Indiana University Athletics
Media Monday: Maryland
10/25/2021 3:02:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head football coach Tom Allen met with the media on Monday (Oct. 25) inside Memorial Stadium to preview the upcoming road contest at Maryland on Saturday (Oct. 30).
Below is the transcript of the press conference. Video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
Opening Statement
TA: Good morning. Just wanted to start by saying after watching everything, really our approach was, as I stated after the game, a very disappointing performance. But just chose to -- we obviously watched it. We graded it and all that. But we really chose to flush it and press on with our guys. That was the focus yesterday to just really focused more on [our guys] and their mindset and where we're at physically and mentally, and getting our guys squared away in that regard. That was the emphasis and that we want to be able to flush it and get our guys ready for the next one. That's the focus.
Update with Jack [Tuttle]. He'll be week to week. So, we don't know as of right now his status. Same with Michael [Penix Jr.]. Michael is still week to week. Tiawan [Mullen] played a few snaps. He hopefully will get better this week. Did not play near what we hoped he'd be able to play, but he is progressing. Same with Reese [Taylor].
Now, just really focus now on getting our guys healthy. We'll be practicing accordingly with that goal in mind to be able to do a great job of making sure our guys are fresh mentally and physically when we take the field on Saturday in College Park.
Three guys to mention from the game, because I want to make sure I always recognize our scout team. Eli Jochem is our offensive scout of the week. Chase Washington is our defensive scout of the week. And, Patrick Finley is our special teams scout of the week. We really appreciate their work, just an awesome job preparing our guys and all the effort that they give us every single week is great. So, we continue to recognize those guys.
Excited about this week and a chance to play on the road in a Big Ten game against Maryland. A very talented football team and much respect for their staff and the quality of the skill that they have on offense and the physicality and athleticism that they have on defense.
It is just an important week for us. Every week is a big week. Every week is important. And our guys have to understand that, and they do. So, excited to be able to get our guys back out there tomorrow and get back to work.
Questions.
On Jack Tuttle's status
TA: I would say what the MRI showed us was that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I guess that was probably the first word I was given. I think with that -- but definitely was enough to where it creates some unknowns for him to be able to know his status moving forward on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully he'll be able to recover from that as efficiently as possible.
And, you know, I would say with Donaven [McCulley], you feel good about certain things that you wanted to be able to do; have him ready for per his skill set and the reps he's gotten to this point. But, obviously, he prepared and practiced and took those reps as the number two all week.
Then, Grant [Gremel] actually took some reps as well, especially more of the third down situations, passing situations. But, yeah, you just go through and prepare the best that you can with your guys. You only have so many reps each week. And, obviously, he was the guy taking those and getting ready for that.
You just go through and then you get that in that moment. It obviously happened very early in the game and then it's raining, so it's really tough for a kid being his first opportunity against such a high-level opponent in tough weather conditions. It just created a tough situation for him without a doubt. I thought he improved throughout the game and am glad he got all those reps. It will definitely pay dividends moving forward, no matter how much he has to play in future. I thought that he got more comfortable doing some things and made some nice runs, took some big hits and popped back up, and made some throws. He just has to continue to grow with that.
It's really about just building things around what he feels comfortable with and can function at a high level with and be able to do things he needs to do to help us win a football game.
On if he saw any specific issues with the defense…
TA: I think, first of all, you've got to go through and evaluate, like we did. We go through and do things and watch it very closely and discuss as a staff. There are definitely some things you go back and see. [Ohio State] is obviously a very good football team. I've been here several years now and played them every single year.
After playing them in person and seeing them, it's the best Ohio State offense that we've faced since I've been here. The offensive lines is impressive, big, physical and athletic. They keep getting better and better up front.
Then I thought their quarterback obviously had shown some youth early in the season, but that's in the past. Extremely talented quarterback. We already talked about the receivers. They're three of the best in the country. As a group, I don't know if there's any group better. I can't imagine that.
