WATCH: Tom Allen and Kane Wommack - March 26 - Indiana University Athletics

Opening statement...
"Good day today, practice number seven. Really encouraged by the continued effort and focus. Guys are flying around. Big install for us today, so I thought we were a little slower in some ways because of that. But that is expected. This time of the week and then we will review everything and clean it up on Thursday and then have our first big scrimmage on Saturday. Very encouraged by the progress we continue to make. Love our team's mindset right now and it is a hungry group for sure."

On the quality of speed on the defense...
"It's noticeable and moving in the right direction. When you watch the film, sometimes you don't really see it because I see it every day. Especially when people come here and they haven't watched us or been here for spring, it's probably the first thing they comment on is the speed of the defense. It's a combination of guys just being a year older, more mature, understand what they are doing better but just recruiting speed. I think that if you want them fast, recruit them fast. Obviously Coach (David) Ballou and Dr. (Matt) Rhea are doing a great job developing and enhancing that once we get them here, and our entire strength staff. I just think in order to create takeaways, speed is a big part of that, getting to the ball quicker, more violent when you get there, disrupts better, gets those tipped balls that end up being picked balls and the windows get closed down better in the secondary. All those things add up to create takeaways and create the kind of defense that we want. I think you also noticed it too on a lot of third down emphasis today and bringing a lot of pressures and that is what we do. That's growing and the speed up front. I think Madison Norris really flashed to me today. He's continued to do a really good job for us. But I thought today was his best day and in my mind that is his number one job is to rush the passer and that is why we brought him here and continue to put weight on him and continue to get him stronger. He's got very, very good speed and he's learning how to use his technique better. Things like that show up and that's what you want to see."

On DL James Head Jr....
"He continues to develop and we are on him hard because we have high expectations for him. Coach Hagen coaches him really, really hard and he's responded. To me it's about just continuing the want to and effort, which has always been good for him. To me it's about taking that next step. We want him to realize that he is the guy we want to dominate out here and expect to dominate. He's got good size and length and want him to continue to get stronger even though he's still young. He works hard in that weight room and it transfers onto the field, which is what you want to see."

On the athleticism Head brings...
"He does bring athleticism. That's where, once again, to be able to do some things schematically, you have to be able to run. Run with running backs. We put our defensive ends in situations where they have to have some of those responsibilities and run with tight ends sometimes. If you ask a kid to do something he can't physically do, then that is on us as coaches. We try to recruit guys who can do the things that give us more flexibility. Anytime you can hide who is going to take certain guys, who is going to eliminate or add people in pressure or drop guys out of the pressure because if their athleticism, I think that really helps us a lot. That bull position is what we use that guy for, both in coverage and in pressure and man coverage as well. We are also going to do somethings to be more multiple and versatile. Those are the kind of qualities we are looking for in those positions and I think Madison (Norris) is in that same spot and James gives us the bigger version of that position. He's got the size to play both positions on the defensive line."

On the contributions of LB James Miller...
"He's maybe the most improved linebacker from fall to now. A lot of it is just now with his footwork, understanding the defense. I think it's hard for a freshman to come in here, who is not a mid-year guy, which he was not, to learn a defense in one summer. I think it was a lot of things thrown at him and his head was spinning a lot in fall camp. Having a whole year to learn and get stronger and move better. But he has always been physical. He's a violent guy now. That was obvious the first time I watched him play in high school. To be able to do a better job and be a more well-rounded guy. The violence is still there, he finishes really strong. I just like how he is learning how to get his run fits. He's able to stand guys up in a hole and knock them back. You saw that against Michigan in the few reps he played. In that game he showed up in a big way and I think it kind of gave you a snapshot of how talented he really is."

On what led to the defense hitting their groove near the end of practice...
"I would say - early in practice I was kind of getting after them. I'm on that megaphone and I was putting some digs in and getting on both the coaches and players because I thought the offense was doing a lot of good things and making plays, getting some chunk plays. Then when the second half of practice started, they responded. Which is what you want. Sometimes I like to use that to our advantage. At the same time, it's like anything else, you feed off that momentum, the energy, we start making plays. Starting to get some takeaways, starting to get some sacks, some pressures, some breakups. It just feeds and becomes a feeding frenzy for the defense. I'm a high-energy guy. I want us to be a high-energy defense. I want our guys to coach that way and we do. I just think we have a coaching staff that believes in that. The guys are going to play to our personality and we want to be that kind of unit. We want to have a swagger about it. We want to have a confidence about it. When we step on that field, I want our guys to expect to take the ball from the offense. I want us to expect to be big on third down. I want us to expect to be a Top-25 defense and that's where you carry that. It doesn't just happen, it has to be developed. It has to be created and it happens over time. We had a really young group last year that now is a much more experienced group. I think you are seeing the benefits of that today where you say a slow start, offense was doing a lot of good things, but they responded. It just kind of kept building and they dominated the last half of practice in some key ways. That's good. That's what you want to see and then you want to see the offense come back on Thursday and respond as well and they will and our coaches are doing a great job."

