Quoted: Fall Camp Edition - Tom Allen & Walt Bell
8/9/2023 3:00:00 PM | Football
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – As the Indiana Football program continued the second week of fall camp, head coach Tom Allen and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Walt Bell addressed the media inside Memorial Stadium on Wednesday (August 9).
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On how he is weighing the quarterback competition in camp…
TA: You've got two guys now that are very similar. They're both redshirts. Neither one of them really played much last year. I think they're more at the same starting point. At the end of the day, we're going to pick the guy that we think is going to give us the best chance to win. That's the bottom line. You have a long season, and you have a very challenging first one. You're going to have someone going up against one of the teams in the nation right out of the gate. We have a big scrimmage coming up this weekend that's going to be important, it'll be the most amount of game-like reps in one setting that we've had yet. Really looking forward to seeing that and seeing how they perform in those situations.
On how a fall camp quarterback battle impacts the team's install period…
TA: I don't know that it changes it a lot, we basically would've followed the same install. One thing that's nice about this time of year is that the twos and the ones are getting an equal number of reps, numerically. You don't' feel like you're having to alter anything and they're all in the same system. Now, once you decide who that person is going to be, you tailor it to the fine details to their strength and their skillset, but there are a lot of similarities between the two guys, in terms of their skillset strength. I think that's a positive without question. I think that the installation process is similar to what it would be if you already had a guy named. As we look at this, we've already had six practices and so number seven will be tomorrow, and it'll be in full pads with a lot of game-like situations. From where we're at as a whole offense and defense, our installation is pretty well complete at this point.
On a different approach this fall camp with a new-look secondary…
TA: I think that there's more coaches involved in the leadership. Now, Noah (Pierre) gives us a lot of experience and strong leadership. … I think our coaches knowing that Noah plays the position of Husky, our nickel spot, so he's closer to the line of scrimmage, so those high safeties have to do a lot of communicating. Louis Moore has really stepped up and continues to do so and I think that's been huge for us. A guy like Josh Sanguinetti who has played a lot of football here and been here a lot, and Phillip (Dunnam) has to continue to grow and mature and develop. Those guys we expect because they've been here, and we've got new guys that have joined us and have been added to our team. The corner position has a lot of new faces, JoJo (Johnson) just got here right at the start of fall camp and has already turned some heads and done some really good things. Since I've been here, it's the most new faces we've had in the secondary, without question. The difference is really more of the coaches stepping in and providing that leadership as these guys kind of figure things out, but those guys are making plays and that's what we expect them to do. We've got a lot more length than we've had in the past at those positions, and I think that's indicative of what we're trying to do to match their skillsets and what they can do best with what we're trying to do schematically.
On the progression of the offense in Walt Bell's second year with Indiana…
TA: Obviously, offense is a little different than defense, with the installation usually the defense is ahead right out of the gate because you can fly around, play hard and disrupt everything and things can happen positively on defense in that mindset. You do all that on offense and it usually doesn't work out as well. It's so much timing and execution and everybody doing their job working to get the offense executed. Because of it being year two of a lot of the same concepts, that's really been big for our guys. I think there's a natural progression because we have enough core guys back that makes that a lot smoother. I think just knowing our guys better and being able to adapt to them and just kind of figuring out the strengths of who we are and what we're trying to do. I do feel like we're making a lot of progress up front with the o-line. That to me has a good feel to it right now. I thought the last couple practices have really shown that. During the team "move the ball" periods in practice we've been able to make some plays and show the ability to be explosive. That's a big key for us, we've got to be able to do that to take the pressure off just having to be so perfect in everything so we can have 80-yard drives or create big gains in chunk plays. He (Walt Bell) and Coach (Anthony) Tucker, even though Coach Tucker is new, they have worked together for several years so that creates a good working relationship that helps them be able to be pretty smooth in that regard. So, I think our receivers are really coming together as well and starting to make plays which is good.
Walt Bell | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On quarterback growth since spring ball...