Then you've got a running back that gives them a home run gear that they haven't always had in that spot, or definitely not last year. So, yeah, it's a really special offense. It creates a lot of problems for you.
We obviously had some injuries in the secondary and tried to do a good job of protecting those guys and helping them out. Kept things in front of us, but too soft in that regard I thought. Gave them too much underneath and a lot of yards there. Then didn't do a good job [with their tempo]. The tempo gives you some trouble but that [wasn't something new]. It just still creates issues because of all the other variables you're talking about. I just think that -- love our defensive guys – it wasn't for a lack of effort. They played hard. But, we didn't tackle as well as we need to.
I think there was a little hesitancy. I thought that was something in our guys that I hadn't seen out of them before this season. Definitely haven't seen it recently. I guess that was another reason for the [first half]. Throw it in the trash. We're not going to overly beat ourselves up in that regard. We obviously make corrections and press on. That was the challenge to our guys. We did not play at our standard without question.
We can't let the last [game] affect the next one. That's what it comes down to for me. That's absolutely not going to happen. Talked to our guys, meeting more guys even today and a lot yesterday and just being able to make them understand that. We have a lot of really good players on defense and we just have certain things we need to learn from this one and press on.
On if he has seen growth from Maryland's quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa since last season…
TA: He's a very talented player. Very quick release with a big-time arm and can run. Probably the thing that really sticks out to me with him is his ability to get rid of the ball so quickly and efficiently. And then the way he moves athletically. He's a true dual-threat guy. Then you have to account for the talent around him. Really good running backs and another group of talented [wide receivers]. Which they've always had every time we've played Maryland. Their speed and athleticism is near the top of this league, which affects special teams play. You see it on defense. It shows up in the skill positions on offense. And that's the same this year.
He's another year older. And just got to continue to do a tremendous job of affecting him. We know that as what you have to do with really good quarterbacks. He does a really good job. Completion percentage for him is very high. And it's because he's really good we've just got to do a great job defensively. That's going to be on us as a staff and our players to respond and to be able to put together a great plan.
On the offensive live…
TA: I would say lack of consistency continues to be an issue. Just going through [the film], I felt like even just watching it again, we're going to go through and look at even just some -- making some -- if we have to make some movements there to get some other guys involved and just to be able to address as guys continue to develop throughout the season.
I think it's been isolated breakdowns. You know, you've got certain things happening the way they're supposed to on certain plays and then the next one not. But it can happen. It was just isolated situations where one guy got beat one-on-one. Happened several times. It can't happen in those games, those situations, key third downs when it creates a tackle for loss or penetration that just disrupts everything.
Communication at times wasn't what it was supposed to be. It's been frustrating and disappointing without question up front. They've got to just keep battling and have to get better. We've got to coach them better and improve those guys. Like I said, we'll make some adjustments if we need to this week to get the result we want. But, yeah, it's an area that we need to have step up.
Obviously with injuries we've had at quarterback and the ability for our guys to be able to effectively move down the field like we did that first drive and get in the end zone. So it shows you what we can do when you do things the right way and you communicate effectively; block, ran the ball, threw the ball. That's what you have to do consistently throughout the game. To me, that's going to be the focus and that's a constant thing.
On the packages Donaven McCulley had ready for him against Ohio State…
TA: Well, I would just say when I talked about certain packages, there's a lot within those packages to be able to do. The bottom line is that he was number two. He took every single number two rep throughout the week. Bottom line is that he took those practice reps, and we went to the things he felt he was comfortable doing where he was at in his development.
To me, you've got to be able to execute those. And we didn't execute those at the highest level possible, in my opinion. Obviously, the results speak for themselves. It's a challenging situation for us to be in at this point in that room. We have those guys that are there, and they've got to be ready to play. He was obviously the guy that took those reps as we went through each day in practice and then being able to take that from the practice field to the game field is what has to happen.
