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BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 18, 2019

Tom Allen

Chicago, Illinois

TOM ALLEN: Honored and blessed to represent Indiana University here today and my home state. I'm very proud to be an Indiana Hoosier. I brought with me three fine young men that represent our university in a first-class way. Nick Westbrook coming with us today, a young man that does a great job in the classroom, on the football field, nominee for the Wuerffel Trophy, the AFC Good Works team, twice nominated for Biletnikoff as a receiver, three time all Big Ten as an academic performer, overcame an ACL injury in the 2017 season, and poised to do a great job for us on game day.

Also Reakwon Jones, a young man I have a ton of respect for that we brought with us to Big Ten Media Days. A young man that's overcome a lot of adversity. Had to sit behind Tegray Scales who's an All-American for us at linebacker. Got a chance to be the starter last year, did a great job for us, being able to go through some adversity. Family went through a hurricane down in Florida, he lost his home, lost a lot of things, were able to keep their health. But that was tough for him. So we rallied around him. I really appreciate what he's becoming and the man that he's turning into as he's each and every day training to be special on and off the field.

Also Coy Cronk, young man came with us today that -- a lot of respect for. Started 36 of 37 games since he's been a Hoosier. Was the first young man to be a 13-game starter as a true freshman on the offensive line. Never had that happen before in our program's history, and was a first-time All-American as a freshman for that group.

So those three men are all strong majors in the classroom, going to all graduate in December, two business degrees and a media degree from that group.

Very excited to start year 3 as Head Coach here at Indiana. We're on the cusp of opening a multimillion dollar facility for our football players, the Terry Tallen Football Complex. We open here in a couple weeks. There will be a new football locker room and training room area, and a player's lounge for our players. Really excited about the commitment that Fred Glass has made to Indiana football and continues to make. And our players are very excited about opening up that facility here very, very soon.

I believe in what we are building at Indiana and how we are building it. It's a process to get where we want to be as a program. Our one word for 2019 is grit. I define that as perseverance and passion towards a long-term goal. We're building this program on accountability, toughness, and love. I believe in those things. We're attracting young men that want to come to Indiana and be a part of our program and help us break through and make history. We have our eyes fixed on what we want and what we believe we're going to expect to accomplish at Indiana.

I learned a lot since my first season in 2017, a year where we competed and fought against the very best in our conference each and every year but fell short and struggled to finish. We really had an issue with depth. Did not have a lot of it at that point and had to go out and recruit. So what we did as a staff is we went out and recruited the second-highest-ranked class in the history of our program, which led into last season. Developed those guys, made some changes in the weight room. Love the way our players responded.

We had some depth in 2018 but it was very, very young depth, depth that caused us to be able to, at times, struggle to finish, as well. But once again, competing against the best in our league each and every week.

So we turn around again, go into this year. Went out and recruited, built relationships, and signed the highest-ranked class in the history of our program. So this year I see us as a football team that is starting to build the depth you need to compete in this conference. I would consider us a young, experienced team. We played 16 freshman last year, 10 on defense, 6 on offense, in meaningful minutes in the rotation. Those guys had a chance to develop and grow. Another off-season under our belt with our strength staff and our nutrition staff, it's helping our players develop physically. It's making a difference in our program.

As we approach the 2019 season, we have three quarterbacks that I believe all three are capable of leading our football team. Peyton Ramsey is a young man returning starter done a tremendous job for us and he's going to be in competition with Michael Penix and Jack Tuttle. Obviously as the returning starter, he's the guy they've got to beat out. But I believe in Michael Penix who's worked extremely, played some meaningful minutes last year before an injury, and has worked extremely hard this off-season and is fully healthy and ready to go. Jack Tuttle transferred to us from Utah, a young man that had a great man, had worked extremely hard, has a tremendous arm talent and ability to lead our football team.

Have a receiving corps and a running back group that I believe in. We have depth there, have competition there. Iron sharpens iron. It makes you better, it makes me better, makes all of us better. Offensive line led by three seniors. I already mentioned one of them, Simon Stepaniak as well as Hunter Littlejohn. Three seniors with Coy that lead that group. Have to develop depth at that position and continue to do that throughout fall camp.

Also excited about our defense, going to turn the reins over the Kane Wommack. As I've stated before that I will no longer be calling the defense. I feel like it's time for that opportunity to be passed on and excited about the ability for me to be able to be the head coach of the football team in a more effective way.