WB: You try to take a whole calendar year [view] - 365 days - because we had our pre-spring installation, spring ball, OTAs in the summer, whatever the NCAA allows us to do in the summer, we've done that, and those kids have done a great job preparing themselves for now. Much further past what you would consider the ABCs [of the system]. Now we are on to some DEFs and teaching guys how to think and help themselves in pass protection. Both of them have done a great job, both are really physically talented, and in these first six days have had some really good moments, some really special moments, some average moments and below average moments. Two young guys that have a lot of physical talent that are competing really well.
On the prospects of having a mobile quarterback...
WB: The entirety of the room is really athletic. Whatever we have to do to be able to run the football successfully. The advantage between Brendan [Sorsby], Tayven [Jackson], Broc [Lowry], Dexter [Williams II], everybody in my room is a good athlete. So, whatever we have to do to help ourselves be better in the run game, that is what we will do.
On getting the offense up to speed with a number of new faces... WB: It goes both ways. There are certain guys that have the physical ability that you have to get caught up to speed. Then there are guys that have been here and really just trying to find their place within the confines of the system. I wouldn't say it's hard. No matter what your plans are, you go through the first week of fall camp: we may be a little better at this than we thought, or we may not be as good at this as we thought. A lot of times, no matter who's all back. what's going on, even if they're all back, there's always things that develop through the year as you build your team. Just excited about the weapons that we do have. We've got a really good group of wideouts, we feel really good about our tight end position, adding Christian Turner [to the running backs room] and you have Jaylin [Lucas] and Josh [Henderson] return with Trent Howland and David Holloman, that's a really good group of backs. Adding E.J. Williams Jr. to Cam Camper, Donaven McCulley and Andison Coby, Omar Cooper Jr. is healthy. We feel really good about our offense, it's just trying to find a way to fit them in the system and put them in a position to be the best version of themselves.
On Austin Barrett... WB: He's going to be a really good football player. He is still young and still very developmental. He was as low as 239 [pounds] when wrestling [in high school] and now he is always 293 pounds. It's the physical development, mental development. He's still got a long way to go, but he has a chance to be a really good football player someday. I don't want to say anything that Coach [Bob] Bostad wouldn't say or to heap so much praise on a young person as to they can't live up to it. I could say that if he stays healthy his whole career, he's probably going to be a really good player for the Hoosiers one day.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conference, while video of the media sessions can be found on the right sidebar at IUHoosiers.com.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On how he is weighing the quarterback competition in camp…
TA: You've got two guys now that are very similar. They're both redshirts. Neither one of them really played much last year. I think they're more at the same starting point. At the end of the day, we're going to pick the guy that we think is going to give us the best chance to win. That's the bottom line. You have a long season, and you have a very challenging first one. You're going to have someone going up against one of the teams in the nation right out of the gate. We have a big scrimmage coming up this weekend that's going to be important, it'll be the most amount of game-like reps in one setting that we've had yet. Really looking forward to seeing that and seeing how they perform in those situations.
On how a fall camp quarterback battle impacts the team's install period…
TA: I don't know that it changes it a lot, we basically would've followed the same install. One thing that's nice about this time of year is that the twos and the ones are getting an equal number of reps, numerically. You don't' feel like you're having to alter anything and they're all in the same system. Now, once you decide who that person is going to be, you tailor it to the fine details to their strength and their skillset, but there are a lot of similarities between the two guys, in terms of their skillset strength. I think that's a positive without question. I think that the installation process is similar to what it would be if you already had a guy named. As we look at this, we've already had six practices and so number seven will be tomorrow, and it'll be in full pads with a lot of game-like situations. From where we're at as a whole offense and defense, our installation is pretty well complete at this point.
On a different approach this fall camp with a new-look secondary…
TA: I think that there's more coaches involved in the leadership. Now, Noah (Pierre) gives us a lot of experience and strong leadership. … I think our coaches knowing that Noah plays the position of Husky, our nickel spot, so he's closer to the line of scrimmage, so those high safeties have to do a lot of communicating. Louis Moore has really stepped up and continues to do so and I think that's been huge for us. A guy like Josh Sanguinetti who has played a lot of football here and been here a lot, and Phillip (Dunnam) has to continue to grow and mature and develop. Those guys we expect because they've been here, and we've got new guys that have joined us and have been added to our team. The corner position has a lot of new faces, JoJo (Johnson) just got here right at the start of fall camp and has already turned some heads and done some really good things. Since I've been here, it's the most new faces we've had in the secondary, without question. The difference is really more of the coaches stepping in and providing that leadership as these guys kind of figure things out, but those guys are making plays and that's what we expect them to do. We've got a lot more length than we've had in the past at those positions, and I think that's indicative of what we're trying to do to match their skillsets and what they can do best with what we're trying to do schematically.