But he was thrown into a tough situation after the first drive of the game. That's why Grant played because he had certain things we thought he could do well as well. So didn't make a big deal about it leading up to it, but if it was necessary for him to be in there, then he was ready to do that. And that's why he played.
On how they might prepare Donaven McCulley for a possible start this weekend at Maryland…
TA: Yeah. I think that with the unknowns that you have with Jack, you have to just fully prepare him mentally and physically and from a reps perspective. We'll see how the week plays itself out as far as how much that happens with Jack.
The bottom line is you know Jack's obviously played and gotten a lot of reps in the past, where Donaven needs to get as many reps as possible. You have to have that mindset. He's going to be the guy, and then we'll see what happens. Bottom line is that would be the approach is to get him ready and get Grant ready as well. Those two guys have to be getting the majority of the reps and getting themselves in position to play. So that's going to be the approach.
On what the conversations have been like with the team after Saturday…
TA: Well, I mean, those conversations we have -- and we had an important one on Sunday -- are critical to this team and our psyche and where we're at just understanding your guys and where they are and the culture you have and your team and your locker room and the strength of your guys and just appealing to that and focus on the things that we can control, which is our attitude and our mindset and the way we approach every day.
To me, really the focus is the way that we think and the way that we approach certain things. It's not how we feel. It's the reality of our mindset and the way we approach life. When life is hard and things don't go your way and things get difficult and things don't turn out the way you expect them to or want them to, how are you going to respond?
To me, that's the critical nature of life. That's the critical nature of sport and how it teaches you about those things.
So, to me, that's been the emphasis. I don't want to get into details. But without question, it's about capturing the hearts and minds of your players and being able to help them handle the difficulties that they're facing right now, which is a microcosm of what they'll face later in life. That's really what this is all about is helping these men develop into those qualities so they can lead their homes one day and lead their communities one day and whatever line of work they're in, they'll be leaders in those settings, through the good times and the bad times. That's what this teaches.
Obviously, we do all of that to be able to help them come together and play their best football to be able to accomplish our objective of winning on game day. There's a dual purpose in all this. It serves a great role for their future, but it's never more critical than right now when you're trying to allow a team to stay together and fight together and be able to learn to do the little things it takes to find a way to make things happen when things are going against you.
On all of IU's quarterback injuries this season…
TA: Like you said in the past, there's certain types of injury. I mean, if they're volume injuries with the quarterback position, we all would agree there's certain things you don't do with them during the week. You don't hit them. You don't hit them in fall camp. You don't hit them in spring ball. You don't hit them leading up to the game.
I just think that we've had some joint issues. Had ligament issues. When you have torn ACLs and with Jack's foot, you know, it's tough. They're the kind of things that -- how do you prevent those? I don't have all the answers for that.
Obviously, there's a hit variable. When you take hits, you increase your chances of having guys injured. Sometimes guys get hit a whole bunch and they never get injured. If you look at their history and their past, neither one of those guys came to us with a history of getting injured in high school. I guess if that had been the case, those are things you look at when you recruit guys. Do they have a history of injury? And sometimes it's predictive and sometimes it's not. They did not [have a history]. Neither one of them had that. Which is even more frustrating.
At the same time, I don't know that any of us, any coach [has the answer]. They are part of the game. We've always talked about it. Those are two things that everybody uses to evaluate predicting games is who's home and away, and who's healthy. It's obviously very critical to your team's performance.
But preventing them, we're trying to do everything we can to keep our team healthy throughout the week. Everything you do in the offseason to be able to prepare their bodies, to be able to be an elite athlete that stays in the game and is able [to heal quickly]. If you do have some setbacks you're able to get back.
The issue we had with our secondary, there's been things -- it's tough. I don't know how you prevent some of those. But we're doing everything we can to make sure we're not missing something and some self-evaluation on that. But, yeah, right now, this has been a tough year for injuries.
