Indiana University Athletics
Media Monday: Aaron Wellman and Michael Penix Jr.
2/22/2021 2:45:00 PM | Football
Below are partial transcriptions of Zoom press conferences with Indiana senior assistant athletic director for football performance Aaron Wellman and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. on Monday, Feb. 22.
Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Football Performance Aaron Wellman
Q. On the schedule alterations based on timing of last season's hire/shutdown…
WELLMAN: It obviously altered what we did last June and July. We all altered a lot of things during the season. It has not altered too much of the plan in January. We started in the middle of January, so we are four weeks into our winter program. We have made a lot of progress, but a lot of progress has to be made in the next two weeks before spring ball. As far as alterations based on 2020, not much was altered, thankfully, in 2021.
Q. On being behind due to shutdowns with the newcomers…
WELLMAN: I think I have always felt behind. I have been doing this for 25 years and I do not think there is a year that I have not felt behind. I always feel like we are playing catch up because the goals we have for our players mentally, physically and physiologically are always lofty. We always feel like we are behind in some regard. This year is no different. Obviously, all of us as performance programs at every school feel that pressure of being behind simply because of the lost time last year. Having said that, that is behind us. All we can do is push forward. We have spring ball here in two weeks. Every day is so valuable. I tell our players all the time that we do not have the luxury of wasting time and wasting a day. We have to be locked in every day that we come in. We have had a great four weeks, but we have to get a lot done in the next couple weeks.
Q. On getting to know the team better…
WELLMAN: I think we finally got a chance to know our players this offseason. As you mentioned, we do individualize a lot during our training. We work in two-week blocks here. We identify the limiters to performance. That is how we operate. What are your deficiencies? What are the greatest limiters to performance, speed, strength and power? Isometric strength, eccentric strength, whatever that is, we identify it very quickly. Early in January we take two-three weeks to address those issues. At that point, we re-test, although we are constantly monitoring. Then we attack the next limiter to performance with our team. We are in the midst of that. We have 13 defensive linemen in the D-Line room of varying ages, abilities and levels of development. They all need somewhat of an individualized approach based on several factors. That is the basis of our program. We have the ability to give our athletes exactly what they need. Ultimately, we want them to be a better player because they are in our strength program, not just a better lifter or stronger. Although, strength, power and speed underpin a lot of abilities that are necessary for the positional demands. We spend a lot of timing trying to drill down the unique differences in our players.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
On how his rehab is going so far…
PENIX: Right now, I am on schedule, if not a little bit ahead of schedule. I have been working extremely hard to get back. I am doing everything I can to go out and just continue to help motivate the team, be a leader, even though I cannot do certain activities. But I have been doing really well, progressing every week, and I feel myself getting a lot stronger and feeling more comfortable with my body.
On how hard it has been to stay positive with a second injury…
PENIX: At the beginning, I was kind of down, but just getting help from my family, friends and teammates, they kept me up, kept me positive. This is something I do not wish on anybody and nobody wishes they were in this position, but having them on my side, pushing me every single day, telling me to stay motivated and to continue to chase my dream, that was really helpful. That was something that really helped me get through it and I feel like I am still trying to stay positive. Right now, where I am at now, I am very positive. I love where I am at now, and I like the growth that I have had since the injury. I am very excited to just go out and do what I can to get back on the field with the guys.
On how good he thinks the offense can be with fewer COVID protocols…
PENIX: I feel like just having more time, just being there. They are actually giving us more guidelines that we can be around each other more. Just having the opportunity, we take advantage of it. We talk about it every day, make sure that we get together and throw, quarterbacks and receivers, as much as possible to make sure we get that chemistry that we could not really get last year, but we picked up on it. Having this opportunity is a great thing, a lot of young guys came in. We had some new receivers come in and just having that connection with them and getting more comfortable with them is a great thing for us. I feel like it is going to be a great season as long as we continue to stay focused, stay motivated and chase greatness.
Senior Assistant Athletic Director for Football Performance Aaron Wellman
Q. On the schedule alterations based on timing of last season's hire/shutdown…
WELLMAN: It obviously altered what we did last June and July. We all altered a lot of things during the season. It has not altered too much of the plan in January. We started in the middle of January, so we are four weeks into our winter program. We have made a lot of progress, but a lot of progress has to be made in the next two weeks before spring ball. As far as alterations based on 2020, not much was altered, thankfully, in 2021.
Q. On being behind due to shutdowns with the newcomers…
WELLMAN: I think I have always felt behind. I have been doing this for 25 years and I do not think there is a year that I have not felt behind. I always feel like we are playing catch up because the goals we have for our players mentally, physically and physiologically are always lofty. We always feel like we are behind in some regard. This year is no different. Obviously, all of us as performance programs at every school feel that pressure of being behind simply because of the lost time last year. Having said that, that is behind us. All we can do is push forward. We have spring ball here in two weeks. Every day is so valuable. I tell our players all the time that we do not have the luxury of wasting time and wasting a day. We have to be locked in every day that we come in. We have had a great four weeks, but we have to get a lot done in the next couple weeks.
Q. On getting to know the team better…
WELLMAN: I think we finally got a chance to know our players this offseason. As you mentioned, we do individualize a lot during our training. We work in two-week blocks here. We identify the limiters to performance. That is how we operate. What are your deficiencies? What are the greatest limiters to performance, speed, strength and power? Isometric strength, eccentric strength, whatever that is, we identify it very quickly. Early in January we take two-three weeks to address those issues. At that point, we re-test, although we are constantly monitoring. Then we attack the next limiter to performance with our team. We are in the midst of that. We have 13 defensive linemen in the D-Line room of varying ages, abilities and levels of development. They all need somewhat of an individualized approach based on several factors. That is the basis of our program. We have the ability to give our athletes exactly what they need. Ultimately, we want them to be a better player because they are in our strength program, not just a better lifter or stronger. Although, strength, power and speed underpin a lot of abilities that are necessary for the positional demands. We spend a lot of timing trying to drill down the unique differences in our players.
Quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
On how his rehab is going so far…
PENIX: Right now, I am on schedule, if not a little bit ahead of schedule. I have been working extremely hard to get back. I am doing everything I can to go out and just continue to help motivate the team, be a leader, even though I cannot do certain activities. But I have been doing really well, progressing every week, and I feel myself getting a lot stronger and feeling more comfortable with my body.
On how hard it has been to stay positive with a second injury…
PENIX: At the beginning, I was kind of down, but just getting help from my family, friends and teammates, they kept me up, kept me positive. This is something I do not wish on anybody and nobody wishes they were in this position, but having them on my side, pushing me every single day, telling me to stay motivated and to continue to chase my dream, that was really helpful. That was something that really helped me get through it and I feel like I am still trying to stay positive. Right now, where I am at now, I am very positive. I love where I am at now, and I like the growth that I have had since the injury. I am very excited to just go out and do what I can to get back on the field with the guys.
On how good he thinks the offense can be with fewer COVID protocols…
PENIX: I feel like just having more time, just being there. They are actually giving us more guidelines that we can be around each other more. Just having the opportunity, we take advantage of it. We talk about it every day, make sure that we get together and throw, quarterbacks and receivers, as much as possible to make sure we get that chemistry that we could not really get last year, but we picked up on it. Having this opportunity is a great thing, a lot of young guys came in. We had some new receivers come in and just having that connection with them and getting more comfortable with them is a great thing for us. I feel like it is going to be a great season as long as we continue to stay focused, stay motivated and chase greatness.
Players Mentioned
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