Indiana University Athletics
Media Thursday: Penn State
10/22/2020 1:00:00 PM | Football
Below is a partial transcription of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head coach Tom Allen on Thursday, Oct. 22.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On availability of players…
ALLEN: That would be a game0time decision on guys at this point. We will announce that prior to kickoff and have a list for that. No comments on that this time.
Q: On maturity of Marcelino McCrary-Ball…
ALLEN: I am just so proud of him. You think back for a guy like Marcelino, he was the first guy that I really recruited to Indiana. I got hired a few weeks before Signing Day in 2016 and spent a lot of time on the phone with him, got him up on the visit. He came up here with his mom. They actually drove the whole way and had car trouble on the way – it was just kind of a not a great trip to get him here, but he chose to come. He came and played right away as a freshman. Obviously, on the field he has always been a very physical player. He is very physically gifted and has a special skill set. It was off the field, being young and not always being consistent in certain things. In this last year, he has a daughter now and I have seen that really cause him to view life differently from a perspective of the responsibilities that entails. I have seen him handle that situation to be a man that is growing into a man. A young man is really changing. I think during the pandemic I have seen him handle it like a pro. So steady, not thrown off by all the uncertainties, not flustered by all the things you cannot control, which is hard. I think he has been so steady. He showed up for workouts and the way it worked out timing wise, he was in with a bunch of our younger guys. It was unbelievable to see him, even in that several-month period, I felt like his leadership continued to develop. Everything that I thought he was becoming was being played out in the way he was handling his business with the guys. He was able to talk to them in a very mature way about how you handle film preparation, workouts, the effort that you give every single day no matter how you feel, and going through all the different challenges of COVID-19. He was able to be a leader in regards to how do you socially distance when that is hard to do around your teammates. It is hard to do that consistently, especially over the summer when we were mostly the only ones on campus and there is not much else going on. He was a model for that. He showed so much maturity in how he handled all the things that we asked him to do and ask our guys to do. It was not surprising to me to see all the votes that he got as a captain. He is the guy now that you can sit in front of a camera and you trust that he understands what to say and understands how to represent himself and our program. He is mature and it is neat to see that process when you see him from the beginning. Sometimes when you come someplace new, guys are already there and he is one of those few guys that are here now still that I actually was a part of him coming to Indiana. We have had a long relationship together. I have a strong belief in him. That is why it was so hard to see him go down here before his senior season. At the same time, he has continued to elevate his leadership role on this team, He is impacting us, making us better and helping us prepare for game day, which is what he is doing right now. That is invaluable because the team respects him so much, they listen to him, he watches everything, he is at every practice. I am really encouraged by him. That is what you want to see, you want to see guys you know develop into the man that you believe they were created to be. That is what he is doing.
Q: On Bryson Bonds…
ALLEN: It has been pretty huge, to be honest with you. You really were not sure how he would handle the transition to college. Obviously, I have addressed that in previous press conferences and questions about his development as a high school player and how well prepared he was when he came here. We needed him, too. I did not know if he was ready or not but especially with Raheem Layne's situation and not having him right. It is going to be big for a guy like him to come in and be ready to play. He is going to be playing on Saturday and I expect him to. He is on special teams and even watching special teams film last night with our special teams coaches, it was so impressive to see the way he handles the technique on all those drills. Some guys are just good football players, they understand leverage, angles, body positioning, and all those different things that it takes to be able to block somebody, tackle somebody or make plays in space on either side of the ball or special teams. Everything is about space and being able to block and tackle in space. You get a guy that is a 200-pound guy that is smart, tough and dependable. Very huge for us to have a guy like him as a true freshman to come in here and because of that preparation, he is going to get a chance to play. I am excited to see him be out there in Big Ten Conference play and doing good things.
