Players Bring Competitive Edge to Chicago
7/26/2017 9:44:00 AM | Football
By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
CHICAGO - Indiana football was 2-0 before it even left town.
Rashard Fant, Richard Lagow and Tegray Scales – IU's player representatives at the Big Ten Football Media Days – saw to that.
BTN's Mike Hall, who hosts a show on the network called "Sports Lite," provided the context for it.
Hall's show, which aims to have some aimless fun regarding Big Ten athletics, staged a pair of contests in the studio for the Hoosier players and their Iowa counterparts.
The first challenge was "Speed Janga," involving a tower of blocks and removal of blocks until the tower collapses. The three players from each side had to alternate quickly, which increased the challenge.
"It was alternating, and you've got to go fast, under pressure," Scales recalled. "We were able to pull it off. It all comes down to smooth, quick wrist action."
Fant said nobody displayed that quality more than did Scales.
"I think our strong point was Tegray, which really shouldn't surprise anybody," Fant said. "You'd think his hands are a little bit rough, as a linebacker, but he's got a soft touch. He was smooth. He did his thing. He was our X factor.
"I still thought we might lose. It was shaking a little bit. But they got the bad end of the deal having to get that last one out."
Iowa's players – Josey Jewell, Matt VandeBerg and Sean Welsh – also felt they got the bad end of the deal during the next competition.
Scales was selected by his teammates to go up against VandeBerg in a contest determining who could recite the alphabet most quickly.
"I think my teammates put me under pressure, nominating me for that," Scales said. "But they gave me some water to calm me down and gave me a pep talk, and I think it worked. I think I prepared well for that."
Thanks largely to Lagow, who oversaw the prep.
"I just said, 'You've got this,' " Lagow said. "And I gave him some water. You want your lips and mouth loosened up. You don't want dry mouth. I said, 'Take a deep breath. You were built for this.' "
Fant wasn't so sure.
"If you've heard Tegray speak, you'd be a little nervous in regard to speed, but he got it out," Fant said. "The great ones always come through when it matters most."
Hall clocked Scales' alphabet recitation in an astonishing, victorious 2.9 seconds.
The Iowa players openly questioned the accuracy of Hall's time-keeping (and, according to impartial observers, might well have had a case) but no official review to overturn the decision ensued.
So: Indiana 2, Iowa 0.
It'll stay that way, too, given the Hoosiers and Hawkeyes don't meet this season. IU does, however, have a challenging slate, starting with the deservedly hyped Aug. 31 season opener that sees IU hosting Ohio State's Buckeyes.
Not that any of the Hoosiers in Chicago seemed fazed by that. They're already accustomed to life within the rigorous Big Ten East.
IU was within 24-17 with four minutes left in the third quarter against OSU last year in Columbus and has generally played competitively against the ever-potent Buckeyes in recent campaigns.
Adding spice to the upcoming matchup is erstwhile IU head coach Kevin Wilson's new role as OSU's offensive coordinator. Allen, who Monday publicly credited Wilson with the recent rise in overall Hoosier competitiveness, also thanked Wilson for bringing him back to his native state. And Allen is well aware of the irony regarding Aug. 31.
"As I would say it, 'The Good Lord has a sense of humor,'" Allen said, "when you think about the way this has all kind of played out – to be able to have this as our first game, my first home game as head coach.
"(Kevin) hired me, and now he's the offensive coordinator there … but once the game starts, it's not about him and me. It's about Indiana against Ohio State. It'll be about players making plays."
Allen feels fine going into that challenging game, and the challenging season, with the sort of playmakers he took to Chicago.
Scales, first team All-Big Ten and IU's first linebacking All-American since 1987, led the nation in both solo tackles (93) and tackles-for-loss (23.5) last season.
Fant led the Big Ten in pass breakups (17, second nationally) and passes defended (third nationally) in earning second team All-Big Ten honors.
Lagow completed 58 percent of his passes in throwing for 3,362 yards (second all-time in a single season at IU) and his 258.6 passing yards per game ranked second in the Big Ten last fall. His stats were really marred only by 17 interceptions, almost wholly offsetting 19 TD throws.
