CHEEZ-IT BOWL: CLEMSON VS IOWA STATE

December 26, 2021

Tom Manning

Chase Allen

Camping World Stadium

Iowa State Cyclones

Press Conference

TOM MANNING: Certainly myself, and I know we are really proud to have representation from Chase Allen, who is a guy that's played a lot of football for us, We are certainly really proud to be here. We are excited to be here, and we know that we play a very good opponent and very good team from the defensive side of things.

For us, having the opportunity to represent Iowa State Football, we are extremely grateful and humbled by the opportunity to be here at the Cheez-It Bowl. With that, we look forward to going out there and doing our best in terms of competing and, hopefully, finding ourselves in an opportunity to try to win a football game.

So with that, anything you guys have, certainly would love to help you out.

Q. Tom, how do you handle the running back situation? Can Jirehl Brock handle all the carries being a redshirt or how does that work out?

TOM MANNING: Yeah, I think we have to find out. Certainly, we feel like we have options, but Jirehl [Brock] is a guy that's played a lot of football for us. Certainly, Breece [Hall] has carried the football a lot more, as we all know. I think we have to get into the football game and see where we are at in terms of handing the football off and how much we can handle and make some decisions based on that.

Q. What kind of problems do you see the Clemson defense present?

TOM MANNING: A lot of them. I think not only schematically do they have the ability to attack you in a variety of ways, and from the front end and the back end in terms of those things, but I think you pair that with a really good scheme, multiple schemes, paired with really good football players and really intelligent football players, which is a credit to their players and also a credit to their staff. Yes, they are very, very talented players, but you see those guys, they can handle a lot and they make very few mistakes.

I think from our end there's a lot of challenges, and certainly they have played a very good defense for a long time there, and certainly that's what we would anticipate.

Q. You have a different defensive coordinator. Do you expect anything to change from what you have seen on film? You have two guys that have never really called plays before. Do you expect anything different, or do you go by what you have seen schematically all year?

TOM MANNING: Yeah, I think certainly you have to have something to go by, but I think certainly that there's -- I'm sure they have had maybe some of their own wrinkles that they have wanted to put in and maybe there have been some things that schematically that they are going to change.

But I think in a few weeks, I don't know if you can dramatically change everything from a wholesale standpoint. Certainly, there will be elements we think, but also we are not naïve enough to know that there's some new elements or wrinkles or things that maybe they have done in the past they would like to focus on a little bit more.

That is certainly the challenge for us is that there are new coordinators that are certainly capable and have been around for a long time and have coached a lot of football. I think that is a challenge from our end. Trying to figure out what is going on in the football game I think will be something that we have to certainly pay attention to.

Q. Chase, you have been a part of this program that has really changed the culture over five, six years, and gone from being what it was to what it is now and a true contender. This year didn't finish the way you wanted to. How do you define this year and era of Iowa State football, and how do you approach this game mentally in what is your finish here?

CHASE ALLEN: I have been very fortunate to be at Iowa State at the time. I am here, along with the coaching staff that's been here and my fellow teammates. It's been really a blessing to be here and experience this. I have played over 50 games here. It's gone by really fast. And from where we came from to now, we have been through a lot of ups and downs. And like you said, this year. Maybe. we had different expectations at the start of the season, but I can tell you the guys in the locker room still pour our heart and soul into every game every time we step onto the field and make sure we can execute the game plan.

My focus is on that, and whatever comes after that comes after that. I am trying to enjoy my time with my teammates and send this thing out the right way.

Q. Going back to 2019 when you were here, what did the Notre Dame game show you, what differences are there between then and now?

TOM MANNING: I don't know if perhaps that game in particular was anything that was -- that wasn't the thing I think that felt, man, we need -- from our end of it, that season. I think, we felt like, man, maybe we got away from some of the things that Coach [Matt] Campbell always talks about in terms of the process and those kind of things.

And I think maybe we felt like we skipped a couple steps in terms of those and going to things such as fundamentals and techniques and making sure that we were still a relationship-driven program with our players. I don't know about the Notre Dame game -- it was more of the culmination of the season probably than just our experience here in the Bowl game.

And I think you fast-forward to where we are now, obviously, this year, I think for us, certainly, we have always had really high expectations for our own football program. I think as we look back into this season, you look at the guys like Chase Allen’s of the world, Charlie Kolar, Brock Purdy, guys like Breece Hall. I think we look back with where those guys have started their career and where they have finished as men and as football players, I think we are extremely proud of where we have come probably even from two years ago at this time to where we are now.

Q. As you just mentioned, Brock Purdy, Breece Hall, Charlie Kolar, Chase Allen, Xavier Hutchinson, on and on, probably won't be here next year, what does that core group mean to this program and Iowa State football? And how much of Bowl preparation have you shifted to maybe taking an eye on 2022 and who is going to be replacing a lot of those players next year?

TOM MANNING: Yeah, I think first, the second part of your question. We have always focused from the beginning of Bowl prep for what may be coming in the future. It's an opportunity for us that guys that have played over 50 games in their career, give them a little bit of rest before we have to prepare for the opponent.

Certainly, I think what is coming in the future is certainly something that we pay attention to and give them an opportunity to develop a little bit, get some meaningful reps in terms of practice. The guys that you just mentioned in terms of losing them, yes, from a schematic standpoint, we lose a lot of production. And I told these guys. this may be the night before we played our last regular-season game, losing this group of players, Brock Purdy, Charlie Kolar, Chase Allen and the likes, for us, I think it's really difficult to lose those people in your hallways every day. I think that's going to be the biggest challenge in terms of great young men. Really fun to be around. Really are people that challenge you, I think, to be a better football player if you are on the team and a better coach if you're on the coaching staff because they have always been really hungry for it and they are great people.