On how he feels about the backend of the Big Ten schedule…
TA: Well, I think we did talk to our guys. It's obvious. They know and it's been well documented how difficult our schedule has been and who we've played and where they're ranked. You can look at the schedule and see it.
Still, the focus is the next one. That was the priority yesterday and really nothing beyond that. Obviously, big picture wise, you do understand how the dynamics look, and how your season plays itself out and when you play which teams and where on the schedule.
But in regard to your team right now, where we are, it is solely focused on one opponent, and that's Maryland. And everything you do, all your energy, everything you have, what you do, all focus is on getting yourself in the best position possible to play your best on the road and get a win at Maryland. That's the focus.
So that's where we're at. Take them one at a time and be able to build from there. There's no doubt that this team has been through a lot. We're going to stay together, keep battling, keep fighting, and continue to stay focused on the task at hand, which is beating Maryland.
On how far Donaven McCulley has come over the last two weeks…
TA: I think it does need to be accelerated. When he wasn't the number two, he was getting some reps without question, but not a lot. I think, too, being a guy that was a three-sport athlete [in high school], that just didn't sit around and play football in his off season, he was playing other sports, which is fine, that's part of his past and that's part of who he is and makes him as athletic as he is, but also created a situation where he did not have a lot of the rep base that maybe other guys may have.
At the same time, that's where he was. Right now, it needs to be accelerated. And that's where we are. That's been the case here recently. That's been why he's taken all those reps and has to continue to find out as we get a better feel for him. He was at the time, early in the season, one of our scout team quarterbacks, which is the truth. So just to get him a chance to play and get more reps just to be able to go against our defense and be comfortable playing football and making those decisions of throwing to whoever in the secondary.
I think that right now, he's a talented athlete that hasn't played a lot of college football. He's a big kid, tall and athletic. We just have to build things around what he is best at and allows him to be successful. That's the objective. That's the goal. And that's the charge for our guys. So we've been working hard on that these last couple days and that will continue.
Have a great day. LEO.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
114098-1-1822 2021-10-25 16:32:00 GMT
Below is the transcript of the press conference. Video of the full media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
Opening Statement
TA: Good morning. Just wanted to start by saying after watching everything, really our approach was, as I stated after the game, a very disappointing performance. But just chose to -- we obviously watched it. We graded it and all that. But we really chose to flush it and press on with our guys. That was the focus yesterday to just really focused more on [our guys] and their mindset and where we're at physically and mentally, and getting our guys squared away in that regard. That was the emphasis and that we want to be able to flush it and get our guys ready for the next one. That's the focus.
Update with Jack [Tuttle]. He'll be week to week. So, we don't know as of right now his status. Same with Michael [Penix Jr.]. Michael is still week to week. Tiawan [Mullen] played a few snaps. He hopefully will get better this week. Did not play near what we hoped he'd be able to play, but he is progressing. Same with Reese [Taylor].
Now, just really focus now on getting our guys healthy. We'll be practicing accordingly with that goal in mind to be able to do a great job of making sure our guys are fresh mentally and physically when we take the field on Saturday in College Park.
Three guys to mention from the game, because I want to make sure I always recognize our scout team. Eli Jochem is our offensive scout of the week. Chase Washington is our defensive scout of the week. And, Patrick Finley is our special teams scout of the week. We really appreciate their work, just an awesome job preparing our guys and all the effort that they give us every single week is great. So, we continue to recognize those guys.
Excited about this week and a chance to play on the road in a Big Ten game against Maryland. A very talented football team and much respect for their staff and the quality of the skill that they have on offense and the physicality and athleticism that they have on defense.
It is just an important week for us. Every week is a big week. Every week is important. And our guys have to understand that, and they do. So, excited to be able to get our guys back out there tomorrow and get back to work.
Questions.