So Kane comes to us and was with us last season. He and I learned this system from his father, who I coached for at Ole Miss, Dave Wommack, and we're on the same page philosophically, and so I had a great spring with out young defense. It's very athletic. Have depth at all positions, still young depth, once again, that we're trying to develop. But I love how hard they play, how fast they play, and how physical we're becoming on that side of the football and I have high expectations for our defense in 2019.

Also with the retirement of Mike DeBord, we brought in Kalen DeBoer as our new offensive coordinator from Fresno State. I've known him for many, many years. Tremendously high character individual, is a great husband and father and leads his family well, so we brought him here to lead our offense. He's been a very successful collegiate head coach and also a very, very effective offensive-minded individual that can move the football down the field and score points, which has been our issue on offense.

So I'm excited about the opportunity that our young football team has as we have a good nucleus of strong senior leadership as well as youth and athleticism and a strong passion to create change at Indiana.

Ready for questions at this time.

Q. You mentioned your quarterbacks. Could you run a two-quarterback system or do you feel like you need to pick one guy and go with him?
TOM ALLEN: We don't plan to run a two-quarterback system. Obviously it's happened in the past, and it's been successful other places, but the plan now is to pick one and let him be the man. As I mentioned before, we'll go into fall camp and make those decisions, but I really believe in each one of those individuals and they all have their unique skill sets and strengths that they bring to the table. And they're all a little bit different, but they all have the ability to throw the football and extend plays, which is a key ingredient to what we're trying to accomplish offensively. So that's something that we will unfold throughout fall camp, and we'll make a decision before game 1.

Q. It's been asked a couple times before, but there's a power balance that's been on the Big Ten East. What are your thoughts on potential realignment, somebody who would be definitely affected by that?
TOM ALLEN: Well, you know, bottom line is those are decisions that I have nothing to do with. I've been in multiple conferences when you have cyclical opportunities for teams to rise up and have a certain level of play on the field, and so I think we play in a great league that is highly competitive and we play teams from both divisions. That's a decision that others might make. If it changes, it changes. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But we just play the teams that show up on game day.

Q. You talked about recruiting when you opened. What's making Indiana a more attractive destination for some of the top recruits that you're targeting?
TOM ALLEN: Well, we do a really good job, I believe, as a staff of targeting young men that fit who we are and what we're trying to accomplish, and we recruit the entire family. We recruit the peripheral part of the family as much as we do the player himself. I'm a big relationships person. My faith and family is the two most important things to me, and I think that resonates with recruits. They know that we're going to mentor them, we're going to love them more as a person than as a player, but we're also going to hold them accountable to high standards in the classroom and as a young man as they're going to learn to develop character and leadership and become the men I believe they were created to be.

And so I think the key is finding guys that fit that, that want that, that want to get a world-class education at Indiana and want to play the highest level of college football in the Big Ten. The bottom line is we've found guys that fit that mold and we recruit our tails off to get them. It takes a lot of energy, a lot of effort, and right now we're winning those battles.

Q. You touched on Kalen DeBoer taking over the offense this season. How do you expect the guys to adapt to the new scheme, and should IU fans expect a significant departure from what took place the last couple years or will it be somewhat similar?
TOM ALLEN: Well, we're not running split back veer or the triple option under center, so I don't think it's going to be dramatically different than it has been in the past. You'll have some core principles that will be the same. It obviously will be different, and every coach has their own twist on things and the way that they present the offense. But to me, it's more about formational things and personnel groupings and the way that we get into different looks and how we disguise looks and all that.

So I think you'll obviously get a chance to see that week one and beyond, but the bottom line is it is a new system -- and I told Coach DeBoer when he got here, I want him to come in any completely implement everything as he wanted it in terms of terminology and everything, and let our guys be able to learn a new system. And they've embraced it, and we've done a great job this spring, I believe, and in the summer within the rules that we can follow to be able to get it installed. And so we'll have a great plan for fall camp, as well.

I think there will be some changes. It will look a little different, but I wouldn't say it's wholesale changes for sure. But at the same time, it is a new system, new offense, new play caller. I think play calling is an art, and I think that Kalen DeBoer is a gifted play caller.

