Tom Allen Discusses Saturday's Scrimmage

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The traditional capper to spring football is the annual Spring Game. It typically represents a chance for fans to get a glimpse of the upcoming season’s team and a chance for players to compete in something resembling an exhibition game. In reality, it’s often more spectacle and pomp than actual football and Tom Allen opted to take a different approach to spring football this year. IU is not holding a spring game and practices have not even been open to the media. However, the Hoosiers did have a scrimmage last Saturday. Well, sort of.

“Really pleased with the start of spring football,” Tom Allen told the media on Monday. “We had our sixth practice on Saturday, and we are really in the process of going through and re-evaluating spring. We went ahead and have a scrimmage on Saturday. It wasn’t a full scrimmage; it was probably half of the time spent in that mode to create some game-like situations. We did go live, which I think is very important.”

Teams get 15 practices for spring football and Saturday marked practice number six. The IU head coach spoke about who stood out during the scrimmage. “I would say one of the guys that stuck out was Cam Camper. I don’t know if it was just the scrimmage because it has been that way throughout each of our practices. He has stuck out to me,” Allen said of the JUCO transfer. He continued to talk about other new additions on the offense. “Emery Simmons is another one. I think our two running backs, as well, Shaun Shivers and Josh Henderson. Those guys are all new, all four of them. When you go live and you get a chance to see where those guys are at, thought we were able to do some good things.”

Allen also mentioned solid play from his quarterbacks. “It is really solid. They are learning a new offense, that is challenging, without question, but I thought that Jack Tuttle and Connor Bazelak kind of stood out on Saturday, as far as making plays and grasping the offense.”

Of course, football is a multi-faceted game and Tom Allen’s praise was not singular to one side of the ball. His defense has been working hard on fundamentals and IU’s defensive play-caller for 2022 was pleased with what he saw. “I felt like we tackled well and we have not tackled live since the Bucket Game. I thought those guys performed solidly. Though, I think you still have mistakes and things that you have to correct and all of that. I think Noah Pierre has been the one on defense that continues to play well. He has shown a lot of flexibility for us in the past.”

Pierre, entering his senior year, has played at cornerback, safety and Husky and it appears he is working himself into a potentially larger role for his final season.

“Maurice Freeman is a guy that is coming along, and I think the more live we go, the more he shows. Kaiden Turner (freshman linebacker), it seems like whenever we go and just play football and he doesn’t have to think as much, he just makes plays. That’s what you are looking for. Same with Jordan Grier, he is another guy that is young and needs to continue to grow and develop and that is super positive for us. Myles Jackson (transfer from UCLA) continues to flash and show bursts of both athleticism and strength. I really like the way he is playing right now and feel like he is making us better.”

It is not wise to draw conclusions from a coach’s comments but there is a telling trend in Tom Allen’s talks to the media. Each time he speaks, he tends to speak highly of incoming transfers and freshmen. While these players will not alone be the panacea to all of IU’s issues, it is fair to express optimism the Hoosiers have helped themselves quite a bit with these additions. Indiana gets back on the field for practice number seven on Tuesday morning.