On Jack Tuttle's status
TA: I would say what the MRI showed us was that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I guess that was probably the first word I was given. I think with that -- but definitely was enough to where it creates some unknowns for him to be able to know his status moving forward on a day-to-day basis. Hopefully he'll be able to recover from that as efficiently as possible.
And, you know, I would say with Donaven [McCulley], you feel good about certain things that you wanted to be able to do; have him ready for per his skill set and the reps he's gotten to this point. But, obviously, he prepared and practiced and took those reps as the number two all week.
Then, Grant [Gremel] actually took some reps as well, especially more of the third down situations, passing situations. But, yeah, you just go through and prepare the best that you can with your guys. You only have so many reps each week. And, obviously, he was the guy taking those and getting ready for that.
You just go through and then you get that in that moment. It obviously happened very early in the game and then it's raining, so it's really tough for a kid being his first opportunity against such a high-level opponent in tough weather conditions. It just created a tough situation for him without a doubt. I thought he improved throughout the game and am glad he got all those reps. It will definitely pay dividends moving forward, no matter how much he has to play in future. I thought that he got more comfortable doing some things and made some nice runs, took some big hits and popped back up, and made some throws. He just has to continue to grow with that.
It's really about just building things around what he feels comfortable with and can function at a high level with and be able to do things he needs to do to help us win a football game.
On if he saw any specific issues with the defense…
TA: I think, first of all, you've got to go through and evaluate, like we did. We go through and do things and watch it very closely and discuss as a staff. There are definitely some things you go back and see. [Ohio State] is obviously a very good football team. I've been here several years now and played them every single year.
After playing them in person and seeing them, it's the best Ohio State offense that we've faced since I've been here. The offensive lines is impressive, big, physical and athletic. They keep getting better and better up front.
Then I thought their quarterback obviously had shown some youth early in the season, but that's in the past. Extremely talented quarterback. We already talked about the receivers. They're three of the best in the country. As a group, I don't know if there's any group better. I can't imagine that.
Then you've got a running back that gives them a home run gear that they haven't always had in that spot, or definitely not last year. So, yeah, it's a really special offense. It creates a lot of problems for you.
We obviously had some injuries in the secondary and tried to do a good job of protecting those guys and helping them out. Kept things in front of us, but too soft in that regard I thought. Gave them too much underneath and a lot of yards there. Then didn't do a good job [with their tempo]. The tempo gives you some trouble but that [wasn't something new]. It just still creates issues because of all the other variables you're talking about. I just think that -- love our defensive guys – it wasn't for a lack of effort. They played hard. But, we didn't tackle as well as we need to.
I think there was a little hesitancy. I thought that was something in our guys that I hadn't seen out of them before this season. Definitely haven't seen it recently. I guess that was another reason for the [first half]. Throw it in the trash. We're not going to overly beat ourselves up in that regard. We obviously make corrections and press on. That was the challenge to our guys. We did not play at our standard without question.
We can't let the last [game] affect the next one. That's what it comes down to for me. That's absolutely not going to happen. Talked to our guys, meeting more guys even today and a lot yesterday and just being able to make them understand that. We have a lot of really good players on defense and we just have certain things we need to learn from this one and press on.
On if he has seen growth from Maryland's quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa since last season…
TA: He's a very talented player. Very quick release with a big-time arm and can run. Probably the thing that really sticks out to me with him is his ability to get rid of the ball so quickly and efficiently. And then the way he moves athletically. He's a true dual-threat guy. Then you have to account for the talent around him. Really good running backs and another group of talented [wide receivers]. Which they've always had every time we've played Maryland. Their speed and athleticism is near the top of this league, which affects special teams play. You see it on defense. It shows up in the skill positions on offense. And that's the same this year.
He's another year older. And just got to continue to do a tremendous job of affecting him. We know that as what you have to do with really good quarterbacks. He does a really good job. Completion percentage for him is very high. And it's because he's really good we've just got to do a great job defensively. That's going to be on us as a staff and our players to respond and to be able to put together a great plan.