Allen has seen Lagow, just entering his second season as IU's quarterback, pick up the leadership mantle for the Hoosier offense this off-season.
"I'm a strong believer that everything rises and falls on leadership," Allen said. "It begins with us as coaches. But you have to create it, develop it, enhance it with your team. (Lagow) has bought into that. I've sat with him. We've met. We've challenged him, given him books to read, to be able to get different thoughts on how to creatively live that out.
"And he's grown. And has just taken position, owning it, taking charge, realizing this is your football team, this is your offense, and holding your teammates accountable. It takes courage to do that … just to be able to believe that when it's two minutes to go in the game, we've got to go score, put the team on my back, I'm going to go find a way. That's the mentality we want him to have. So he's growing in that area."
Lagow, who said he had watched every game from last season "several times" to evaluate his decision-making and ways to cut down on interceptions, didn't hesitate to use the words "fun" and "genius" to describe Wilson's approach to offense – but also feels he'll benefit from new IU offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan.
So does Allen, who thinks perhaps too many voices were trying to get Lagow's ear last season.
"I think just having one voice that is communicating and really coaching him, I think that helps," Allen said, "and it is something that we've done with the current situation now that maybe is a little different from the past. It's hard to have a lot of different people in your ear."
Allen appreciates how Scales tuned out other voices to fully embrace Allen's and help facilitate IU's big defensive turnaround last fall.
"There is no question that from the first time I got here, he was locked-in to what I was saying," Allen said of Scales. "And not only did he listen to it, he started doing it. It was preparation. And then it extended to his demeanor on the sideline during practice in terms of trying to change the culture of the defense. He bought in. And once he started doing that, his play started elevating.
"(He is) a prime example of a guy who believes in what you're saying and what you're doing. And now he's owned it, himself. Now he's the one out there doing the leading. He's the one, when I might be over with the offense or whatever, he's saying the things to the defense that I might have been saying to them a year ago. And that's a powerful thing, when you have leaders like that on your team. I'm just really proud of him. Taking it, buying in, and now taking over."
Allen also relishes the notion of Fant returning to help lead a veteran defense, a guy possessing the necessary skills and chutzpah to play shutdown corner.
That audacity was on full display when Fant, watching Allen address IU beat writers Monday, grabbed a microphone to intone a question of his own.
"Of the three guys you brought this weekend," Fant asked his coach, "who would you say is the best dressed?"
Allen couldn't suppress a smile before responding: "You know, Rashard Fant looks pretty sharp today. And I like the look of his swagger and his confidence."
Fant wants to see more of both from his team this season, noting it had helped carry the Hoosiers to a double-overtime win last fall over a then-ranked Michigan State squad.
"We had never beaten a team considered really good, except for Missouri three years ago, so that Michigan State game seemed like a turning point," Fant said, "when people bought in and felt we could do something special.
"But then we still finished 6-7 and now we need to get over that next hump."
Lagow noted that the team's burgeoning "we" rather than "me" mentality under Allen's mentoring might be the crucial ingredient for that.
"My expectations have changed in that they're more for our program, now," Lagow said. "My expectations last year, when I first got here, was to come in and learn the offense and win the starting job and then have success. I'm solely focused on this team, right now.
" … And I think that (attitude is) through the entire team. It's 'I don't care who gets the credit.' Coach Allen says it all the time. And I really could not care less if I throw one pass and it's intercepted and our running backs run for 500 yards and we win the game -- that's cool. I want to win games. That's it."
And that starts week one.
"It's going to be a test," Scales said of the OSU matchup. "Week-in and week-out in the Big Ten is going to be a test. But it's exciting. Gives you something to work toward."
It does.
Scales and the others can also take some confidence into the against the Buckeyes.
There will be different sorts of blocks involved.
And it won't be as simple as ABC.
But Indiana will enter 2-0.
IUHoosiers.com
CHICAGO - Indiana football was 2-0 before it even left town.
Rashard Fant, Richard Lagow and Tegray Scales – IU's player representatives at the Big Ten Football Media Days – saw to that.