Q: On playing a Top-10 team…
ALLEN: Sometimes your gut feel, or however you want to phrase that is, is not right. I have been in those situations where if you are really good going in, things may not go [your way]. Sometimes you are more nervous about certain things, more concerned about certain things, and things go much better than you thought. I think the biggest thing is, you talked about the number of years that I have been doing this, that creates a little bit different perspective from the head coach's position. I have had this situation as both a coordinator and assistant, but I think the biggest thing that, as a head coach, you want to see is a locked in, focused group. We believe in the young men that we have here. We know that we are playing one of the best teams in the country, and we are going to have to play our best football to be able to get to the result that we want. They are going to do a great job of being prepared and playing at a high level, so you know that part of it. I want our kids to play their tails off and execute at a high level. You have to believe in your heart that when you get to where you want to be as a program, that is going to be enough to get the results that you are looking for. To me, it is about the preparation process so you feel good about where you are. Nobody has played. Sometimes you have to be real and honest. We have no idea what is going to happen on game day. I do feel that we have a lot of players back and a lot of guys that have been in these positions. There will be a few out there that have not been out there as much, but when you have a large group coming back, you have high expectations for how they are going to handle the situation. But it is the first game and it has been a long time since we last played. It is an equal playing field, and everyone has been in the same situation. It is the reality, but it does cause some uneasiness because of the difference in preparation with COVID-19 and all of the other things we have had to go through. At the end of the day, we have been in a fall camp setting, and for as different as it has been, we are still preparing each day. Even today, we just walked off the field from today's practice and the way the guys are locked in and focused is a good sign. We need to be good again tomorrow when we are in our walkthrough mode, wake up on game day, we need to have great walkthroughs and film sessions and everything we do leading up to kickoff in these next 48 hours. That goes a long way toward me feeling good about how we are going to perform on game day. At the end of the day, it is going to be a very physical, tough, 60-minute, or beyond battle. We are prepared for it and we have to go prove to the country that Indiana is in position to change the trajectory of this program. That is our goal right now, we just have to go prove it on the field.
Q: On crispness of final week of pre-season practice…
ALLEN: I would say this has been a typical first-game week situation. I love the energy and I think the focus has been really good. It has not been perfect, but we coach until kickoff. That is our philosophy here and we just got done talking about our mindset as a program. That does not change. We will go back and watch today's reps and get those things corrected in the meetings that we have the rest of today and tomorrow and everything else we do in terms of the hotel on Friday night and game day. I think it has been a good preparation. I feel good about where we are. We have to prove it on game day and that is really what it comes down to. Practice is important and we know that the preparation that you have in practice is reflected on game day. It is also about competitive greatness. Who shines and who steps up and makes plays in critical situations when it matters most, which is on Saturday. That is what we are looking for. We have guys that are on this current team that have done that in the past, but they have to go do it again. Just because we have a lot of guys back from last year's team, and I shared this with the team, that does not mean anything. Just because we are a year older does not mean we are going to be better, unless we prepare at a certain level. I am not one that feels great about everything. Everything makes me on edge about things. That is okay, that is what creates who I am. I will keep that edge, but also have a collective confidence that I believe in this football team.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On availability of players…
ALLEN: That would be a game0time decision on guys at this point. We will announce that prior to kickoff and have a list for that. No comments on that this time.
Q: On maturity of Marcelino McCrary-Ball…
ALLEN: I am just so proud of him. You think back for a guy like Marcelino, he was the first guy that I really recruited to Indiana. I got hired a few weeks before Signing Day in 2016 and spent a lot of time on the phone with him, got him up on the visit. He came up here with his mom. They actually drove the whole way and had car trouble on the way – it was just kind of a not a great trip to get him here, but he chose to come. He came and played right away as a freshman. Obviously, on the field he has always been a very physical player. He is very physically gifted and has a special skill set. It was off the field, being young and not always being consistent in certain things. In this last year, he has a daughter now and I have seen that really cause him to view life differently from a perspective of the responsibilities that entails. I have seen him handle that situation to be a man that is growing into a man. A young man is really changing. I think during the pandemic I have seen him handle it like a pro. So steady, not thrown off by all the uncertainties, not flustered by all the things you cannot control, which is hard. I think he has been so steady. He showed up for workouts and the way it worked out timing wise, he was in with a bunch of our younger guys. It was unbelievable to see him, even in that several-month period, I felt like his leadership continued to develop. Everything that I thought he was becoming was being played out in the way he was handling his business with the guys. He was able to talk to them in a very mature way about how you handle film preparation, workouts, the effort that you give every single day no matter how you feel, and going through all the different challenges of COVID-19. He was able to be a leader in regards to how do you socially distance when that is hard to do around your teammates. It is hard to do that consistently, especially over the summer when we were mostly the only ones on campus and there is not much else going on. He was a model for that. He showed so much maturity in how he handled all the things that we asked him to do and ask our guys to do. It was not surprising to me to see all the votes that he got as a captain. He is the guy now that you can sit in front of a camera and you trust that he understands what to say and understands how to represent himself and our program. He is mature and it is neat to see that process when you see him from the beginning. Sometimes when you come someplace new, guys are already there and he is one of those few guys that are here now still that I actually was a part of him coming to Indiana. We have had a long relationship together. I have a strong belief in him. That is why it was so hard to see him go down here before his senior season. At the same time, he has continued to elevate his leadership role on this team, He is impacting us, making us better and helping us prepare for game day, which is what he is doing right now. That is invaluable because the team respects him so much, they listen to him, he watches everything, he is at every practice. I am really encouraged by him. That is what you want to see, you want to see guys you know develop into the man that you believe they were created to be. That is what he is doing.