On the offensive live…
TA: I would say lack of consistency continues to be an issue. Just going through [the film], I felt like even just watching it again, we're going to go through and look at even just some -- making some -- if we have to make some movements there to get some other guys involved and just to be able to address as guys continue to develop throughout the season.
I think it's been isolated breakdowns. You know, you've got certain things happening the way they're supposed to on certain plays and then the next one not. But it can happen. It was just isolated situations where one guy got beat one-on-one. Happened several times. It can't happen in those games, those situations, key third downs when it creates a tackle for loss or penetration that just disrupts everything.
Communication at times wasn't what it was supposed to be. It's been frustrating and disappointing without question up front. They've got to just keep battling and have to get better. We've got to coach them better and improve those guys. Like I said, we'll make some adjustments if we need to this week to get the result we want. But, yeah, it's an area that we need to have step up.
Obviously with injuries we've had at quarterback and the ability for our guys to be able to effectively move down the field like we did that first drive and get in the end zone. So it shows you what we can do when you do things the right way and you communicate effectively; block, ran the ball, threw the ball. That's what you have to do consistently throughout the game. To me, that's going to be the focus and that's a constant thing.
On the packages Donaven McCulley had ready for him against Ohio State…
TA: Well, I would just say when I talked about certain packages, there's a lot within those packages to be able to do. The bottom line is that he was number two. He took every single number two rep throughout the week. Bottom line is that he took those practice reps, and we went to the things he felt he was comfortable doing where he was at in his development.
To me, you've got to be able to execute those. And we didn't execute those at the highest level possible, in my opinion. Obviously, the results speak for themselves. It's a challenging situation for us to be in at this point in that room. We have those guys that are there, and they've got to be ready to play. He was obviously the guy that took those reps as we went through each day in practice and then being able to take that from the practice field to the game field is what has to happen.
But he was thrown into a tough situation after the first drive of the game. That's why Grant played because he had certain things we thought he could do well as well. So didn't make a big deal about it leading up to it, but if it was necessary for him to be in there, then he was ready to do that. And that's why he played.
On how they might prepare Donaven McCulley for a possible start this weekend at Maryland…
TA: Yeah. I think that with the unknowns that you have with Jack, you have to just fully prepare him mentally and physically and from a reps perspective. We'll see how the week plays itself out as far as how much that happens with Jack.
The bottom line is you know Jack's obviously played and gotten a lot of reps in the past, where Donaven needs to get as many reps as possible. You have to have that mindset. He's going to be the guy, and then we'll see what happens. Bottom line is that would be the approach is to get him ready and get Grant ready as well. Those two guys have to be getting the majority of the reps and getting themselves in position to play. So that's going to be the approach.
On what the conversations have been like with the team after Saturday…
TA: Well, I mean, those conversations we have -- and we had an important one on Sunday -- are critical to this team and our psyche and where we're at just understanding your guys and where they are and the culture you have and your team and your locker room and the strength of your guys and just appealing to that and focus on the things that we can control, which is our attitude and our mindset and the way we approach every day.
To me, really the focus is the way that we think and the way that we approach certain things. It's not how we feel. It's the reality of our mindset and the way we approach life. When life is hard and things don't go your way and things get difficult and things don't turn out the way you expect them to or want them to, how are you going to respond?
To me, that's the critical nature of life. That's the critical nature of sport and how it teaches you about those things.
So, to me, that's been the emphasis. I don't want to get into details. But without question, it's about capturing the hearts and minds of your players and being able to help them handle the difficulties that they're facing right now, which is a microcosm of what they'll face later in life. That's really what this is all about is helping these men develop into those qualities so they can lead their homes one day and lead their communities one day and whatever line of work they're in, they'll be leaders in those settings, through the good times and the bad times. That's what this teaches.
