Indiana University Athletics
A Spring Like No Other – IU Embraces Football Change
3/1/2019 9:54:00 PM | Football
BY PETE DIPRIMIO
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tom Allen faces a whole new Hoosier football coaching world.
The head coach is no longer the defensive coordinator -- by his choice.
Kane Wommack will run the defense just as Kalen DeBoer will lead a new Indiana offensive attack.
Spring football has arrived, the first practice is Saturday, and Allen seeks to bring a winning record to Indiana after consecutive 5-7 near misses. That means focusing on running the entire program and delegating responsibility to others.
That doesn't mean Allen won't be heavily involved in the defense. He will. But Wommack will make the calls, organize schemes and practices and, in short, make the decisions.
Wommack is well prepared to make those decisions. He spent last season as IU's linebackers coach. The two seasons before that, at South Alabama, he was the nation's youngest defensive coordinator. His father, Dave Wommack, coached football for 37 years.
Wommack will continue Allen's overall system, with this main thought:
"At the end of the day," Allen says, "we're going to play a lot of guys."
The Hoosiers have three main spring practice goals:
Install DeBoer's new offense.
Implement Wommack's new approach.
Build depth.
"The fundamental development that we have to have on both sides of the ball is a huge focus," Allen says. "We're really looking forward to that.
"Pretty much things have been going how we want them to go."
DeBoer is a proven point-producing coach. He resurrected offenses at Fresno State and Eastern Michigan, and directed high-power attacks at Sioux Falls and Southern Illinois.
"As far as Kalen being able to get everything installed, it's a process," Allen says.
How will the installation work?
"It's a balance," Allen says. "You increase your individual work during the spring, which is pretty typical and that will continue.
"We've gone through a progression of install that we feel comfortable with at this point and you adjust it as that process unfolds.
"We want to move pretty slowly. We want our guys to feel good about what they're doing and want them to master the concepts.
"Our guys are learning a new way of communicating, how we transition and the way we operate as an offense. The main objective is to feel good about the base things that we've identified. We want to be good at both throwing and running."
It all will culminate with the April 12 Cream & Crimson Game, a 7 p.m. kick at Memorial Stadium.
"We have a whole bunch of guys right now that I'm really excited about getting them out on the field and playing some football again here real soon," Allen says.
QUARTERBACK COMPETITION
No position battle will generate more attention than at quarterback. Starter Peyton Ramsey returns. So does talented backup Michael Penix Jr., who is coming off an ACL injury. Then there's the addition of Utah transfer Jack Tuttle, a former four-star high school prospect out of California.
IU is petitioning the NCAA to allow Tuttle to play right away rather than sit out his transfer season per NCAA rules. He never played at Utah last year as a true freshman.
Allen says there's, "No update with Jack Tuttle. We're still waiting for that (NCAA) response."
With Penix still recovering from knee surgery, Ramsey and Tuttle will share most of the spring practice reps.
"To me, they've got to compete," Allen says. "It's a highly competitive room right now, which is what I want."
Given the number of quarterback injuries in college football, you can't have enough quality players at that position," Allen adds.
"Let the competition bring out the best in each of them. Yeah, they are competing for a position, but they are also teammates. I want to see how they handle that because I want guys that love Indiana football and they want Indiana football to be very successful. I get it.
"If I was one of those three, I would be wanting to play, too. So who is willing to do the little things right and who is willing to -- at the end of the day, who leads the team down the field and gets us in the end zone and is able to convert two-minute situations and the team believes in them and all those things, commands the offense, and moves the chains and all the things that you need to do for game-day success.
"I'm looking forward to that dynamic. I think it's three high-character guys who will handle it well. I'm anxious to see who continues to get better and better throughout the process."
RAMSEY EMBRACES CHALLENGE
It never ends for Ramsey, the position competition, the speculation over his starting status, the sense that someone is about to beat him out.
To this the junior quarterback says, in so many words, bring it on.
"I continue to work. I don't compare myself to anybody else. I'm pushing guys to get better.
"I've always been confident in what I'm capable of doing."
Ramsey's capabilities center on managing the game, and playing with poise and purpose and accuracy, and if he can't light up a defense or wow a crowd in the manner of, say, Kansas City Chief Patrick Mahomes, that's not the point.
Ramsey is, after all, the most accurate passer in program history, at 65.8 percent. He's had three games of 300-plus passing yards. In less than two full seasons, he's thrown for 29 touchdown passes and 4,127 yards. He's also rushed for 580 yards and seven touchdowns.
In other words, he's on pace to throw for more than 8,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000.