BTN's Mike Hall, who hosts a show on the network called "Sports Lite," provided the context for it.
Hall's show, which aims to have some aimless fun regarding Big Ten athletics, staged a pair of contests in the studio for the Hoosier players and their Iowa counterparts.
The first challenge was "Speed Janga," involving a tower of blocks and removal of blocks until the tower collapses. The three players from each side had to alternate quickly, which increased the challenge.
"It was alternating, and you've got to go fast, under pressure," Scales recalled. "We were able to pull it off. It all comes down to smooth, quick wrist action."
Fant said nobody displayed that quality more than did Scales.
"I think our strong point was Tegray, which really shouldn't surprise anybody," Fant said. "You'd think his hands are a little bit rough, as a linebacker, but he's got a soft touch. He was smooth. He did his thing. He was our X factor.
"I still thought we might lose. It was shaking a little bit. But they got the bad end of the deal having to get that last one out."
A Hoosier victory in Speed Jenga. #B1GMediaDay ???? pic.twitter.com/WlDOnfVYbz
— Indiana Football (@HoosierFootball) July 24, 2017
Iowa's players – Josey Jewell, Matt VandeBerg and Sean Welsh – also felt they got the bad end of the deal during the next competition.
Scales was selected by his teammates to go up against VandeBerg in a contest determining who could recite the alphabet most quickly.
"I think my teammates put me under pressure, nominating me for that," Scales said. "But they gave me some water to calm me down and gave me a pep talk, and I think it worked. I think I prepared well for that."
Thanks largely to Lagow, who oversaw the prep.
"I just said, 'You've got this,' " Lagow said. "And I gave him some water. You want your lips and mouth loosened up. You don't want dry mouth. I said, 'Take a deep breath. You were built for this.' "
Fant wasn't so sure.
"If you've heard Tegray speak, you'd be a little nervous in regard to speed, but he got it out," Fant said. "The great ones always come through when it matters most."
Hall clocked Scales' alphabet recitation in an astonishing, victorious 2.9 seconds.
The Iowa players openly questioned the accuracy of Hall's time-keeping (and, according to impartial observers, might well have had a case) but no official review to overturn the decision ensued.
So: Indiana 2, Iowa 0.
It'll stay that way, too, given the Hoosiers and Hawkeyes don't meet this season. IU does, however, have a challenging slate, starting with the deservedly hyped Aug. 31 season opener that sees IU hosting Ohio State's Buckeyes.
Not that any of the Hoosiers in Chicago seemed fazed by that. They're already accustomed to life within the rigorous Big Ten East.
IU was within 24-17 with four minutes left in the third quarter against OSU last year in Columbus and has generally played competitively against the ever-potent Buckeyes in recent campaigns.
Adding spice to the upcoming matchup is erstwhile IU head coach Kevin Wilson's new role as OSU's offensive coordinator. Allen, who Monday publicly credited Wilson with the recent rise in overall Hoosier competitiveness, also thanked Wilson for bringing him back to his native state. And Allen is well aware of the irony regarding Aug. 31.
"As I would say it, 'The Good Lord has a sense of humor,'" Allen said, "when you think about the way this has all kind of played out – to be able to have this as our first game, my first home game as head coach.
"(Kevin) hired me, and now he's the offensive coordinator there … but once the game starts, it's not about him and me. It's about Indiana against Ohio State. It'll be about players making plays."
Allen feels fine going into that challenging game, and the challenging season, with the sort of playmakers he took to Chicago.
Scales, first team All-Big Ten and IU's first linebacking All-American since 1987, led the nation in both solo tackles (93) and tackles-for-loss (23.5) last season.
Fant led the Big Ten in pass breakups (17, second nationally) and passes defended (third nationally) in earning second team All-Big Ten honors.
Lagow completed 58 percent of his passes in throwing for 3,362 yards (second all-time in a single season at IU) and his 258.6 passing yards per game ranked second in the Big Ten last fall. His stats were really marred only by 17 interceptions, almost wholly offsetting 19 TD throws.
