Thursday Takeaways: at Nebraska
9/29/2022 2:00:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Roadtrip number two is on deck for the Indiana football program and head coach Tom Allen talked to the media on Thursday (Sept. 29) in front of a trip to Nebraska for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Big Ten Network.
Below is a partial transcript of the Tom Allen press conference, while video of the full media sessions can be found near the top of this story at IUHoosiers.com or via IUHoosiers.com/watch.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On the personnel at punt returner…
TA: [Connor Delp] is obviously young and has a great growth opportunity this past week to get some live action. Doing that is a tough skillset to do; catching punts is very challenging without question. He is our lead guy, if D.J. [Matthews Jr.] can't go.
Also, Noah Pierre has also taken reps this week, as well. Bryant Fitzgerald is the other guy that has caught punts quite a bit for us, as far as in practice, the last several years. Even Jaylin Williams would be in the mix, as well. We have had several guys back there this week to be able to allow us to have some answers if we need that.
I do believe in Connor. He has a really strong level of courage back there and just needs to always make great decisions. The best way to learn that is to have that experience, which he now has.
On if there have been any changes this week at practice…
TA: We haven't started fast enough or strong enough, so we tried to do some things to help correct that ... Basically this past week, once we got ourselves stretched and physically warmed up to practice, we would go right into some type of competition; either offense versus defense, which we don't do a lot of during the season, it is mostly versus scouts, so we added that, as well as even some one-on-one work, some pod work - running backs versus linebackers, receivers and defensive backs, o-line versus d-line.
It was segmented, controlled competition. Best on best, good on good, right away at the start of practice. We did something like that again today and did something every single day just trying to as soon as we got our bodies warmed up go out and compete and get things playing at a high level. Wanted to make sure we're locked in and focused.
It's gotta be all three phases. It has been different phases that hasn't been as focused in the beginning and we have to be able to play strong in the first quarter. That is the goal this week.
On the defense stopping the run again this weekend…
TA: We made some improvement, without question, and needed to. We are going to have to have it on full display on Saturday night against a very talented running back we are going to be playing against. We are very impressed with his skill set, his vision and his toughness, his burst, strength, power and speed. He has all those qualities you are looking for in a running back.
Just like anything else when you play, you have to be very sound in your fits, you have to tackle extremely well in all three levels: up front, in the linebacker position and the secondary. You have to work together and play our style of defense, which is very much clearly what we want to be able to do is attack. That, to me, when you play a great running back like we are going to play against [at Nebraska], and we play a bunch in this league, which is an awesome thing for us and an awesome challenge because he is very gifted, it is going to take all 11 guys on the field to get the job done.
On if Nebraska has done anything different since the coaching change…
TA: There has only been one game since that to be able to evaluate that one. It is kind of hard to tell, especially since they were off this week. We didn't notice anything different from the week before until the last [game].
You would expect with the bye week is a chance for some more of those changes to have taken place in that type of situation. We are definitely preparing for all possibilities in all three phases.
Below is a partial transcript of the Tom Allen press conference, while video of the full media sessions can be found near the top of this story at IUHoosiers.com or via IUHoosiers.com/watch.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On the personnel at punt returner…
TA: [Connor Delp] is obviously young and has a great growth opportunity this past week to get some live action. Doing that is a tough skillset to do; catching punts is very challenging without question. He is our lead guy, if D.J. [Matthews Jr.] can't go.
Also, Noah Pierre has also taken reps this week, as well. Bryant Fitzgerald is the other guy that has caught punts quite a bit for us, as far as in practice, the last several years. Even Jaylin Williams would be in the mix, as well. We have had several guys back there this week to be able to allow us to have some answers if we need that.
I do believe in Connor. He has a really strong level of courage back there and just needs to always make great decisions. The best way to learn that is to have that experience, which he now has.
On if there have been any changes this week at practice…
TA: We haven't started fast enough or strong enough, so we tried to do some things to help correct that ... Basically this past week, once we got ourselves stretched and physically warmed up to practice, we would go right into some type of competition; either offense versus defense, which we don't do a lot of during the season, it is mostly versus scouts, so we added that, as well as even some one-on-one work, some pod work - running backs versus linebackers, receivers and defensive backs, o-line versus d-line.
It was segmented, controlled competition. Best on best, good on good, right away at the start of practice. We did something like that again today and did something every single day just trying to as soon as we got our bodies warmed up go out and compete and get things playing at a high level. Wanted to make sure we're locked in and focused.
It's gotta be all three phases. It has been different phases that hasn't been as focused in the beginning and we have to be able to play strong in the first quarter. That is the goal this week.
On the defense stopping the run again this weekend…
TA: We made some improvement, without question, and needed to. We are going to have to have it on full display on Saturday night against a very talented running back we are going to be playing against. We are very impressed with his skill set, his vision and his toughness, his burst, strength, power and speed. He has all those qualities you are looking for in a running back.
Just like anything else when you play, you have to be very sound in your fits, you have to tackle extremely well in all three levels: up front, in the linebacker position and the secondary. You have to work together and play our style of defense, which is very much clearly what we want to be able to do is attack. That, to me, when you play a great running back like we are going to play against [at Nebraska], and we play a bunch in this league, which is an awesome thing for us and an awesome challenge because he is very gifted, it is going to take all 11 guys on the field to get the job done.
On if Nebraska has done anything different since the coaching change…
TA: There has only been one game since that to be able to evaluate that one. It is kind of hard to tell, especially since they were off this week. We didn't notice anything different from the week before until the last [game].
You would expect with the bye week is a chance for some more of those changes to have taken place in that type of situation. We are definitely preparing for all possibilities in all three phases.
Players Mentioned
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