How many IU quarterbacks have done that?
Zero.
For the record, Antwaan Randle-El, the greatest dual threat quarterback to ever wear the Cream & Crimson, threw for 7,469 yards and rushed for 3,895.
Anyway, Ramsey faces competition from Penix (coming off a torn ACL that limited him to three games, 219 passing yards and one touchdown as a true freshman) and Tuttle (3,171 passing yards, 41 TD passes, four interceptions as a high school senior).
Last year Ramsey beat out another transfer, Brandon Dawkins from Arizona, and Penix.
As far as the transfer additions, Ramsey says, "We needed it for sure with me being the only healthy quarterback on the roster at the end of last season. We need scholarship quarterbacks to compete.
"There's no bad feelings or bad blood. (Bringing in Tuttle) was much needed."
THE NEW OFFENSE
How different is the offense under DeBoer compared to former offensive coordinator Mike DeBord?
The biggest difference, Ramsey says, comes with "the verbiage" and the fact "A lot more is on the quarterbacks' shoulders as far as checking the protection, and things like that."
Beyond that, Ramsey adds, DeBoer has, "Created explosive plays, and not necessarily chucking the ball down the field. He's done a good job with that. We'll be good at game-plan specific stuff. He is so good in getting the ball into our playmakers hands."
Adds Penix: "He's a great coach. We all love and trust him. The system he's brought in we like. It's similar to last year. He makes sure everybody is in the right spot at the right time."
BIDING HIS TIME
Penix will spend the spring in non-contact mode. The coaches want him ready for August camp and not March practice.
"Michael Penix won't be taking full team snaps," Allen says. "I don't expect he'll take a lot of skully reps and throw one-on-ones, any time we just keep people away.
"He's done a great job, but we don't want to do anything to set him back."
Penix is fine with that.
"This is the first serious injury I've had," he says. "I've been working hard trying to get better than where I was before."
Just because Penix can't be hit doesn't mean he won't be fully engaged in practice.
"I want to get to know the offense the best I can. I'll take a lot of mental reps so I know what's going on."
He can't wait to get into passing drills.
"I'm so ready to throw."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Tom Allen faces a whole new Hoosier football coaching world.
The head coach is no longer the defensive coordinator -- by his choice.
Kane Wommack will run the defense just as Kalen DeBoer will lead a new Indiana offensive attack.
Spring football has arrived, the first practice is Saturday, and Allen seeks to bring a winning record to Indiana after consecutive 5-7 near misses. That means focusing on running the entire program and delegating responsibility to others.
That doesn't mean Allen won't be heavily involved in the defense. He will. But Wommack will make the calls, organize schemes and practices and, in short, make the decisions.
Wommack is well prepared to make those decisions. He spent last season as IU's linebackers coach. The two seasons before that, at South Alabama, he was the nation's youngest defensive coordinator. His father, Dave Wommack, coached football for 37 years.
Wommack will continue Allen's overall system, with this main thought:
"At the end of the day," Allen says, "we're going to play a lot of guys."
The Hoosiers have three main spring practice goals:
Install DeBoer's new offense.
Implement Wommack's new approach.
Build depth.
"The fundamental development that we have to have on both sides of the ball is a huge focus," Allen says. "We're really looking forward to that.
"Pretty much things have been going how we want them to go."
DeBoer is a proven point-producing coach. He resurrected offenses at Fresno State and Eastern Michigan, and directed high-power attacks at Sioux Falls and Southern Illinois.
"As far as Kalen being able to get everything installed, it's a process," Allen says.
How will the installation work?
"It's a balance," Allen says. "You increase your individual work during the spring, which is pretty typical and that will continue.
"We've gone through a progression of install that we feel comfortable with at this point and you adjust it as that process unfolds.
"We want to move pretty slowly. We want our guys to feel good about what they're doing and want them to master the concepts.
"Our guys are learning a new way of communicating, how we transition and the way we operate as an offense. The main objective is to feel good about the base things that we've identified. We want to be good at both throwing and running."
It all will culminate with the April 12 Cream & Crimson Game, a 7 p.m. kick at Memorial Stadium.
"We have a whole bunch of guys right now that I'm really excited about getting them out on the field and playing some football again here real soon," Allen says.
QUARTERBACK COMPETITION
No position battle will generate more attention than at quarterback. Starter Peyton Ramsey returns. So does talented backup Michael Penix Jr., who is coming off an ACL injury. Then there's the addition of Utah transfer Jack Tuttle, a former four-star high school prospect out of California.
