“Finish!” -- Allen and the Hoosiers Pumped for Bowl Opportunity
12/17/2019 3:03:00 PM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tom Allen paces the turf at Mellencamp Pavilion, bullhorn in hand, watching, pushing, motivating.
"Good stance and good reaction," Indiana's head football coach shouts through the bullhorn.
It's a mid-Sunday morning and cold air blows through an open door. Winter is coming. A heavy snow will arrive in six hours but that's of no relevance here.
There's Tennessee to prepare for, a TaxSlayer Gator Bowl win to achieve, a season victory total milestone to accomplish.
A play is run, and Allen zooms into coaching mode.
"Finish! First to the football!"
These comments are directed at the defense in a drill without full-bore contact, but with purpose – Allen calls it "thud tempo." Loafing is not an option.
"Finish strong," Allen shouts.
Quarterbacks Peyton Ramsey, Jack Tuttle and Will Jontz run the offensive plays. The defense pushes to shut them down. On one play, Tuttle throws a 15-yard touchdown pass tight end Turon Ivy Jr. This might one day become a common sight in Hoosier games.
Now, it's a chance for young players to hone their skills and timing.
"Well done," Allen shouts after the defense stuffs a run. "Good transition. That's what it takes."
More plays are run. Sometimes the offense wins. Sometimes it's the defense. Allen, still a defensive coordinator at heart, tries not to play favorites.
"Keep communicating offense."
Flash back 40 hours, to a Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall press conference 90 minutes before the basketball Hoosiers face Nebraska. Allen talks about taking his 8-4 team into a post-season clash with the Volunteers (7-5). The Hoosiers have a chance to reach nine victories for just the third time in history.
"Our guys are very excited about this opportunity," he says, "and want to see our team take full advantage."
Early practice approach starts with getting young players plenty of reps and fundamental work, with the veteran players focused on staying sharp. It is in essence, Allen says, like having two spring practices.
The focus on Tennessee will come later.
"We're not going to do any Tennessee work early on.
"There will be a lot of tackling drills for our guys, a lot of good, physical blocking from a drill work perspective. Just get better as a team. You don't like to start too soon on your opponent. It gets stale if you do."
Allen says he's talked with other coaches on how they prepare for bowls, even coaches who have played in the Gator Bowl and other January games.
"It's been good to be able to resource those guys," he says.
The Hoosiers backed off football work after the win over Purdue. Players focused on weight lifting and conditioning.
"We allowed them to stay on top of their game physically, as well as get a chance to get mentally and physically refreshed from all the demands of a season," Allen says.
Bowl preparations won't be all business. The Hoosiers will attend the Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars game, and more.
As far as recruiting, Allen says this opportunity has generated a huge boost to a program already coming off the two best recruiting classes in its history. The early signing period starts Wednesday.
"Just the momentum from the Bucket win and the season and all we've been able to accomplish is huge," he says. "You've got a strong set of evidence of what we're doing. Instead of saying this is what we want or hope, this is what we just did. It's a powerful thing, and they see it. We're trying to take full advantage."
With weeks of preparation, there will be time to get creative, to devise new plays, trick plays, the kind of plays to keep Tennessee off balance.
How creative will IU coaches get?
"Time creates that," Allen says, "and sometimes you've got to be careful, but I think you need to do a little bit of that. It also helps with your guys for them to be able to do some new things.
"You want to give (Tennessee) something they haven't seen. You don't want them to think they have a good feel for you.
"At the same time, we're such a young team overall that I want us to be very, very simple in our regards to the fact we're going to play really fast and very physical, play with a lot of confidence.
"Coaches get time on their hands to be innovative and creative that they do too much of that. So it's about being fundamentally sound and playing well."
And then winning.
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tom Allen paces the turf at Mellencamp Pavilion, bullhorn in hand, watching, pushing, motivating.
"Good stance and good reaction," Indiana's head football coach shouts through the bullhorn.
It's a mid-Sunday morning and cold air blows through an open door. Winter is coming. A heavy snow will arrive in six hours but that's of no relevance here.
There's Tennessee to prepare for, a TaxSlayer Gator Bowl win to achieve, a season victory total milestone to accomplish.
A play is run, and Allen zooms into coaching mode.
"Finish! First to the football!"
These comments are directed at the defense in a drill without full-bore contact, but with purpose – Allen calls it "thud tempo." Loafing is not an option.
"Finish strong," Allen shouts.
Quarterbacks Peyton Ramsey, Jack Tuttle and Will Jontz run the offensive plays. The defense pushes to shut them down. On one play, Tuttle throws a 15-yard touchdown pass tight end Turon Ivy Jr. This might one day become a common sight in Hoosier games.
Now, it's a chance for young players to hone their skills and timing.
"Well done," Allen shouts after the defense stuffs a run. "Good transition. That's what it takes."
More plays are run. Sometimes the offense wins. Sometimes it's the defense. Allen, still a defensive coordinator at heart, tries not to play favorites.
"Keep communicating offense."
Flash back 40 hours, to a Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall press conference 90 minutes before the basketball Hoosiers face Nebraska. Allen talks about taking his 8-4 team into a post-season clash with the Volunteers (7-5). The Hoosiers have a chance to reach nine victories for just the third time in history.
"Our guys are very excited about this opportunity," he says, "and want to see our team take full advantage."
Early practice approach starts with getting young players plenty of reps and fundamental work, with the veteran players focused on staying sharp. It is in essence, Allen says, like having two spring practices.
The focus on Tennessee will come later.
"We're not going to do any Tennessee work early on.
"There will be a lot of tackling drills for our guys, a lot of good, physical blocking from a drill work perspective. Just get better as a team. You don't like to start too soon on your opponent. It gets stale if you do."
Allen says he's talked with other coaches on how they prepare for bowls, even coaches who have played in the Gator Bowl and other January games.
"It's been good to be able to resource those guys," he says.
The Hoosiers backed off football work after the win over Purdue. Players focused on weight lifting and conditioning.
"We allowed them to stay on top of their game physically, as well as get a chance to get mentally and physically refreshed from all the demands of a season," Allen says.
Bowl preparations won't be all business. The Hoosiers will attend the Indianapolis Colts at Jacksonville Jaguars game, and more.
As far as recruiting, Allen says this opportunity has generated a huge boost to a program already coming off the two best recruiting classes in its history. The early signing period starts Wednesday.
"Just the momentum from the Bucket win and the season and all we've been able to accomplish is huge," he says. "You've got a strong set of evidence of what we're doing. Instead of saying this is what we want or hope, this is what we just did. It's a powerful thing, and they see it. We're trying to take full advantage."
With weeks of preparation, there will be time to get creative, to devise new plays, trick plays, the kind of plays to keep Tennessee off balance.
How creative will IU coaches get?
"Time creates that," Allen says, "and sometimes you've got to be careful, but I think you need to do a little bit of that. It also helps with your guys for them to be able to do some new things.
"You want to give (Tennessee) something they haven't seen. You don't want them to think they have a good feel for you.
"At the same time, we're such a young team overall that I want us to be very, very simple in our regards to the fact we're going to play really fast and very physical, play with a lot of confidence.
"Coaches get time on their hands to be innovative and creative that they do too much of that. So it's about being fundamentally sound and playing well."
And then winning.
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