Indiana University Athletics
Media Thursday: Ohio State
11/19/2020 12:30:00 PM | Football
Below is a partial transcription of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head coach Tom Allen on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On taking the extra attention in stride…
ALLEN: I think there is some truth to that. You always want to get into a rhythm with how you do things. It was definitely different after the Penn State situation and getting ready for Rutgers. That had not happened around here since I have been here. This week has been very similar. There is more conversation about what has happened as well as what is about to happen, more so than that week. The time frame and the time demands are similar, same with our players. It gives you a chance to do something a second or third time, which is a positive. When you learn how to handle certain things and what to focus on, if you liked the way things went, you do those again and keep it the same. If you do not like some of those things, you make adjustments. I think that our players are getting used to that part of it, which is good. We understand that the preparation part does not change. That, to me, is the key and that is where the rhythm and attention to detail comes in. That is the biggest thing that you have to work on, our focus. That is the ability to prepare at a high level in film evaluation, walk-throughs, meetings, the practices, everything that we do leading up to the game. Those things can be affected in a negative way. You have to learn to manage and balance your schedule based on the additional things that this type of situation requires and demands. I think our guys are able to do that in a more consistent way because this has happened more frequently. That is a good thing. These are good challenges to have and these are things that moving forward we want to be more consistently a part of with this program.
Q: On Micah McFadden's recruitment…
ALLEN: That is an interesting question. His dad point blank asked me if Micah was going to get a chance to play at Indiana. I was a little taken back, but I understood where he was coming from. He wanted Micah to go to a place where he would eventually earn the opportunity to play and not just be on the team. He had two Power-5 offers, that was it. The rest of them were all mid-major offers. What I saw, he was a year younger than Thomas Allen, so I had a chance to see him when he was a sophomore and when he was a junior, he had a chance to play against a top-tier Florida High School program and that was his coming-out party. He played the outside linebacker position, so he had a chance to rush the passer more than when he was playing a true linebacker spot. Thomas was the middle linebacker in that system. Micah had a bunch of sacks in that game. It was a big game, both teams were at the top of the state of Florida. It was his coming-out game. He had an amazing knack to make plays. I saw it on special teams first. I went to a lot of practices because I could with Thomas being there and I was at South Florida. I was able to be at a lot of practices, which was kind of cool. I saw more practices than I saw actual games. I had a chance to watch Whop Philyor, Juwan Burgess and Micah. I was surprised he was not more highly recruited and his head coach felt the same way. I trusted our evaluation. Grant Heard has Plant High School as his school in his area down there and he came to me one day to tell me that McFadden was a great player. He went to watch him once in practice in the spring and I agreed with him. I believed in that kid and thought he was really good. I did not know what everyone else was missing. I knew what I saw and trusted my evaluation. He played so hard and he had a great burst to the ball. Since he has gotten here, he has been getting better and better. He has bought into everything we are doing. He works extremely hard in the weight room and he has a lot of football savvy to him. He has good football speed. I could not tell you what his 40-yard dash time is, but his burst to the ballcarrier is elite. He is a really good tackler. He has bought in. He is a kid that does what we ask him to do. He studies and really prepares himself. I am not surprised that he is as good as he is, but apparently no one else really saw that in him. I am glad we stayed true to our evaluation.
Q: On the quarterback battle on Saturday…
ALLEN: Both teams have great quarterbacks. I have already said how I feel about Justin Fields. He is really special. I think we have a great one, too. He is not as experienced as Justin Fields or played as much football as he has, but he has shown that he has an elite skillset. I really think that Michael Penix Jr.'s decision making is one of his greatest strengths. The rest of the natural stuff flows from there with his quick release and his arm strength. There is a reason that the NFL pays their quarterbacks as much as they do. They are the key position on a football team. You go as your quarterback goes and that is just the way that it is. That is why you have two teams here that are both undefeated in conference play and playing in a big, big game together. It is a great opportunity for Michael. It is his first chance to play against Ohio State since he has been here. I am excited to see how this game, this environment, this opportunity pulls even more greatness out of him.
Q: On the extension of the recruiting dead period…
ALLEN: It is uncharted territory when that came out. We saw it coming when we were talking to the compliance staff, they really felt that it was going to be the direction this was going to go. It is a unique situation. I would have never thought something like this could happen. There will be a chance we are signing guys that we have never physically met in person or have not physically been to campus. Fortunately for us, we have a small class. We do not have very many seniors, so we only have to replace what we lose. It will be a small class for that reason. That is probably a positive thing because a majority of the guys that we have in this class have already been on campus. That is a great thing. They came before the pandemic hit. That is a huge plus for us. It is harder to make an evaluation when you do not have that face-to-face, in person contact. It goes both ways. I feel for these athletes and their families having to make this type of decision without having a chance to physically go somewhere. You have to be able to feel the environment of a campus, a football program, the facilities, it is not just seeing the facilities, it is the people. You can get a feel for the vibe of the culture when you are physically together. It is unfortunate that none of us have any control over it. When you stack the dates up, if they do not make any changes to Signing Day, then Signing Day will come and go and you will have to sign some kids that have not been to campus. You would like to limit that as much as possible. It is the reality of the world that we are living in right now. It is going to make it harder to make those decisions and evaluations. We are pretty close to being full right now with a smaller group. Like I said, I think that is a positive thing for us. It is definitely going to affect the 2022 class and the guys that are currently juniors that we are working hard on. I am sure they are going to make adjustments to that. We will make some adjustments to create more virtual opportunities for them to be able to get around our staff and us to be able to be around them. It is a challenging time, for sure. That will definitely create for some unique things in the future.
