Tom Allen's Notes and Quotes From National Signing Day

Image: Amanda Pavelka Hoosier Huddle

Written by Andrew Walker

Notes

• Allen really happy with signing day additions

• Kahlil Benson is a huge get for Offensive Line

• 19 guys out of high school/JuCo and one grad transfer make up the 2020 signing class

• Nine mid-year enrollees have been working extremely hard and Allen is happy about their performance so far.

• Mentioned injured players:

  • Peyton Hendershot (out of spring practice)

  • Thomas Allen (recovering from shoulder surgery)

  • C.J. Person (recovering)

  • Jeremy Passmore (recovering but will be present for spring ball)

  • Josh Sanguinetti (active, but limited for spring ball) 

Quotes

Tom Allen

Q. I think it's now seven offensive linemen with Benson in there. I know you lost obviously a few with the seniors. But do you feel better about the depth, I guess? Why was that such a point of emphasis in the class?

COACH ALLEN: It was. And you've got a little bit different levels there. You've got five high school linemen. You've got junior college player that has two years on the field to play with a potential redshirt as well, 3-for-2 as we call it in that regard, and also a grad transfer.

Q. Departure of Coy as a grad transfer and Peyton putting his name in the transfer portal, a surprise in the offseason? Did you have any conversations? What are your thoughts how that could impact the team?

COACH ALLEN: Definitely conversations. Those guys did it the right way, talked to me face to face. And just appreciate Coy and Peyton for all their hard work and what they gave to this program and wish them nothing but the best moving forward.

Q. Could you revisit your depth situation now you've had a chance to see Dexter? And giving Peyton's news, do you still feel comfortable with your numbers and everything?

COACH ALLEN: I do, and we go through and you look at that room, Dexter's mid-year. So he's already here with us. I know he's already caught the eye of our strength staff in the way he goes about his business and his athleticism and his arm talent. Haven't seen him throw here but he throws with our players, they've already started those things. They obviously talk.

But I think that really encouraged by Michael Penix. We set out a plan for him and his weight has increased quite a bit since the end of the season. And really encouraged by that and have a specific plan for him.

When you go through -- when I came back from being on the road and obviously constant contact with our strength staff, and I had him just give me a top 5 guys in the weight room and he was top of the list, just one of the top guys, just had a great work ethic and mindset coming back, just kind of obviously the season didn't end with him, with getting injured, the way he wanted to.

Encouraged by the leadership he's showing, the work ethic he's showing, getting ready to have a big spring, big summer, and a good 2020.

Q. You talked about Florida as a place you want to hit, but you've taken guys now Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee. I guess, is there a comfort level or a response level that you feel like you're getting just from the South in general, especially with the backgrounds you've got on your staff of guys who have been in Florida and Mississippi and places like that? And two-fold question, are there other places that as you sort of think to 2021, 2022 and beyond, you'd like to try to open up -- I know the people use the word pipeline -- but opened up more recruiting opportunity in those areas?

COACH ALLEN: There's no question we target Florida. Have been pretty aggressive about talking about that and our numbers have shown that. Didn't get the same signings this year out of that group, but it's a cyclical thing that sometimes can change, but we're still spending a lot of time down there. We'll continue moving forward.

But I think the South in general, just in regards to the connections on our staff, I think that's a big part of it. I think that helps in a big way. And I think that you'd be able to go through -- and we have a good foundation here in the Midwest. That will never change; Indiana will always be my first priority.

Q. With the transfer portal becoming more popular, how does that affect your recruiting with high school recruits in terms of you could plug a hole with a guy who has been around the block a couple times as opposed to a high school player? And then how do you as a coaching staff, if a guy enters the portal, adjust on the fly to that? Is it something that you kind of keep in the back of your mind, or you just go with the flow and have a contingency plan?

COACH ALLEN: Well, it's definitely changing the way you view recruiting. I know just having conversations with high school coaches kind of over the last few weeks when you go out and they get in schools. I know they see how it's affecting the way colleges are recruiting, where you're still going to have the majority of your class is going to be high school guys. But now you have a group that you kind of, some are setting aside for those transfer guys, which is something you never discussed in the past.

So I think there's really two-fold there. The first part, when you say we've not used that as a major part of our plan here, I'm a big believer in developing, getting guys out of high school and developing those guys. But, when due to injuries or when you have guys on your own team that choose to go elsewhere, and it's obviously very, very common -- across the country now, everybody seems to be in the same boat with this. But bottom line is you have to have a plan when that happens. Sometimes you don't know. Sometimes you have a heads-up, sometimes you don't. So you just have to sometimes adjust on the fly when that situation occurs.

