Indiana University Athletics
Thursday Takeaways: Ohio State
8/31/2023 2:30:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– The first game of the 2023 season is days away, as No. 3/4 Ohio State is slated to come to Memorial Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on CBS Saturday (September 2). Indiana football head coach Tom Allen addressed the media inside Memorial Stadium on Thursday (August 31).
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On who has emerged in the linebackers' depth…
TA: Yeah, I would say Jared Casey without question has had a really good fall camp for us and continues to grow and develop in our system. Josh Rudolph is the other guy that's been there taking reps. … I like the group, there's obviously several new faces there that haven't played a lot of football here, so, just excited to get those guys out there on Saturday and let them go.
On who from the cornerback room will be leaned on against Ohio State…
TA: Yeah, as I mentioned, we've got several new faces in the whole secondary, but Jamier Johnson is really a guy that has come along. He's had a really good fall camp. Kobee Minor, we've mentioned him before, really excited about where he's at and is definitely going to be playing a lot of football for us Saturday. And Jamari Sharpe is a guy that's been here, but was young last year as a true freshman, so as a redshirt freshman, has length and speed and so he's really emerged as one of our top guys and just excited about him. And Nic Toomer is another new guy that has been really impressive during fall camp. This guy coming here has got lots of length, played a lot of football at Stanford and had an injury there that he's really kind of now back from that full speed, been a couple years ago and he's now back to where he was before that and playing with a lot of confidence. Just really excited to be able to have him with us, A guy we recruited really, really hard the first time and really wanted him out of high school and now is coming to us four years later. JoJo Johnson is also a guy in that mix that's gotten a lot of reps during fall camp and then James Monds also is a guy we've also repped, so we've got six guys there that have taken lots of reps for us, and so we're probably going to have about three or four of those guys we're going to play quite a bit on Saturday, as you mentioned, playing one of the best receiver cores in the whole country, and that's a group that's going to get tested early and often and have got to step up and play very well.
On rotating players with several new faces…
TA: It kind of depends. We're definitely going to rotate the D-line just because that's what you do in that position for sure numerically, and as well, just keeping those guys fresh. In the secondary, I think more because of having so many new guys, we still haven't had a game yet, so getting those guys to see how they perform in a game is going to be big. So you're probably going to rotate some guys early on and see how they respond, and then play the hot hand. The guys that are playing the best and seem to be doing the most positive things, But I think you're going to see quite a few faces out there in the secondary. Different guys involved, and just want to do a great job of getting the chance to evaluate them as well. It's a big game because it's a conference game, it's the first game. It's all those things, but it's also your first one you having as a team. Scrimmages are great, but they're not a full live football game. I just think that we're going to play a lot of guys, especially on the back end and up front.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media session can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On who has emerged in the linebackers' depth…
TA: Yeah, I would say Jared Casey without question has had a really good fall camp for us and continues to grow and develop in our system. Josh Rudolph is the other guy that's been there taking reps. … I like the group, there's obviously several new faces there that haven't played a lot of football here, so, just excited to get those guys out there on Saturday and let them go.
On who from the cornerback room will be leaned on against Ohio State…
TA: Yeah, as I mentioned, we've got several new faces in the whole secondary, but Jamier Johnson is really a guy that has come along. He's had a really good fall camp. Kobee Minor, we've mentioned him before, really excited about where he's at and is definitely going to be playing a lot of football for us Saturday. And Jamari Sharpe is a guy that's been here, but was young last year as a true freshman, so as a redshirt freshman, has length and speed and so he's really emerged as one of our top guys and just excited about him. And Nic Toomer is another new guy that has been really impressive during fall camp. This guy coming here has got lots of length, played a lot of football at Stanford and had an injury there that he's really kind of now back from that full speed, been a couple years ago and he's now back to where he was before that and playing with a lot of confidence. Just really excited to be able to have him with us, A guy we recruited really, really hard the first time and really wanted him out of high school and now is coming to us four years later. JoJo Johnson is also a guy in that mix that's gotten a lot of reps during fall camp and then James Monds also is a guy we've also repped, so we've got six guys there that have taken lots of reps for us, and so we're probably going to have about three or four of those guys we're going to play quite a bit on Saturday, as you mentioned, playing one of the best receiver cores in the whole country, and that's a group that's going to get tested early and often and have got to step up and play very well.
On rotating players with several new faces…
TA: It kind of depends. We're definitely going to rotate the D-line just because that's what you do in that position for sure numerically, and as well, just keeping those guys fresh. In the secondary, I think more because of having so many new guys, we still haven't had a game yet, so getting those guys to see how they perform in a game is going to be big. So you're probably going to rotate some guys early on and see how they respond, and then play the hot hand. The guys that are playing the best and seem to be doing the most positive things, But I think you're going to see quite a few faces out there in the secondary. Different guys involved, and just want to do a great job of getting the chance to evaluate them as well. It's a big game because it's a conference game, it's the first game. It's all those things, but it's also your first one you having as a team. Scrimmages are great, but they're not a full live football game. I just think that we're going to play a lot of guys, especially on the back end and up front.
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