Thursday Takeaways: Minnesota
11/18/2021 12:30:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head football coach Tom Allen addressed the media on Thursday (Nov. 18) in front of the Hoosiers home contest against Minnesota at 3:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network 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 the injury situation...
TA: Same as last week. Guys are working through everything, and we are trying to get them ready. Don't know for sure yet on Michael [Penix Jr.] and Jack [Tuttle], but just working and throwing and trying to get them better. We are seeing progress, but we will have to see. We will make a decision tomorrow.
On how preparations have gone this week...
TA: It has been good. Guys are working hard, and we are just trying to work through everything and continue to motivate them and have them motivate each other to work to come together and finish. It is a special day for the seniors, recognizing these guys that have come here and done so much for our program. I want to make sure this team finishes well. It was a good solid week. We just have to continue. We have more things to do here before kickoff on Saturday.
On the senior class...
TA: A lot of quality young men, without question. A lot of really good players and guys that are special to me because they came here and believed in what we could build before it happened on the field. We really had a chance to recruit these guys and help develop them and be a part of their lives. You will miss the relationships, the daily contact with them and being around them. It is just a lot of really high-quality guys that I have poured my heart in to, and they have poured their hearts into this program. It is pretty special, but that is why we are going to enjoy every step of these last few times together and make sure we don't take any of this for granted.
On if he's ever experienced a season like this and when the retrospective begins...
TA: It will be an after the season thing, but to answer your first question, no, I have never been a part of anything like this. It is unprecedented for me. That makes it even harder. At the same time, we are just trying to hang together and stay positive and get as many guys healthy each week. It is an unprecedented number of guys that we have lost, then the way the season has turned out, especially with the expectations, I have never experienced anything like it.
On how the program might deal with the guys that have the opportunity to come back for the extra year...
TA: It is an interesting dynamic, that is for sure, because you have several different situations involved as you address some of those. Here is the reality, if we grant everybody their COVID year, we wouldn't be able to bring in any high school players in that whole class. That is not realistic and no one in the country is going to do that. So, you have to make those decisions about who is going to be in these spots, whether you keep a guy for an extra year or do you go out and get a high school player or somebody else that is going to fill that position. We have already had some of those conversations for situations that we feel like we know more about at this point. Guys making decisions about their pro careers that have a year left, that will take some time. We have a whole process that we go through with that and that will begin as soon as the season is over. It really involves a lot of information gathering, meetings, and opportunities for them to get as much information as they possibly can to make those decisions. Then there are guys that are somewhere in between those and you are trying to figure out situations and numbers. A lot of conversations will happen post our last game, but you do that while you are trying to get out and recruit during the contact period, which is a very important period for us for the early signing on December 15. A lot going on, for sure, so from our perspective it is really about roster management at a level we have not seen before, being able to go through and make a lot of decisions. Then sometimes you are working with information that you don't know the complete picture of yet. It is about taking the information you have right now and making the best decisions possible but being very open and honest with our guys about where they stand.
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 the injury situation...
TA: Same as last week. Guys are working through everything, and we are trying to get them ready. Don't know for sure yet on Michael [Penix Jr.] and Jack [Tuttle], but just working and throwing and trying to get them better. We are seeing progress, but we will have to see. We will make a decision tomorrow.
On how preparations have gone this week...
TA: It has been good. Guys are working hard, and we are just trying to work through everything and continue to motivate them and have them motivate each other to work to come together and finish. It is a special day for the seniors, recognizing these guys that have come here and done so much for our program. I want to make sure this team finishes well. It was a good solid week. We just have to continue. We have more things to do here before kickoff on Saturday.
On the senior class...
TA: A lot of quality young men, without question. A lot of really good players and guys that are special to me because they came here and believed in what we could build before it happened on the field. We really had a chance to recruit these guys and help develop them and be a part of their lives. You will miss the relationships, the daily contact with them and being around them. It is just a lot of really high-quality guys that I have poured my heart in to, and they have poured their hearts into this program. It is pretty special, but that is why we are going to enjoy every step of these last few times together and make sure we don't take any of this for granted.
On if he's ever experienced a season like this and when the retrospective begins...
TA: It will be an after the season thing, but to answer your first question, no, I have never been a part of anything like this. It is unprecedented for me. That makes it even harder. At the same time, we are just trying to hang together and stay positive and get as many guys healthy each week. It is an unprecedented number of guys that we have lost, then the way the season has turned out, especially with the expectations, I have never experienced anything like it.
On how the program might deal with the guys that have the opportunity to come back for the extra year...
TA: It is an interesting dynamic, that is for sure, because you have several different situations involved as you address some of those. Here is the reality, if we grant everybody their COVID year, we wouldn't be able to bring in any high school players in that whole class. That is not realistic and no one in the country is going to do that. So, you have to make those decisions about who is going to be in these spots, whether you keep a guy for an extra year or do you go out and get a high school player or somebody else that is going to fill that position. We have already had some of those conversations for situations that we feel like we know more about at this point. Guys making decisions about their pro careers that have a year left, that will take some time. We have a whole process that we go through with that and that will begin as soon as the season is over. It really involves a lot of information gathering, meetings, and opportunities for them to get as much information as they possibly can to make those decisions. Then there are guys that are somewhere in between those and you are trying to figure out situations and numbers. A lot of conversations will happen post our last game, but you do that while you are trying to get out and recruit during the contact period, which is a very important period for us for the early signing on December 15. A lot going on, for sure, so from our perspective it is really about roster management at a level we have not seen before, being able to go through and make a lot of decisions. Then sometimes you are working with information that you don't know the complete picture of yet. It is about taking the information you have right now and making the best decisions possible but being very open and honest with our guys about where they stand.
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