On the health of the team...
"Not so much (injuries) to probably notice. There are the typical things, we got guys get dinged up. We have to look at one of our linebackers, Thomas (Allen) had some shoulder situation, so we are going to go ahead and look at that today and see if that needs to be evaluated. Other than that, I think we came out of practice pretty clean. Even in the scrimmage on Saturday we had typical bumps and bruises and soreness and all. We actually had the flu bug. We've had more of that than anything. We had a couple of guys out today, couple of guys out on Saturday. That's probably been the biggest numerical thing we have had to deal with. Hopefully it will start to get a little warmer. That might help."

On the status of QB Jack Tuttle...
"We are (closer). We don't ever know for sure, but I would assume in the next week or so just based on when everything was turned in. Hopefully we'll get some closure on that, either way."

On if he likes where the defense is from a speed perspective…
"Yes, I like where we are going right now. You don't want to get over excited about our team speed, but it's the fruit of our labor. What Dave Ballou and Matt Rhea have been doing in the weight room, the way we've been recruiting, player confidence in what we are doing defensively, it's just all starting to come together. We're playing at a really fast tempo right now, and when that tempo comes, they start to build more and more confidence so now they got a little swagger about them. That's pretty exciting."

On James Head Jr….
"Freaky body. He's still figuring it out. There's time where this guy pulls the trigger and it's like 'Dang, this guy pulls the trigger and he can roll.' And then there's times where he looks like a baby deer. He's only going to get better with his development in the weight room because he's got such a big frame that it takes a longer time to kind of develop that. You see the flashes already and you can see him already go execute his job. He's a guy, sophomore, junior, senior year that is going to continue to grow."

On Madison Norris…
"He's got a burst. He obviously needs to get his weight up. He's a guy that we knew was a developmental player that we can use situationally until he got to the size that we need for an every down defensive end. But to his credit, he's put more weight on every single day. He puts a different burst on the edge for us right now. It's another one of those young guys that is starting to play with more and more confidence where he goes 'oh, I can pass rush at this level.'"

On the defense being in a groove during the team period…
"Coach Allen creates adverse situations so we can deal with them now so by the time we get to September, we're ready to handle that. Today was probably the best example of defense that I thought got their butt whooped a little bit on the inside run in some of the early periods, and then just kind of hammered through, stayed at it, brought some swagger to it and all of a sudden turned it around. So that was really encouraging to see on top of all the looks that Kalen and his staff are giving us right now, which is awesome."

On the young pieces in key spots and the potential they show…
"They're violent dudes, first and foremost. They have a natural feel for tracking the ball carrier and getting the back. I can work with everything else after that. So they're doing a better job of being vocal. They both want it. They both are vocal type leaders. We're situationally getting some other guys work in at the Mike linebacker on third down and some two-minute situations. So just trying to get some of that speed on the field. I think we have a lot of violent, downfield poppers and guys that can really run. It's a really good compliment there."

On some of the guys that are standing out….
"Obviously, James (Miller) and Thomas (Allen) are doing a really good job in our base down defense tailoring all that stuff. And then on third down you have Micah McFadden, you get Cam Jones in there, Fitz down there that can play some linebacker and do some things there which is really exciting. Anytime we can start to build those bodies where there's crossover work where you can do different things, it creates more depth naturally in our defense when we may not have three deep across the board, but we are building two and a half deep or whatever it may be. That part is a really an exciting piece when you get better athletes in the game."

On what Bryant Fitzgerald is building on from last year…
"His speed. He's always had a natural knack for finding the ball, like if you watch him out there out on the field, he can track the ball so well. But now, his speed has increased and the first 20 yards I think, Matt Rhea gave to me the other day, he's like top 10 on our team for the first 20 yards. You can really see him burst to the ball because he anticipates things so well. He's the first one there more often than not, so I'm pretty excited for him, because he's again a pretty violent kid that will show up and strike you whenever he gets there."

On what James Miller can add to the linebacker room this year…
"He's such a hungry individual. When I recruited him, he said 'I like to hit people.' That's what he likes. It doesn't matter if it's on the sideline or in the middle of the box, he wants to establish dominance and the way that he strikes you. So the thing for him is that his footwork is getting cleaner, his communication on the field, he already has a natural feel for the ball, he's a physical kid, we just got to keep giving him the tools."

On replacing Jonathan Crawford and finding someone in the secondary that can be a consistent playmaker every day…
"Well J.C. took his reps with him, you can't take those back, you just have to build on them. The nice thing is these young guys that we kind of pushed through the fires last year, Juwan Burgess, Fitz, Jamar Johnson who is playing some of Marcelino's backup, and then Cam, those guys are playing at a really high level. And athletically, they are as good as we've seen here for quite a while. So you just got to keep it simple, don't try to overreach them, but know that they start to get that confidence, we can start to build systematically into what we are trying to accomplish getting into September. I think we've got the bodies to do it and the speed is starting to show up. We just have to keep them confident."

Indiana University Athletics

WATCH: Tom Allen and Kane Wommack - March 26

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Players Mentioned

Juwan Burgess

Jonathan Crawford

Bryant Fitzgerald

James Head Jr.

Jamar Johnson

Cam Jones

Micah McFadden

James Miller

Madison Norris

Jack Tuttle

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