DIPRIMIO NOTEBOOK: It’s Personal – Better Tackling a Hoosier Priority

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - For Tom Allen, it's personal.

How could it not be? He's a defensive guy at heart, a coach who pushes fundamentals, effort and finishing what you start.

In this case, you tackle with conviction. You hit a guy -- hard if you can, securely no matter what -- and bring him to the ground.

That didn't happen against Ball State and it mattered very much to Allen from his head coaching role as well as to defensive coordinator Kane Wommack.

Two days later, from the security of Memorial Stadium's Henke Hall, with Saturday's home opener against Eastern Illinois up next, it still steamed him.

"It was just as bad on film as it was live," Allen said during Monday's weekly media event.

"That's significant and something that I take personally. I'm so disappointed, but it will be fixed."

Wommack's job is to implement that fix, and his message to his players is clear:

"Regardless of who we play, this is the standard. This is what we do. You hold them accountable."

Against Ball State, IU missed 23 tackles that cost the Hoosiers 181 yards.

"That was not even close to our standard," Wommack said.

IU spent a lot of time on tackling during fall camp and in Ball State preparation, although not much of it was live to avoid injury. As a result, games will have to do what practice can't.

"You have to feel 220 pounds coming down on you," Wommack said. "Then you realize, that's what it's like to tackle. When the running back is moving away from you, tackle through the man."

Beyond tackling, Wommack also wants more consistent pass coverage. IU intercepted one pass, and could have had at least one more.

"Some takeaways were left on the field," he said. "Sometimes things don't go like you thought they would and guys start pressing. They don't want to give up a big play.

"I thought we were timid on coverages. We had an opportunity to dominate and didn't do those things. So you show them on film, when we're in this situation, this is what we're trying to take away.

"But the effort was phenomenal. We played with violent intention. We attacked the ball. We didn't always finish, but the effort and pursuit was there."

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Quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s Antwaan Randle El impression earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.

As the first IU freshman to start a season opener since Randle El in 1998, Penix burned Ball State by going 24-for-40 for 326 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 67 yards.

Randle El totaled 467 yards, including 385 in the air, in his Hoosier debut.

"It's a blessing," Penix said, "but there's always room for improvement."

Improvement starts with cleaning up his two interceptions, and more.

"I missed a lot of reads," Penix said. "I have to do better. I won't let it happen again."

Film work with offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer will help fix the problem.

"Later in the game, he wasn't getting through the entire progressions like he was early on," DeBoer said. "He knows the concepts. It's great for him to see it on film."

DeBoer's game plan against Ball State was designed to get Penix comfortable early.

"We wanted some easy first-drive completions, and have him get the ball out quick," DeBoer said. "He was accurate and made a lot of good decisions. He had a lot of reads. I loved the way he threw the deep ball. He put it on the money (to receiver Nick Westbrook on a 75-yard touchdown pass)."

As far as interceptions, DeBoer said, "I continued to stress to Mike the 1-0 mindset. Keep the pedal down, stay in the moment and refocus on the next play."

The first interception was a bad throw, DeBoer added. The second was more on the receiver, who didn't run the right route, and then stumbled.

"The first one was a forced ball that he needs to learn from. On the second, Mike was throwing on time. It was where it needed to be, we just weren't there."

DeBoer was especially pleased with the way Penix ran the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. IU started on its own 10-yard line, and wound up with a 49-yard Logan Justus field goal.

"He did a nice job of getting us out of the end zone," DeBoer said. "He made throws down the field. Guys made plays. We wound up getting three points out of it."

*****

Tying a school single-game record with four field goals, as well as setting three career-bests for distance, helped Justus earn Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career.

He kicked field goals of 30, 48, 49 and 50 yards against Ball State. He's 19-for-22 in his career, and has made 12 of his last 13 attempts.

"It was a great job by the whole unit," Allen said. "We call them the 'Trust Team' for a reason."

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Add punter Haydon Whitehead to Justus and you might have the Big Ten's best two kicking specialists.

Against Ball State, Whitehead only punted three times, but made the most of them by averaging 51.7 yards, including a career-best, 63-yard effort in the fourth quarter.

This isn't a surprise given the senior from Australia has made the Ray Guy Award Watch list three times while averaging 40.4 yards per punt. That award goes to the nation's best punter.

"I felt that Haydon was going to have a really good season after how hard he's worked," Allen said. "He's always been a tremendous worker, but everything just seemed to intensify this whole off-season. He punted extremely well during the spring, summer and then fall camp. It's a tremendous weapon."

Whitehead is used to punting on the move (credit his Australian background), but has improved his ability to punt from the pocket

"I'm a big special teams guy," Allen said. "We spend a lot of times on special teams in practice, probably as much as anybody in the country working on that because I know how important it is.

"The key to having great special teams, it all starts with great specialists. That's a big part of our team."

*****

Defensive player of the game honors went to fifth-year senior linebacker Reakwon Jones, who had a career-high 11 tackles, including one for a loss. It was the first time he'd ever reached double figures in a game.

"His energy, leadership, communication really encouraged me," Allen said. "This kid's worked so hard. I'm just so happy for him and proud of him. It means a lot to him, it really does. He's been here a long time and he understands what we're trying to do and the way we're trying to get it done."

*****

Veteran receivers Whop Philyor and Westbrook had some big moments against Ball State. Philyor caught six passes for 66 yards. Westbrook had three for 103 and that 75-yard touchdown.

But they also dropped some passes. Figure it will provide motivation for this week, and beyond.

"We missed some opportunities," DeBoer said, "but look at the guys it happened to. I believe in them."

Near the end of the game, IU ran the same play that had resulted in Philyor's dropped pass in the end zone. This time, against much tighter coverage, Philyor made the play.

"That was a super hard catch," DeBoer said. "That gave us the distance to kick a field goal.

"The big thing is our guys kept playing. Nick made some big plays. He missed that easy catch, but I'm not worried about him. Those guys will learn from it and work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again."

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Wommack is very familiar with Eastern Illinois. He was the defensive coordinator there in 2014-15 and helped the team reach the 2015 playoffs.

"I really enjoyed my time there," he said. "It's neat to text with some of those guys. The trash talking already has begun. It was a fun group to be around."

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Eastern Illinois opened its season with a 24-10 road loss to Chattanooga. It has a new coach in Adam Cushing, who was the offensive line coach at Northwestern from 2009-18.

Against Chattanooga, quarterback Johnathan Brantley completed 13-of-25 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown. His main target was Xander Richards, who caught five passes for 67 yards. Tailback Jaelin Hayes-Benefield rushed for 49 yards.

"They have a new head coach coming from Northwestern, a program that does things the right way, physical, well-coached and well-prepared," Allen said.

"They will come here and give us everything they got. We have to play Indiana Football. That's our focus. It's about us playing better than we did against Ball State."

Indiana University Athletics

DIPRIMIO NOTEBOOK: It’s Personal – Better Tackling a Hoosier Priority

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Reakwon Jones

Logan Justus

Michael Penix Jr.

Whop Philyor

Nick Westbrook

Haydon Whitehead

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