Q: On Bryson Bonds…
ALLEN: It has been pretty huge, to be honest with you. You really were not sure how he would handle the transition to college. Obviously, I have addressed that in previous press conferences and questions about his development as a high school player and how well prepared he was when he came here. We needed him, too. I did not know if he was ready or not but especially with Raheem Layne's situation and not having him right. It is going to be big for a guy like him to come in and be ready to play. He is going to be playing on Saturday and I expect him to. He is on special teams and even watching special teams film last night with our special teams coaches, it was so impressive to see the way he handles the technique on all those drills. Some guys are just good football players, they understand leverage, angles, body positioning, and all those different things that it takes to be able to block somebody, tackle somebody or make plays in space on either side of the ball or special teams. Everything is about space and being able to block and tackle in space. You get a guy that is a 200-pound guy that is smart, tough and dependable. Very huge for us to have a guy like him as a true freshman to come in here and because of that preparation, he is going to get a chance to play. I am excited to see him be out there in Big Ten Conference play and doing good things.
Q: On playing a Top-10 team…
ALLEN: Sometimes your gut feel, or however you want to phrase that is, is not right. I have been in those situations where if you are really good going in, things may not go [your way]. Sometimes you are more nervous about certain things, more concerned about certain things, and things go much better than you thought. I think the biggest thing is, you talked about the number of years that I have been doing this, that creates a little bit different perspective from the head coach's position. I have had this situation as both a coordinator and assistant, but I think the biggest thing that, as a head coach, you want to see is a locked in, focused group. We believe in the young men that we have here. We know that we are playing one of the best teams in the country, and we are going to have to play our best football to be able to get to the result that we want. They are going to do a great job of being prepared and playing at a high level, so you know that part of it. I want our kids to play their tails off and execute at a high level. You have to believe in your heart that when you get to where you want to be as a program, that is going to be enough to get the results that you are looking for. To me, it is about the preparation process so you feel good about where you are. Nobody has played. Sometimes you have to be real and honest. We have no idea what is going to happen on game day. I do feel that we have a lot of players back and a lot of guys that have been in these positions. There will be a few out there that have not been out there as much, but when you have a large group coming back, you have high expectations for how they are going to handle the situation. But it is the first game and it has been a long time since we last played. It is an equal playing field, and everyone has been in the same situation. It is the reality, but it does cause some uneasiness because of the difference in preparation with COVID-19 and all of the other things we have had to go through. At the end of the day, we have been in a fall camp setting, and for as different as it has been, we are still preparing each day. Even today, we just walked off the field from today's practice and the way the guys are locked in and focused is a good sign. We need to be good again tomorrow when we are in our walkthrough mode, wake up on game day, we need to have great walkthroughs and film sessions and everything we do leading up to kickoff in these next 48 hours. That goes a long way toward me feeling good about how we are going to perform on game day. At the end of the day, it is going to be a very physical, tough, 60-minute, or beyond battle. We are prepared for it and we have to go prove to the country that Indiana is in position to change the trajectory of this program. That is our goal right now, we just have to go prove it on the field.
Q: On crispness of final week of pre-season practice…
ALLEN: I would say this has been a typical first-game week situation. I love the energy and I think the focus has been really good. It has not been perfect, but we coach until kickoff. That is our philosophy here and we just got done talking about our mindset as a program. That does not change. We will go back and watch today's reps and get those things corrected in the meetings that we have the rest of today and tomorrow and everything else we do in terms of the hotel on Friday night and game day. I think it has been a good preparation. I feel good about where we are. We have to prove it on game day and that is really what it comes down to. Practice is important and we know that the preparation that you have in practice is reflected on game day. It is also about competitive greatness. Who shines and who steps up and makes plays in critical situations when it matters most, which is on Saturday. That is what we are looking for. We have guys that are on this current team that have done that in the past, but they have to go do it again. Just because we have a lot of guys back from last year's team, and I shared this with the team, that does not mean anything. Just because we are a year older does not mean we are going to be better, unless we prepare at a certain level. I am not one that feels great about everything. Everything makes me on edge about things. That is okay, that is what creates who I am. I will keep that edge, but also have a collective confidence that I believe in this football team.
Players Mentioned
FB: Spring Game - Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, April 23
FB: Bray Lynch - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Drew Evans - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Nico Radicic - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21