Obviously, we do all of that to be able to help them come together and play their best football to be able to accomplish our objective of winning on game day. There's a dual purpose in all this. It serves a great role for their future, but it's never more critical than right now when you're trying to allow a team to stay together and fight together and be able to learn to do the little things it takes to find a way to make things happen when things are going against you.
On all of IU's quarterback injuries this season…
TA: Like you said in the past, there's certain types of injury. I mean, if they're volume injuries with the quarterback position, we all would agree there's certain things you don't do with them during the week. You don't hit them. You don't hit them in fall camp. You don't hit them in spring ball. You don't hit them leading up to the game.
I just think that we've had some joint issues. Had ligament issues. When you have torn ACLs and with Jack's foot, you know, it's tough. They're the kind of things that -- how do you prevent those? I don't have all the answers for that.
Obviously, there's a hit variable. When you take hits, you increase your chances of having guys injured. Sometimes guys get hit a whole bunch and they never get injured. If you look at their history and their past, neither one of those guys came to us with a history of getting injured in high school. I guess if that had been the case, those are things you look at when you recruit guys. Do they have a history of injury? And sometimes it's predictive and sometimes it's not. They did not [have a history]. Neither one of them had that. Which is even more frustrating.
At the same time, I don't know that any of us, any coach [has the answer]. They are part of the game. We've always talked about it. Those are two things that everybody uses to evaluate predicting games is who's home and away, and who's healthy. It's obviously very critical to your team's performance.
But preventing them, we're trying to do everything we can to keep our team healthy throughout the week. Everything you do in the offseason to be able to prepare their bodies, to be able to be an elite athlete that stays in the game and is able [to heal quickly]. If you do have some setbacks you're able to get back.
The issue we had with our secondary, there's been things -- it's tough. I don't know how you prevent some of those. But we're doing everything we can to make sure we're not missing something and some self-evaluation on that. But, yeah, right now, this has been a tough year for injuries.
On how he feels about the backend of the Big Ten schedule…
TA: Well, I think we did talk to our guys. It's obvious. They know and it's been well documented how difficult our schedule has been and who we've played and where they're ranked. You can look at the schedule and see it.
Still, the focus is the next one. That was the priority yesterday and really nothing beyond that. Obviously, big picture wise, you do understand how the dynamics look, and how your season plays itself out and when you play which teams and where on the schedule.
But in regard to your team right now, where we are, it is solely focused on one opponent, and that's Maryland. And everything you do, all your energy, everything you have, what you do, all focus is on getting yourself in the best position possible to play your best on the road and get a win at Maryland. That's the focus.
So that's where we're at. Take them one at a time and be able to build from there. There's no doubt that this team has been through a lot. We're going to stay together, keep battling, keep fighting, and continue to stay focused on the task at hand, which is beating Maryland.
On how far Donaven McCulley has come over the last two weeks…
TA: I think it does need to be accelerated. When he wasn't the number two, he was getting some reps without question, but not a lot. I think, too, being a guy that was a three-sport athlete [in high school], that just didn't sit around and play football in his off season, he was playing other sports, which is fine, that's part of his past and that's part of who he is and makes him as athletic as he is, but also created a situation where he did not have a lot of the rep base that maybe other guys may have.
At the same time, that's where he was. Right now, it needs to be accelerated. And that's where we are. That's been the case here recently. That's been why he's taken all those reps and has to continue to find out as we get a better feel for him. He was at the time, early in the season, one of our scout team quarterbacks, which is the truth. So just to get him a chance to play and get more reps just to be able to go against our defense and be comfortable playing football and making those decisions of throwing to whoever in the secondary.
I think that right now, he's a talented athlete that hasn't played a lot of college football. He's a big kid, tall and athletic. We just have to build things around what he is best at and allows him to be successful. That's the objective. That's the goal. And that's the charge for our guys. So we've been working hard on that these last couple days and that will continue.
Have a great day. LEO.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
114098-1-1822 2021-10-25 16:32:00 GMT
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