Q. This is your third year. In what ways do you feel like you've grown as a head coach and in what ways have you developed?
TOM ALLEN: First of all, it's been a great opportunity to learn, and you have to learn from the mistakes that you make. And I would say game-day decision making, I've really grown in the last couple years, and I think even going into year 3 with not being the defensive coordinator. I've felt very strongly about staying in that role the first two years, but I think it was time for me to be able to step aside from that and be able to become a better coach of the team and not just the head coach of the defense.

So I think that the game-day decision making and all that goes into that and being able to not have to go back and address the defense during the game, I think that's going to be big for me to be able to be more involved with the offense. I'm not going to tell Kalen what to call. I don't believe that in that. You hire great people and you let them do their job. But I also feel like that's an area that I feel more and more comfortable in, as well, so I'm excited about that adjustment.

And I think just being a head coach of a team at this level and handling the media schedule and all the things you have to do, you learn how to plan ahead better because you know what to expect next. And I also feel like that getting a better feel for our guys and understanding from a motivational perspective what they're going to need throughout a season, I think -- be more in tune with that as the head coach and not trying to sit behind the film reel and watch so much film to get ready to call the defense. I think that's an area that really even this spring I felt like I've really tried to emphasize and read more books and get my mind filled with more leadership component aspects to being the head coach rather than what we're going to do on defense to out-scheme our opponents.

I think those were two key areas. And then obviously the whole recruiting piece. I'm trying to become a better recruiter, more involved with that. I've been very involved already, but I also feel like it's an area that you can never put too much time into. As the head coach, I want to continue to grow in those areas to do a great job of attracting guys that fit with us and want to be Indiana Hoosiers.

Q. Three games last year lost by a touchdown or less. Anything in particular you'd put a finger on in those games, and how much do you think the additional depth might be able to get you over the hump?
TOM ALLEN: Thanks for reminding me of that. There's no question, I think, I've stated pretty clearly we had young depth last year. We played a lot of guys that may not have been totally physically ready to play because of being freshmen or being really young. And so I have to believe my heart, that that's a big component to what we have to do next, and with our strength staff being in year 2 of the job that they're doing, they do an amazing job in there, Dave Ballou and Dr. Rhea and his staff. I just appreciate all their hard work and the way the players are responding to them.

So to be more explosive as a team and see those numbers continue to grow as a team as we have in the past year and continue to recruit, it is about depth, and there's no question about it. And we have to be able to finish quarters, finish halves, and most importantly, finishing the end of the game when fatigue sets in. So playing lots of guys on both sides of the football is key to that for sure, and having more quality players to be able to plug in in those key times. It's not going to end. We're not where we need to be yet, but the process is continuing on at a pace that is deliberate and systematic.

Q. After the departure of three of your offensive linemen and the arrival of a new offensive coordinator, how do you visualize the performance of your offensive line for 2019?
TOM ALLEN: Great question. You know, we lost to graduation three really good football players. Wes Martin is with the Redskins now and Brandon Knight is with the Dallas Cowboys and they've got a bright future ahead of them. And really feel like that Nick Linder brought a great addition to our team last year coming to us as a transfer.

So new team, new group, and we challenged those guys from the very beginning of the summer and even prior to that about how critical their role is going to play in the success of our offense. Coy and Simon and Hunter are three seniors, big, strong, physical guys that have taken ownership of this football especially on the offensive side of the ball, and it starts up front. So I'm really excited about those young men. Obviously we've got to have other guys step up. You need about seven or eight guys that you can count on consistently each and every week to be able to play on the offensive line, and we're going to play our best five guys, however that plays itself out.

So we brought in some freshmen that I believe have a chance to give us some immediate depth, and we've got some redshirt freshmen and some redshirt sophomores that have been training and working, so that depth is going to be big. Caleb Jones is a big 6'8", 360 pound offensive tackle that will be our starting right tackle that had a great spring. He's had an even better summer. And Coy Cronk is going to take him under his wing and really help mentor him. And that's what I expect. We did a big leadership development with our guys in this off-season, more than I've ever done before, and really excited about the way our upperclassmen have responded to that. Have guys from all different grade levels with that group, and a big part of that is being able to become a more stronger, verbal leaders and being able to bring guys with you, to help us change this culture and be where we want to be.

We know that the offensive line, as we say, big men lead the way in our program, and they have to do a great job this fall.

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