On the progression of the offense in Walt Bell's second year with Indiana…
TA: Obviously, offense is a little different than defense, with the installation usually the defense is ahead right out of the gate because you can fly around, play hard and disrupt everything and things can happen positively on defense in that mindset. You do all that on offense and it usually doesn't work out as well. It's so much timing and execution and everybody doing their job working to get the offense executed. Because of it being year two of a lot of the same concepts, that's really been big for our guys. I think there's a natural progression because we have enough core guys back that makes that a lot smoother. I think just knowing our guys better and being able to adapt to them and just kind of figuring out the strengths of who we are and what we're trying to do. I do feel like we're making a lot of progress up front with the o-line. That to me has a good feel to it right now. I thought the last couple practices have really shown that. During the team "move the ball" periods in practice we've been able to make some plays and show the ability to be explosive. That's a big key for us, we've got to be able to do that to take the pressure off just having to be so perfect in everything so we can have 80-yard drives or create big gains in chunk plays. He (Walt Bell) and Coach (Anthony) Tucker, even though Coach Tucker is new, they have worked together for several years so that creates a good working relationship that helps them be able to be pretty smooth in that regard. So, I think our receivers are really coming together as well and starting to make plays which is good.
Walt Bell | Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On quarterback growth since spring ball...
WB: You try to take a whole calendar year [view] - 365 days - because we had our pre-spring installation, spring ball, OTAs in the summer, whatever the NCAA allows us to do in the summer, we've done that, and those kids have done a great job preparing themselves for now. Much further past what you would consider the ABCs [of the system]. Now we are on to some DEFs and teaching guys how to think and help themselves in pass protection. Both of them have done a great job, both are really physically talented, and in these first six days have had some really good moments, some really special moments, some average moments and below average moments. Two young guys that have a lot of physical talent that are competing really well.
On the prospects of having a mobile quarterback...
WB: The entirety of the room is really athletic. Whatever we have to do to be able to run the football successfully. The advantage between Brendan [Sorsby], Tayven [Jackson], Broc [Lowry], Dexter [Williams II], everybody in my room is a good athlete. So, whatever we have to do to help ourselves be better in the run game, that is what we will do.
On getting the offense up to speed with a number of new faces... WB: It goes both ways. There are certain guys that have the physical ability that you have to get caught up to speed. Then there are guys that have been here and really just trying to find their place within the confines of the system. I wouldn't say it's hard. No matter what your plans are, you go through the first week of fall camp: we may be a little better at this than we thought, or we may not be as good at this as we thought. A lot of times, no matter who's all back. what's going on, even if they're all back, there's always things that develop through the year as you build your team. Just excited about the weapons that we do have. We've got a really good group of wideouts, we feel really good about our tight end position, adding Christian Turner [to the running backs room] and you have Jaylin [Lucas] and Josh [Henderson] return with Trent Howland and David Holloman, that's a really good group of backs. Adding E.J. Williams Jr. to Cam Camper, Donaven McCulley and Andison Coby, Omar Cooper Jr. is healthy. We feel really good about our offense, it's just trying to find a way to fit them in the system and put them in a position to be the best version of themselves.
On Austin Barrett... WB: He's going to be a really good football player. He is still young and still very developmental. He was as low as 239 [pounds] when wrestling [in high school] and now he is always 293 pounds. It's the physical development, mental development. He's still got a long way to go, but he has a chance to be a really good football player someday. I don't want to say anything that Coach [Bob] Bostad wouldn't say or to heap so much praise on a young person as to they can't live up to it. I could say that if he stays healthy his whole career, he's probably going to be a really good player for the Hoosiers one day.
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