allen) had some shoulder situations, so we’re going to look at that today and see how that needs to be evaluated. But other than that I think we came out of practice pretty clean. And even in the scrimmage on Saturday we had some typical bumps and bruises and some soreness and all. Actually we’ve had the flu bug, we’ve had more of that than anything. We had a couple guys out again today and a couple guys out on Saturday. That’s probably been the biggest thing numerically we’ve had to deal with. Hopefully it will start getting a little warmer, that might help.
· Update on Jack Tuttle’s eligibility: “We don’t ever know for sure, but I would assume here in the next week or so just based on when everything was turned in. so hopefully we’ll get some closure on that either way.
“Coach Allen Quotes
· On practice number seven: “Practice number 7, really encouraged by the continued effort and focus. I think our guys are flying around. It was a big install for us today, so I thought we were a little bit slower in some ways because of that, but that’s expected. The time of the week and then we’ll review everything and clean it up on Thursday, and then have our first big scrimmage on Saturday. So yeah, very encouraged by the progress that we continue to make. I love our team’s mindset right now, and it’s a hungry group for sure.”
· On the speed of the defense: “It’s noticeable and moving in the right direction. When you watch the film, because you don’t always see it but I see it every day, but especially when people come here that haven’t watched us or haven’t been here for spring, it’s probably the first thing they comment on, is the speed of the defense. It’s a combination of guys just being a year older and more mature and understanding what they’re doing better, and just recruiting speed. I think if you want them fast recruit them fast. Obviously Coach Ballou and Dr. Rhea are doing a great job developing that, and enhancing that once we get them here, and our entire strength staff. But I just think that in order to create takeaways, speed is a big part of that. It gets you to the ball quicker, and you’re more violent when you get there and disrupts better. You get those tip balls that end up being picked balls. The windows get closed down better in the secondary. So all those things add up to creating takeaways, and creating the type of defense that we want. I think you noticed it too on a lot of third down emphasis today in bringing a lot of pressures, and that’s what we do and that’s growing. The speed up front…I thought Madison Norris really flashed to me today. He’s continued to do a really good job for us, but I thought today was his best day. In my mind that’s his number one job, is to rush the passer and that’s why we brought him here. We continue to put weight on him and continue to get him stronger, but he’s got very, very good speed. He’s learning how to use his technique better. Things like that show up and that’s what you want to see.
· On DE James Head: “He just continues to develop, and we’re on him hard because we have high expectations for him. Coach Hagen coaches him really, really hard and he’s responded. To me it’s just about continuing…the want to and the effort has always been really good for him…and to me it is just about taking that next step. We want him to realize that he’s a guy that I want him to dominate out here, and expect to dominate. He’s got good size and length, and I want him to continue to get stronger. he’s still young but he works hard in that weight room, and I think it is really transferring to the field, which is what you want to see.
· On LB James Miller: “I tell you what, he’s maybe the most improved linebacker from fall to now. A lot of it is just with his footwork, and just understanding the defense. It’s hard for a freshman to come in here, and is not a mid-year guy which he was not, to learn the defense in the summer. I think it was a lot of things thrown at him and his head was spinning a lot in Fall Camp. But having a whole year too learn, and get stronger and move better, but he’s always been physical…he’s a violent guy now. That was obvious the first time I watched him play in high school. But to be able to do a better job to be a more well-rounded guy. But the violence is still there. He finishes really, really strong. I just like how he’s learning how to get his run fits, and he’s able to stand up guys in the hole and knock them back. We saw that against Michigan in the few reps he played. In that game he showed up in a big way. I think it kind of gave a snapshot of how talented he really is.
· On the defense finding their groove as practice went on: “I would say early in practice…and I was kind of getting after them…I’m on that megaphone and I was putting some digs in and getting, both the coaches and the players because I thought the offense was doing a lot of good things, and making plays, and getting some chunk plays. Even during inside I thought the offense…but then the second half of practice they started getting…they responded…which is what you want. So I sometimes try to used that to our advantage, but at the same time we…it’s like anything else, you feed off that momentum, the energy, you start making plays, start getting some takeaways, start getting some sacks, some pressures, some break-ups and it just feeds and it becomes and feeding frenzy for the defense. I’m a high energy guy. I want us to be a high energy defense. I want our guys to coach that way, and we do. I just think that we’ve got a coaching staff that believes in that. The guys are going to play to our personality, and so we want to be that kind of unit. We want to have a swagger about us, we want to have a confidence about us. When we step on that field I want our guys to expect to take the ball from the offense. I want us to expect to be great on third downs. I want us to expect to be a top 25 defense. That’s where you carry that, and it just doesn’t happen, it has to be developed and it has to be created and it happens over time. we had a really young group last year that is now a much more experienced group, and I think you’re seeing the benefits of that, even today when they got off to…you say a slow start, the offense was doing a lot of good things…but they responded. Then it just kept building, and then they kind of dominated I thought the last half of practice in some key ways. So that’s good and what you want to see. And then you want to see the offense come back this coming Thursday and respond as well, and they will, our coaches are doing a great job.
Videos
Mentioned: Tom Allen, Madison Norris, James Head, Gavin McCabe, James Miller, Kane Wommack, Kasey Teegarden