Tom Allen Media Monday Notes and Quotes: Michigan
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Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Indiana head coach Tom Allen took to the podium on Monday after the Hoosiers bye week and ahead of Indiana’s trip to Ann Arbor to take on No. 2 Michigan.
NOTES:
Injuries:
The following players were all ruled OUT prior to Saturday’s game. An updated availability report will be out Saturday at 1:30 pm.
5 Dexter Williams II
7 E.J. Williams Jr.
9 Jamier Johnson
26 Josh Henderson
37 Jackson Schott
60 Max Longman
82 Bradley Archer
Players of the Week:
N/A
TOM ALLEN QUOTES:
Opening Statement:
“Good morning. Just want to start by saying that had a really productive bye week. Really encouraged by our guys' mindset and approach to last week, and two goals were to get healthy and to get better. And so the health part of it is guys recovering, guys getting some injured guys back, and those that are have been out, and some guys to be able to get a time to get their bodies recovered as well.
Guys been playing a lot of snaps and put a lot of emphasis on fundamentals and technique, some scheme work, gotta jump on Michigan for a couple days, practiced on Wednesday and Tuesday, and coaches headed out to recruit Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday, Friday. So got a chance to watch a lot of high school football games.
And then also just as we prepare for a very good Michigan football team, you know, obviously playing as well as anybody in America right now and playing with a lot of confidence and a lot of experience on that team, on both sides of the ball, and a big physical team that is playing at a very high level right now.
So tremendous opportunity and challenge for our players as we come together this week and continue to improve our team.”
On How He Wants the Offense to Change:
“Obviously, we're not going to sit here and divulge everything that we're doing for our opponents moving forward. But for obvious reasons, we made a change. So there was not getting the production that we need in scoring points. That's the major focus.
So obviously you go back and you evaluate, what have you done well? And you go back and you look and you use the bye week to be able to evaluate the things that our guys do a good job with and feel comfortable with and within the structure of our current system, as you mentioned, you just can't wholesale change things at this point. But obviously a bye week gives you a chance to make some subtle adjustments. So we're in the process of doing that.
Basically you're trying to, now that we know who we are and the things we do, do well, emphasize, continue to grow those and then obviously address the issues, the not being able to finish drives and our red zone efficiency and being able to get those, you know, third and shorts in the score zone, red zone, to finish out those drives and to change the way everything feels when you score a touchdown versus having to settle for a field goal or less. Just, to me, continuing to build off of that, and I think that to me is a big part of it to be able to maximize.
That's one advantage of having Coach Carey take over is the fact he's been here with us. He knows our personnel. He's been here for a couple of years now overall. Obviously didn't work with the offense a year ago but really had a chance with some of -- knew our guys, the strengths and the things they can do, to be able to match that and just be able to, like I said, the whole goal is we've gotta score points, and that's the objective for our offense and that's the charge he's been given, be able to take our current structure and improve it.”
On How the Team Utilized the Bye Week:
“ I think, first of all, there's a component of the bye week, I think, that's really important for your players, and that is when you address things and get some fundamental work in. They do need a mental break, our players.
We talked about, hey, do we go ahead and do something with our guys on a Thursday and then go out and recruit after that. But as we discussed it and I even met with our captains and trust those guys and where they're at, and just trying to help our players fully benefit from some time away. And I think that's important to do.
So you kind of balance that. So that allows us time away for them is time for us to go out and recruit. So you still try to do a little bit of both, but we were able to make some changes in that regard to help us spend a little more time with our guys here on campus.
But I do think that it's important, those in-person evals are really important. I don't get many of those during the season. The bye week is the main time to do that, to go watch a young person, prospective player either playing in a game, practice or lift weights, whatever they do.
Some teams even one team played on a Wednesday so we got to watch them the day after their game and do their post, the day after practice, that kind of thing.
I just think trying to balance that, without question, but recruiting is very critical. Thought we made some headway with key guys by going out to see them and being able to talk to their coaches and being visible at games and making sure they know the priority they are. So I think it was a good balance for our guys.”
On Spotting the Trends on Why the Defense is Getting Gashed for Big Plays:
“I think especially in that game, which was really, there were some unusual breakdowns that we hadn't had before. I think you look at the previous couple of weeks, the quarterback containment was kind of a bigger glaring issue. I think we may have overreacted to that in some ways and then set us up for some other issues that I think, that created, unfortunately.
Because really it wasn't characteristic of us to do some of the things we did in the first quarter. You can't spot a team like that 21 points, and to their credit they executed but obviously we did not.
So just trying to prevent some of those things from happening. We made a couple of calls that we agreed as a staff may not have been the best position to put our guys in in that spot. But at the same time I think it was a good week to evaluate and just kind of get back to the things that, once again, you go back defensively, what have we done really well?
Our guys, what's their comfort level, how will they be able to play? If we feel good about where we think that is and we want to get back to doing that and help our guys and do a really good job of disguising our coverings and making the quarterback have to consider things with the reads and then do a great job of still continuing to improve on containing them because we still have another athletic quarterback this week that can run it.
J.J. McCarthy is a very, very athletic quarterback that has really good speed and can beat you with his arms and his legs. So that doesn't change this week.
But I do feel good about the time we've had together as a staff to discuss the things we do well, because I do think we feel a good group on defense that can play at a hot level and I expect them to. And we have just got to learn from and flush what happened there and move forward.”
On Starting Games Better:
“ I think we've got to take ownership of that too as coaches. That's on me as a head coach. We're going to change some things we do in practice. Once again met with our captains. Talked about this very thing. We talked about things that we felt like -- and I just wanted to get their input on some things.
We'll make adjustments in how we practice and intensify the good on good opportunities where we're going against -- still going to go against our scouts. We're going to do more work, you know, offense versus defense and just trying to create the intensity and create the look that we need to get.
Those are just things, we're going to do try to do some other things as well. I'm not going to sit here and say just gonna come off a bye week and it's just naturally going to improve. And we're going to have structural changes in our schedule and the way we do things, how we practice, the way we do what we do, when we do, what we do to get our guys off to a faster early start and get that urgency going right away, because we can't afford in any of these games, these last several are going to be critical that we play well for four quarters.”
On the Identity and Brand Allen Wants to Create on Offense:
“You want to be physical. And there's never a, hey, we're going to run the ball for this many reps or whatever. It's what do you have to do to be able to score points.
But there's a balance piece to this. You need to be effectively throw it and run it. When I say know who with you are, you have to know the strengths of your team at this point -- teams don't just wholesale change after five or six teams. You're, like, okay, this is what we do well, let's continue off of that.
And the guys that you have that are making plays and can make plays and obviously get some key guys back is always important.
But at the same time, I think for me it's a physical football team that executes well and has high-level quarterback play which I think is an area of focus. Obviously we have two talented quarterbacks that I want to see to continue to develop and play well.
And to make a team feel they've got to defend the run game and throw game. And that's where our offensive line is making progress and we'll continue to grow off of that and continue, we did some good things running the football last time. But at the same time just gotta continue to grow. We're going to be more challenged than ever with a defense you're going to play. Give up five points a game. That's not many, but it's crazy. But at the same time that's what you are going against. And it's at their place.
So I think just an offense that gives you an opportunity to win the game. You can't win the game without scoring points. So our defense needs to do a really good job of getting off the field on third downs and creating more takeaways and setting up our offense.
The same with special teams. Can't have them drive 75, 80 yards each time. So one time we had that opportunity early, we got a big kickoff return and you go down and score. Need to get a touchdown. We had a third-and-2, need to get a first down, need to score touchdowns in that situation. But that's what I want to see our offense do.”