And we've taken a few graduate transfers, not very many. And so we've got one currently right now that we just took and trying to get maybe one or two more potentially, if that works out. But just talking to coaches, some guys it's a part of their plan is to be able to -- especially a guy comes in on a new staff -- I've seen it happen a couple of places, they come in new and utilize that quite a bit.

But it also -- there's variables involved with that. Every school is a little different based on your graduate schools and your admissions policies for those graduate schools and what kind of graduate programs you have at your school really can be a variable that's a big issue there.

So we take the resources we have and maximize them. And so to me I just want to be able to, as much as possible, keep guys here and develop them. And if they choose to want to have another opportunity somewhere else, then we'll work with them and help them.

Q. You've had about a month with these January enrollees. Any pleasant surprises, guys who might be more physically ready than you thought?

COACH ALLEN: Yeah, and at this point it's all based on talking to our strength staff. I've had a chance here this week to be on campus with them, watching them lift and do One Team Run, which we had on Tuesday.

Damarjhe Lewis is one who jumps out to me both in terms of talking to the coaching staff and just what I saw. Big body guy who moves extremely well. We learned last year with Matt Bedford, when you come in mid-year that increases your chances to be ready to play in the fall. So I think he's a guy who really sticks out to me and our staff as well.

And I think Dexter Williams, you know, obviously at the quarterback position he's got a million things to learn, but from a physical standpoint and a leadership standpoint, is a guy that our coaches commented on right away.

Caleb Murphy is another guy, here in state, that -- big, 6'3"-plus guy, 250-some pounds coming out of high school, big athlete, plays both sides of the football, high school wrestler, variety of things. Could play tight end, defensive end, a lot of different positions that he could be in. But just attitude, moves well, bends well.

Those three guys stick out. Luke Wiginton is another big, long guy. And Luke Haggard is another guy that the guys have commented.

Q. I think I saw with Kahlil Benson, there was a photo of you and basically the entire staff went to visit him. How does something like that come together? Obviously you have less people you're targeting at this point. But I guess why do you take the whole staff to go talk to him?

COACH ALLEN: It wasn't the whole staff, but it was the majority, for sure. But it just sends a message that he's important to us and that we obviously can only go -- I can't be in multiple places at one time. So as we shared with them, I chose to go there as head coach; we chose to bring the majority of our staff.

That means if you're there you're not somewhere else. You can only do that in so many places. And he's a guy that we really felt strongly about. And we wanted to send a strong message to him and his family and all those that are associated with him that he's a part -- that we're definitely one big family here and wanted them to feel that in their home. I think it was a powerful message that we sent and they received.

Q. You touched on Mike's progress in the weight room. Is he still on target to practice in the spring? And have you mapped out his spring game practice schedule also?

Image: Amanda Pavelka Hoosier Huddle

COACH ALLEN: Yes he's been released. He'll be full bore for spring ball. We don't hit our quarterbacks in the spring. So that won't change. But he'll be -- whereas last spring he was not full. He just threw seven on seven throughout the spring, did not take team reps. So he's been fully cleared for that, is doing a great, great job. So he's close to 220 -- 217, 218 right now. Really changing himself there which is really important.

So he'll be -- plan is our spring game is scheduled to be on a certain date and we'll announce that soon. But he'll be in those practices, and getting a lot of reps and going full bore with the team and doing everything, no limitations.

Q. To that broader question, where is everything health-wise? I imagine there are guys that played through things and needed them cleaned up after the season. Are there guys you expected to be limited as you approached spring practice?

COACH ALLEN: There's a few. Going through the list here in my head, I know Peyton Hendershot will not be involved in spring ball, just getting, recovering from some postseason surgeries and getting his body right. But he'll be full bore this summer.

And so I know Thomas Allen still will be limited in spring in regards to no contact, still coming back from the shoulder surgery.

And then a couple other shoulder surgeries we had. C.J. Person will be limited for spring. And then Jeramy Passmore is coming back. He'll be out there, which is great. Won't be full bore with everything, but he should be able to do drills and do things there to progress and build that.

And Josh Sanguinetti same thing. He had surgery during the season. He'll be limited, but he'll be out there in a blue jersey.

So a lot more guys out there. Like we had the same thing last year with Devon Matthews where he was not able to hit during spring but got all the drill work in. So we have a few guys in that regard.

