Media Wednesday: Outback Bowl

Media Wednesday: Ole Miss

Below is a partial transcription of the Zoom press conference with Indiana head coach Tom Allen on Wednesday, Dec. 23.

Head Coach Tom Allen
Q. On the ability of the Ole Miss offense to push the ball down the field…
ALLEN: It is always important to affect the quarterback. The big play is definitely a huge emphasis for them. They live off those. The deceiving part is that they also rush for 220 yards per game. That is why they are the No. 1 offense in the SEC right now and No. 3 in the country. We have to affect the quarterback, but we also have to tackle him because he runs it effectively. He gets a lot of his yards off the scramble, not necessarily a designed run. They want to be able to create those explosive plays off the play-action, which is why the run game is so critical for what they do. They have a bunch of talented running backs, and the receiving corps is a lot of different guys that can hurt us. We have to do some special things to be able to affect that. They kicked an onside kick against Alabama to get the ball back and try to win the game. That shows you who we are playing in this game, how talented they are and how explosive they are.

Q. On the status of the team with the COVID-19 protocols…
ALLEN: We are getting closer, but are not back to normal yet. We have had three practices. We practiced Monday, Tuesday and just got off the practice field today. We will go again tomorrow but will not go on Christmas Day. It has been a slow progression getting guys back. We had to modify our practice plans and how we do things because of our numbers and the limited numbers that we have. We are still getting back. We are hoping to have all our guys that have to clear COVID protocols by Monday. We are not for sure on all of them, we do not know all the answers yet. There are a lot of things they have to go through, testing wise. There is no question that it is getting a little bit better every day. It is just part of the process that we go through. I have spent a lot of time with our medical staff and Kyle Blackman continues to do an excellent job for us and leading those guys. We have all these guys in different phases with what they can and cannot do with the medical staff, the strength staff and parts of practice. Some guys are doing certain things at practice but cannot be there for the entire time. We are working together. We feel good about it, a lot better than we did a week ago. But we are definitely not at full strength yet.

Q. On younger guys benefiting from extra practices…
ALLEN: We have tried to do that but, as you mentioned, it has been compressed just because of the calendar itself and you do not have as much time between the end of your season and the bowl game because the bowl game dates are all the same as they used to be and obviously our season was later. And then with our situation with COVID, that has limited those, for sure. So, we got a couple extra days in. The first two this week, kind of dedicated to that focus on fundamentals and those guys that have not gotten as many reps or periods with them. I would say a lot of our young offensive linemen that have not got the chance to play as much. Randy Holtz is one of those guys that we are just trying to bring him along. And obviously, big, big individual and just want to see him continue to grow and develop and I think that is big. David Baker is another one. We have got him lots of reps and he continues to make plays and does a good job. Jovan Swann, we talked about him before but he is still young, has not played a ton but has played some and same with Tim Baldwin Jr. in the backfield. And I just think of all those young offensive linemen. Cameron Knight is a guy that you think has a bright future here. And he came early this year, although it got cut short. Same thing with Damarjhe Lewis, all that got cut short so those guys get more reps, more opportunities to develop and get better. I just think, like a guy like Beau Robbins, to me, is just really kind of starting to come into his own. I think these extra practices and all the work he has done this year is starting to show up. So, I am excited about him. Bryson Bonds same thing. We mentioned him early but has not played a lot. Those guys, Ty Wise another one has done some good things. Try to get those guys in there a lot are two young corners that really feel like they have a really good chance to be great players for us and those guys have gotten a lot more reps and I think this is critical for this. And even guys that had maybe gottne dinged up a little bit, try to get those guys back, give them a chance to really get in there, get a ton of reps, get to get themselves physically developed and just keep getting better as a football team so those are all important things, I feel good about that we are getting accomplished these last few days.

Q. On relationship with the Kiffin family…
ALLEN: I have gotten to know Lane Kiffin a little bit. I know his brother a lot better, because Chris and I coached together at Arkansas State and at Ole Miss. Chris and I were neighbors when we were there at Ole Miss together. So, know his family well and our daughter babysat for his kids and got to know Monte, through Chris, then Lane. And then with the Adidas trips that we would go on as the head coaches in the offseason that is where I got a chance to kind of meet Lane. Where he has been, they were able to go on those trips and spend some time together. But yeah, Monte Kiffin is a special man. He is obviously tremendously gifted in his coaching. His knowledge and all that he has and so I have talked ball with him when we were at Ole Miss and he would come and spend some time with us and we adopted some things conceptually, yes. There is no question that over the years that we do and to continue to do from the things that he just always had. And to me it was always kind of like man, it just made sense, as he can explain it and the way that he taught things like that. Why did I never think of something like that but it was just really, really very, they were just things that were effective and they were things that were very transferable from different formations of books that you had one concept that was very universally applied, then you can use one core concept and adapt it to different types of things that the offense would give you and do for you. But just what I started to say about Monte, he is such a good person. He is a kind, giving guy that just enjoys people. It is all about working and coaching ball and he loves that part so that is where I kind of have connected with their family and got a chance to spend time with their dad and he is a special, special person.

Q. On players going home for Christmas and special teams against Ole Miss…
ALLEN: They use a lot of different types of kicks, ball placement as well from where it is kicked from where it ends up being kicked to. So, that obviously creates things and we are obviously looking at all our options and we just want to make sure we are doing whatever is best to maximize field position and whether that is we feel like it if it changes for us per the kick, both the placement and the hang time, if it is better to fair catch it and start at the 25 without any chance of anything happening that is not positive or if you liked it, we have a chance to bring those out and return them. We will make those decisions and working through that at this point. And I think that when you just think about your first question about Christmas, we have protocols here that we have to follow so we are, we unfortunately are not allowed to have anybody to go outside of our bubble for Christmas. So, they cannot leave. We are all going to all stay here. We will practice tomorrow, like I mentioned, we will have Christmas Day off from football. We are going to have a dinner together, got some presents for the guys. Got a big old Christmas tree. Going to have a big Christmas get together for our team. It is one of the sacrifices that these guys are having to make, which is not easy. I get that. It is hard, but we are going to be together as our football family and then there will be some that they choose to come to spend some time with their boys here for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. That is great if they can do that. But we are not allowed. If we let them leave, then they would be out the whole next week of the protocol testing, which obviously does not work because you are getting ready to play your game the following Saturday. So, it is just a reality of COVID that we are dealing with but we are going to, we have to follow these protocols and we have stuck to them this long and we just got 10 more days to finish this out. So, definitely not ideal but it is another thing that I think people from the outside do not understand what these guys have been through and how much they have sacrificed and invested for this program, for this university, and it is a special thing and they are a special group and I really respect them so much for the way they have handled this.

Indiana University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

David Baker

Tim Baldwin Jr.

Bryson Bonds

Randy Holtz

Cameron Knight

Damarjhe Lewis

Beau Robbins

Jovan Swann

Ty Wise

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