Allen has seen Lagow, just entering his second season as IU's quarterback, pick up the leadership mantle for the Hoosier offense this off-season.
"I'm a strong believer that everything rises and falls on leadership," Allen said. "It begins with us as coaches. But you have to create it, develop it, enhance it with your team. (Lagow) has bought into that. I've sat with him. We've met. We've challenged him, given him books to read, to be able to get different thoughts on how to creatively live that out.
"And he's grown. And has just taken position, owning it, taking charge, realizing this is your football team, this is your offense, and holding your teammates accountable. It takes courage to do that … just to be able to believe that when it's two minutes to go in the game, we've got to go score, put the team on my back, I'm going to go find a way. That's the mentality we want him to have. So he's growing in that area."
Lagow, who said he had watched every game from last season "several times" to evaluate his decision-making and ways to cut down on interceptions, didn't hesitate to use the words "fun" and "genius" to describe Wilson's approach to offense – but also feels he'll benefit from new IU offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan.
So does Allen, who thinks perhaps too many voices were trying to get Lagow's ear last season.
"I think just having one voice that is communicating and really coaching him, I think that helps," Allen said, "and it is something that we've done with the current situation now that maybe is a little different from the past. It's hard to have a lot of different people in your ear."
Allen appreciates how Scales tuned out other voices to fully embrace Allen's and help facilitate IU's big defensive turnaround last fall.
"There is no question that from the first time I got here, he was locked-in to what I was saying," Allen said of Scales. "And not only did he listen to it, he started doing it. It was preparation. And then it extended to his demeanor on the sideline during practice in terms of trying to change the culture of the defense. He bought in. And once he started doing that, his play started elevating.
"(He is) a prime example of a guy who believes in what you're saying and what you're doing. And now he's owned it, himself. Now he's the one out there doing the leading. He's the one, when I might be over with the offense or whatever, he's saying the things to the defense that I might have been saying to them a year ago. And that's a powerful thing, when you have leaders like that on your team. I'm just really proud of him. Taking it, buying in, and now taking over."
Allen also relishes the notion of Fant returning to help lead a veteran defense, a guy possessing the necessary skills and chutzpah to play shutdown corner.
That audacity was on full display when Fant, watching Allen address IU beat writers Monday, grabbed a microphone to intone a question of his own.
"Of the three guys you brought this weekend," Fant asked his coach, "who would you say is the best dressed?"
Allen couldn't suppress a smile before responding: "You know, Rashard Fant looks pretty sharp today. And I like the look of his swagger and his confidence."
Fant wants to see more of both from his team this season, noting it had helped carry the Hoosiers to a double-overtime win last fall over a then-ranked Michigan State squad.
"We had never beaten a team considered really good, except for Missouri three years ago, so that Michigan State game seemed like a turning point," Fant said, "when people bought in and felt we could do something special.
"But then we still finished 6-7 and now we need to get over that next hump."
Lagow noted that the team's burgeoning "we" rather than "me" mentality under Allen's mentoring might be the crucial ingredient for that.
"My expectations have changed in that they're more for our program, now," Lagow said. "My expectations last year, when I first got here, was to come in and learn the offense and win the starting job and then have success. I'm solely focused on this team, right now.
" … And I think that (attitude is) through the entire team. It's 'I don't care who gets the credit.' Coach Allen says it all the time. And I really could not care less if I throw one pass and it's intercepted and our running backs run for 500 yards and we win the game -- that's cool. I want to win games. That's it."
And that starts week one.
"It's going to be a test," Scales said of the OSU matchup. "Week-in and week-out in the Big Ten is going to be a test. But it's exciting. Gives you something to work toward."
It does.
Scales and the others can also take some confidence into the against the Buckeyes.
There will be different sorts of blocks involved.
And it won't be as simple as ABC.
But Indiana will enter 2-0.
Players Mentioned
FB: Mikail Kamara Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Kellan Wyatt Media Availability (9/16/25)
Tuesday, September 16
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (9/15/25)
Monday, September 15
FB: Omar Cooper - ISU Postgame Press Conference (09/12/25))
Friday, September 12