Head Coach Tom Allen
Q: On taking the extra attention in stride…
ALLEN: I think there is some truth to that. You always want to get into a rhythm with how you do things. It was definitely different after the Penn State situation and getting ready for Rutgers. That had not happened around here since I have been here. This week has been very similar. There is more conversation about what has happened as well as what is about to happen, more so than that week. The time frame and the time demands are similar, same with our players. It gives you a chance to do something a second or third time, which is a positive. When you learn how to handle certain things and what to focus on, if you liked the way things went, you do those again and keep it the same. If you do not like some of those things, you make adjustments. I think that our players are getting used to that part of it, which is good. We understand that the preparation part does not change. That, to me, is the key and that is where the rhythm and attention to detail comes in. That is the biggest thing that you have to work on, our focus. That is the ability to prepare at a high level in film evaluation, walk-throughs, meetings, the practices, everything that we do leading up to the game. Those things can be affected in a negative way. You have to learn to manage and balance your schedule based on the additional things that this type of situation requires and demands. I think our guys are able to do that in a more consistent way because this has happened more frequently. That is a good thing. These are good challenges to have and these are things that moving forward we want to be more consistently a part of with this program.
Q: On Micah McFadden's recruitment…
ALLEN: That is an interesting question. His dad point blank asked me if Micah was going to get a chance to play at Indiana. I was a little taken back, but I understood where he was coming from. He wanted Micah to go to a place where he would eventually earn the opportunity to play and not just be on the team. He had two Power-5 offers, that was it. The rest of them were all mid-major offers. What I saw, he was a year younger than Thomas Allen, so I had a chance to see him when he was a sophomore and when he was a junior, he had a chance to play against a top-tier Florida High School program and that was his coming-out party. He played the outside linebacker position, so he had a chance to rush the passer more than when he was playing a true linebacker spot. Thomas was the middle linebacker in that system. Micah had a bunch of sacks in that game. It was a big game, both teams were at the top of the state of Florida. It was his coming-out game. He had an amazing knack to make plays. I saw it on special teams first. I went to a lot of practices because I could with Thomas being there and I was at South Florida. I was able to be at a lot of practices, which was kind of cool. I saw more practices than I saw actual games. I had a chance to watch Whop Philyor, Juwan Burgess and Micah. I was surprised he was not more highly recruited and his head coach felt the same way. I trusted our evaluation. Grant Heard has Plant High School as his school in his area down there and he came to me one day to tell me that McFadden was a great player. He went to watch him once in practice in the spring and I agreed with him. I believed in that kid and thought he was really good. I did not know what everyone else was missing. I knew what I saw and trusted my evaluation. He played so hard and he had a great burst to the ball. Since he has gotten here, he has been getting better and better. He has bought into everything we are doing. He works extremely hard in the weight room and he has a lot of football savvy to him. He has good football speed. I could not tell you what his 40-yard dash time is, but his burst to the ballcarrier is elite. He is a really good tackler. He has bought in. He is a kid that does what we ask him to do. He studies and really prepares himself. I am not surprised that he is as good as he is, but apparently no one else really saw that in him. I am glad we stayed true to our evaluation.
Q: On the quarterback battle on Saturday…
ALLEN: Both teams have great quarterbacks. I have already said how I feel about Justin Fields. He is really special. I think we have a great one, too. He is not as experienced as Justin Fields or played as much football as he has, but he has shown that he has an elite skillset. I really think that Michael Penix Jr.'s decision making is one of his greatest strengths. The rest of the natural stuff flows from there with his quick release and his arm strength. There is a reason that the NFL pays their quarterbacks as much as they do. They are the key position on a football team. You go as your quarterback goes and that is just the way that it is. That is why you have two teams here that are both undefeated in conference play and playing in a big, big game together. It is a great opportunity for Michael. It is his first chance to play against Ohio State since he has been here. I am excited to see how this game, this environment, this opportunity pulls even more greatness out of him.
Q: On the extension of the recruiting dead period…
ALLEN: It is uncharted territory when that came out. We saw it coming when we were talking to the compliance staff, they really felt that it was going to be the direction this was going to go. It is a unique situation. I would have never thought something like this could happen. There will be a chance we are signing guys that we have never physically met in person or have not physically been to campus. Fortunately for us, we have a small class. We do not have very many seniors, so we only have to replace what we lose. It will be a small class for that reason. That is probably a positive thing because a majority of the guys that we have in this class have already been on campus. That is a great thing. They came before the pandemic hit. That is a huge plus for us. It is harder to make an evaluation when you do not have that face-to-face, in person contact. It goes both ways. I feel for these athletes and their families having to make this type of decision without having a chance to physically go somewhere. You have to be able to feel the environment of a campus, a football program, the facilities, it is not just seeing the facilities, it is the people. You can get a feel for the vibe of the culture when you are physically together. It is unfortunate that none of us have any control over it. When you stack the dates up, if they do not make any changes to Signing Day, then Signing Day will come and go and you will have to sign some kids that have not been to campus. You would like to limit that as much as possible. It is the reality of the world that we are living in right now. It is going to make it harder to make those decisions and evaluations. We are pretty close to being full right now with a smaller group. Like I said, I think that is a positive thing for us. It is definitely going to affect the 2022 class and the guys that are currently juniors that we are working hard on. I am sure they are going to make adjustments to that. We will make some adjustments to create more virtual opportunities for them to be able to get around our staff and us to be able to be around them. It is a challenging time, for sure. That will definitely create for some unique things in the future.
Players Mentioned
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