Indiana University Athletics
Thursday Takeaways: Michigan State
10/14/2021 2:14:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head football coach Tom Allen addressed the media on Thursday (October 14) in front of the Hoosiers Homecoming contest against No. 10/9 Michigan State at noon on FS1 inside Memorial Stadium.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conferences, while video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On Micah McFadden and Cam Jones growth this season...
TA: I think, as you mentioned, Micah and Cam are two of our best players and [have been] for many years. The thing I have really seen the biggest growth in is their leadership, especially Micah. He is more verbal. He has always led by the way he practices and prepares and how hard he plays and executes on game day, but just think his sideline leadership beyond guys just in that [linebacker] room. His growth in that area and responding to our challenge for him to be able to verbally lead, and the same with Cam. He was phenomenal all summer long leading our guys during workouts. There is no doubt they set the tone for the whole defense, the whole team for that matter, in how we work, how we pay attention to the little things and have been able to match that up with great play. You have both great work ethic, great production on the field and now with both of those guys strong verbal leadership. It is a great combination.
On the health of the secondary...
TA: I feel good about Raheem [Layne], he has been out there, and the other two are still working to get back. We don't know about either of those guys yet and won't know until game day.
On what the primary focus points were over the last two weeks...
TA: First of all, you mentioned the health and that was a big focus, seeing who would get reps, modified some reps and had some guys that didn't practice at all and rehabbed the entire week. Some guys would just do individual and a lot of technique work, but not do the team reps to take some shots off their bodies. I think that was a big focus, but also for the whole team, like even some guys that didn't take team reps, they did all of the individual, all of the technique work, all of the one-on-one [drills] to be able to improve our fundamentals and technique in blocking and tackling. You always talk about camp rules - things you do as a base for your offense, defense and special teams units, to be able to really emphasize those attention to details, whether it is footwork, hand placement or punch, being able to make our reads. Work on some base things that when you get into game plan they are always a part of it, they may get tweaked a little bit, so the understanding of the fundamentals of those things is paramount, so we really went back and refined some things and evaluated and said, 'okay, these are things that keep showing up that we need to make sure we are working on even more to where we can execute at critical times.' To me, it was just an overall sharpening of what we do, making some adjustments and changes to things that have not worked or that we are not getting out of it what we want, a thorough self-scout and evaluation, and then just fundamentally improving.
On Michigan State's Jayden Reed's impact in the return game...
TA: Correct. That has been highly emphasized. Obviously, there are obviously multiple points to [controlling the return game] in the quality of the kick, the quality of the coverage, the placement of the kick and all of those different things you want to be able to do. He is a very dangerous returner and has created game-changing plays for them. It has allowed them to get the opportunity to win a game versus Nebraska. So, yes, that is a huge point of emphasis, and we have to make sure we are on point in all of our coverage units, because it is going to take a complete team effort to come out on top this Saturday.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conferences, while video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On Micah McFadden and Cam Jones growth this season...
TA: I think, as you mentioned, Micah and Cam are two of our best players and [have been] for many years. The thing I have really seen the biggest growth in is their leadership, especially Micah. He is more verbal. He has always led by the way he practices and prepares and how hard he plays and executes on game day, but just think his sideline leadership beyond guys just in that [linebacker] room. His growth in that area and responding to our challenge for him to be able to verbally lead, and the same with Cam. He was phenomenal all summer long leading our guys during workouts. There is no doubt they set the tone for the whole defense, the whole team for that matter, in how we work, how we pay attention to the little things and have been able to match that up with great play. You have both great work ethic, great production on the field and now with both of those guys strong verbal leadership. It is a great combination.
On the health of the secondary...
TA: I feel good about Raheem [Layne], he has been out there, and the other two are still working to get back. We don't know about either of those guys yet and won't know until game day.
On what the primary focus points were over the last two weeks...
TA: First of all, you mentioned the health and that was a big focus, seeing who would get reps, modified some reps and had some guys that didn't practice at all and rehabbed the entire week. Some guys would just do individual and a lot of technique work, but not do the team reps to take some shots off their bodies. I think that was a big focus, but also for the whole team, like even some guys that didn't take team reps, they did all of the individual, all of the technique work, all of the one-on-one [drills] to be able to improve our fundamentals and technique in blocking and tackling. You always talk about camp rules - things you do as a base for your offense, defense and special teams units, to be able to really emphasize those attention to details, whether it is footwork, hand placement or punch, being able to make our reads. Work on some base things that when you get into game plan they are always a part of it, they may get tweaked a little bit, so the understanding of the fundamentals of those things is paramount, so we really went back and refined some things and evaluated and said, 'okay, these are things that keep showing up that we need to make sure we are working on even more to where we can execute at critical times.' To me, it was just an overall sharpening of what we do, making some adjustments and changes to things that have not worked or that we are not getting out of it what we want, a thorough self-scout and evaluation, and then just fundamentally improving.
On Michigan State's Jayden Reed's impact in the return game...
TA: Correct. That has been highly emphasized. Obviously, there are obviously multiple points to [controlling the return game] in the quality of the kick, the quality of the coverage, the placement of the kick and all of those different things you want to be able to do. He is a very dangerous returner and has created game-changing plays for them. It has allowed them to get the opportunity to win a game versus Nebraska. So, yes, that is a huge point of emphasis, and we have to make sure we are on point in all of our coverage units, because it is going to take a complete team effort to come out on top this Saturday.
Players Mentioned
LB
/ FootballFB: Omar Cooper Jr. Media Availability (10/21/25)
Tuesday, October 21
FB: Stephen Daley Media Availability (10/21/25)
Tuesday, October 21
FB: Carter Smith Media Availability (10/21/25)
Tuesday, October 21
FB: Curt Cignetti Media Availability (10/20/25)
Monday, October 20