IU is petitioning the NCAA to allow Tuttle to play right away rather than sit out his transfer season per NCAA rules. He never played at Utah last year as a true freshman.
Allen says there's, "No update with Jack Tuttle. We're still waiting for that (NCAA) response."
With Penix still recovering from knee surgery, Ramsey and Tuttle will share most of the spring practice reps.
"To me, they've got to compete," Allen says. "It's a highly competitive room right now, which is what I want."
Given the number of quarterback injuries in college football, you can't have enough quality players at that position," Allen adds.
"Let the competition bring out the best in each of them. Yeah, they are competing for a position, but they are also teammates. I want to see how they handle that because I want guys that love Indiana football and they want Indiana football to be very successful. I get it.
"If I was one of those three, I would be wanting to play, too. So who is willing to do the little things right and who is willing to -- at the end of the day, who leads the team down the field and gets us in the end zone and is able to convert two-minute situations and the team believes in them and all those things, commands the offense, and moves the chains and all the things that you need to do for game-day success.
"I'm looking forward to that dynamic. I think it's three high-character guys who will handle it well. I'm anxious to see who continues to get better and better throughout the process."
RAMSEY EMBRACES CHALLENGE
It never ends for Ramsey, the position competition, the speculation over his starting status, the sense that someone is about to beat him out.
To this the junior quarterback says, in so many words, bring it on.
"I continue to work. I don't compare myself to anybody else. I'm pushing guys to get better.
"I've always been confident in what I'm capable of doing."
Ramsey's capabilities center on managing the game, and playing with poise and purpose and accuracy, and if he can't light up a defense or wow a crowd in the manner of, say, Kansas City Chief Patrick Mahomes, that's not the point.
Ramsey is, after all, the most accurate passer in program history, at 65.8 percent. He's had three games of 300-plus passing yards. In less than two full seasons, he's thrown for 29 touchdown passes and 4,127 yards. He's also rushed for 580 yards and seven touchdowns.
In other words, he's on pace to throw for more than 8,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000.
How many IU quarterbacks have done that?
Zero.
For the record, Antwaan Randle-El, the greatest dual threat quarterback to ever wear the Cream & Crimson, threw for 7,469 yards and rushed for 3,895.
Anyway, Ramsey faces competition from Penix (coming off a torn ACL that limited him to three games, 219 passing yards and one touchdown as a true freshman) and Tuttle (3,171 passing yards, 41 TD passes, four interceptions as a high school senior).
Last year Ramsey beat out another transfer, Brandon Dawkins from Arizona, and Penix.
As far as the transfer additions, Ramsey says, "We needed it for sure with me being the only healthy quarterback on the roster at the end of last season. We need scholarship quarterbacks to compete.
"There's no bad feelings or bad blood. (Bringing in Tuttle) was much needed."
THE NEW OFFENSE
How different is the offense under DeBoer compared to former offensive coordinator Mike DeBord?
The biggest difference, Ramsey says, comes with "the verbiage" and the fact "A lot more is on the quarterbacks' shoulders as far as checking the protection, and things like that."
Beyond that, Ramsey adds, DeBoer has, "Created explosive plays, and not necessarily chucking the ball down the field. He's done a good job with that. We'll be good at game-plan specific stuff. He is so good in getting the ball into our playmakers hands."
Adds Penix: "He's a great coach. We all love and trust him. The system he's brought in we like. It's similar to last year. He makes sure everybody is in the right spot at the right time."
BIDING HIS TIME
Penix will spend the spring in non-contact mode. The coaches want him ready for August camp and not March practice.
"Michael Penix won't be taking full team snaps," Allen says. "I don't expect he'll take a lot of skully reps and throw one-on-ones, any time we just keep people away.
"He's done a great job, but we don't want to do anything to set him back."
Penix is fine with that.
"This is the first serious injury I've had," he says. "I've been working hard trying to get better than where I was before."
Just because Penix can't be hit doesn't mean he won't be fully engaged in practice.
"I want to get to know the offense the best I can. I'll take a lot of mental reps so I know what's going on."
He can't wait to get into passing drills.
"I'm so ready to throw."
Players Mentioned
FB: Curt Cignetti - Pre-Heisman Press Conference
Wednesday, December 10
FB: Fernando Mendoza - Pre-Heisman Press Conference
Tuesday, December 09
FB: CFP Quarterfinals (Rose Bowl) - Student-Athlete Press Conference
Monday, December 08
FB: CFP Quarterfinals (Rose Bowl) - Curt Cignetti Press Conference
Sunday, December 07