Stevie should be fine. Everything is looking good with him from him missing the bowl game.

Q. You had a luxury last year that maybe only Nick Saban had was the quarterbacks -- 1A, 1B. With Peyton moving on, Jack Tuttle, talk about the development of him and the importance of him being ready because we saw how important this past season?

COACH ALLEN: Without question. And that's a challenge to Jack, and he's done a tremendous job working. He has a great mindset. He's excited to be in that position. And he's getting bigger and stronger. And he'll have a chance this spring to get a ton of reps and continue to grow and develop.

He's got to be ready. And Dexter's got to be ready. And everybody else in that room.

But I think those as we know -- and it's very, very important that you have those guys ready when called upon. And Jack's going to be a very, very important part of this football team and very, very important part of our 2020 season.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the move, Kasey Teegardin, and then the new assistant coaches, Coach Wright and Coach Jones?

COACH ALLEN: Yeah, really excited about the addition of Jason Jones. Actually, met him years ago. I'm a person -- I never knew Mike Hart before I hired him, so not every single person on our staff is a guy I personally knew. But it's usually going to be somebody that I knew really, really well that has worked with that guy that I can get a true, honest, day-by-day what's he like on a consistent basis.

But this is a situation where I did know Jason and worked with Jason. But first met him when he was at Oklahoma State and we were recruiting, and just always impressed. Such a sharp guy. And you can just tell. You can tell with these people. You get to be around them more.

We coached together at Ole Miss and just an excellent recruiter, excellent football coach, can really coach the whole back end. He's coached corners, safeties, can kind of do anything he needs to do back there. The chance to bring him on our staff was a great thing for us.

Image: Amanda Pavelka, Hoosier Huddle

And I really, with the departure of Coach Inge to Fresno with Coach DeBoer, my first thought was to move Kasey there. And I know he's done it in the past. But it's kind of like myself. When I, as a defensive person, and Kasey is a defensive coordinator at a smaller level, like I had, and to be able to have the big-picture view of commanding the special teams -- because you stand right here you've got the whole team with you when you do -- we have special teams meetings every single day during spring practice, during the fall. It's just a big part of the team.

So, to have that personality in front of the group is very important to command that room. And then also to be able to have that ability and desire to want to grow and expand in your leadership on a team. So to me, special teams are -- because I experienced it myself and was predominantly a defensive-minded person as a coordinator and had a chance to go into that role at Ole Miss really for the first time at that level.

And just dove into it and learned it and was able to have a great experience. So, I challenged him about that when I first talked to him about taking on this opportunity and to be promoted to the special teams coordinator.

And Kasey has embraced that. And I think he'll do a great job. We have a great system in place with that unit and culture that's been established.

On the offensive side, the addition of Kevin Wright as our tight ends coach, just couldn't be more pleased with about bringing a guy in who I've not personally coached with in the past, but coached against many, many times. And so much respect for him. And every place he's gone he's done extremely well.

And just wins and develops players. And you talk to his former players and you look at the product and you just know what you're getting.

He's an Indiana guy. He's just -- his dad's been 50-plus years in this state as a high school coach and counting and still coaching at Sheridan. And all the years he spent in Indiana just helps so much in recruiting the state. He knows everybody, so well connected. And then you go down to IMG and spends five years down there and loses two games in five years, which is pretty amazing.

But it's a unique situation. They obviously have been there many times, recruited there, and his connection with the whole country, high schools across the country that they've competed against and then interacted with. And also an extremely great reputation in the state of Florida.

He's going to help us in recruiting, even here, big time in the Midwest and the Cincinnati area and the Indianapolis area, and have a big, big presence there, which is where he spent so many years coaching and where he was raised, on the north side of Indianapolis.

So, it's always about fit for me. I want to get guys that fit the culture we're creating. We've got a really unique thing going here. The more I'm back here and I'm with our guys, and going to weight room and I'm meeting with guys all the time -- there were several already today again. And it's just really neat to see this team just buy in to what we're doing.

And every offseason it just keeps getting better and better in terms of the work ethic and the mindset and the buy in and just the belief in what we're doing. That to me is critical with the coaches that you bring in, that we're all aligned philosophically with how we do things. It doesn't mean -- you bring in guys with new ideas. Absolutely, I want that.

But I want guys that have bought in to the way we lead and motivate and build relationships because to me that's key to what we do. These guys that we'll add to that, I think we're really excited about our staff.