For us, losing a big part of the character piece, and all the things that go with it with those young men, that is the challenge of, one, replacing it and, two, like personally, I'm going to miss them. But, we hope that some of the things that they have done as they poured into their teammates has really rubbed off on them and we can grow and take the next step with the next group of guys.

For us, the biggest challenge will be certainly, yes, there's a huge production loss there when you look at the players that you just mentioned, but I think it is much bigger than that in what we have to replace in our football team. And we do feel really confident in our young people on our team, and we hope that they can certainly emulate the guys that we are losing.

Q. No common opponent, you find out who you are playing and turn on the film. Was there any Clemson defensive player that stood out? And you have played a lot of really good defenses in your career. Does this Clemson defense remind you of another defense that you have played?

CHASE ALLEN: I think in their ability to be versatile and be very disciplined and play hard, they remind me of all the good defenses we have played. I have got a lot of respect for the Mike linebacker, the guys on the defensive line, as well as, the safeties. I think they play hard and they know what they are doing and they go out there and execute.

Tip my cap to them. A lot of respect to them.

TOM MANNING: From our end, I think there's a lot of guys that stick out, and that's the challenge. I don't think there's a -- when you look at their defense structurally, and they can play a lot of different personnel, I don't think there's a weak link in any of the different personnel groupings that they have.

Certainly, there's a lot of experience. They have had a lot of experience at the Mike linebacker position. Both corners were First Team All-Conference and, man, are they really good players, and the safety -- I mean, really from top end to the bottom end, I think they are just a really talented group.

Like Chase said, I think, man, it's really hard to find them not playing really, really hard. That's always the sign of a great defense. And I think that's one thing -- I know when Coach [Jon] Heacock comes up here and has the opportunity to speak, that's the thing he takes great pride, is the defense playing really hard.

That sounds like a really simple thing, but you don't see it everywhere. You see it every snap with these guys. On top of that, they are really talented. Certainly, to answer your question, a lot of guys -- I mean, everybody stuck out.

Q. Six, seven years ago, when you first stepped on campus, go back over that, your first few days, whatever it was, the accident, for example, and what happened after that, did you think you would make it this far?

CHASE ALLEN: I think whenever I heard that some guy named Matt Campbell is getting the job here. I really wanted to come play football here, so I didn't really care who it was. Then, I just got very fortunate, very lucky when I got to talk to him and the rest of the staff, find out who they were.

Then. we got there that first season, and things weren't really good, didn't have a lot of things that we needed to have in place that we do now. Being able to see that transition, but getting to play against the competition that we have played against the last three year. That's what we talked about when we first got here. That's always been the goal and the mission, and every year the expectations within our walls grows.

It's our job as the senior class guys, like Brock [Purdy], Breece [Hall], Charlie [Kolar], like guys, have been lucky enough to see them as players. We have been lucky enough to know them as people and see the influence they have upon our walls.

So it is big, and if we did our jobs correctly, we will pass that on to the next group, and they will only continue to carry it higher.

Q. First of all, the advantages of being able to play 12 and 13 personnel in this day and age, it's been a big plus for you schematically. How does that translate onto the field? And what does Brock Purdy mean to the program over three-and-a-half-plus years?

TOM MANNING: Yeah, I think first part of your question, in terms of the personnel, when we first got here to Iowa State, there wasn't a scholarship tight end on the roster. I think where myself and Coach Campbell and kind of our philosophy of offense has always started around players, formations and plays.

I think it's our job to find not only what do we think from a schematic standpoint to make sure that we have enough to be successful in our conference, but on top of it, to make sure that whoever your best football players are, having the opportunity to put them on the field and be in formations that help them get the football. Then obviously, at the end of it, your plays are driven from those people.

I think as we have evolved, our hand was kind of forced a little bit in terms of we had some really good tight ends, Dylan Soehner the year prior to and Chase [Allen] and Charlie [Kolar] and Jared Rus, those guys, they have provided us the opportunity to be a little bit different in terms of what happens in our conference.

Also, we felt it has been very advantageous for us in recruiting in the Midwest, which is really our footprint. Certainly it's given us flexibility, and I think we've been very lucky in terms of having Chase and Charlie that can play wide receiver and also play tight end and be multiple in that sense of it.

So I think that's always our job, is to find what the best players on your team are and how do you find the opportunities to be in the right situations personnel-wise and formations. And we do -- to answer your question -- we do feel it is a luxury in terms of offensive football for us that we can be in 11 personnel. We can be in 12 and 13, or other times we can be in 14 and things like that, which has helped us we feel be successful in terms of moving the football in a consistent fashion.

The Brock Purdy part, man, it's hard to play quarterback somewhere for the extended period of time that Brock has played quarterback. When you come in as a freshman and play and you have been a consistent person. There's going to be high, high moments and there's going to be moments when, man, it didn't go so good. And, you're going to probably get praise that you don't deserve, and you're probably going to get criticism that you don't deserve.

To me, Brock Purdy, we talk about it all the time as, man, the one thing that we really kind of hang our hat on in terms of offensive football in our room is we feel is toughness. And to steal it from Coach Reich from the Colts, is relentless pursuit to get better every day and obsession to finish.

I think Brock Purdy has really paved the way for young people in our program and has probably inspired a lot of people in our program, whether coaches or younger players; that every day he comes and he is on a pursuit to be the best that he can possibly be, it is the exact same every day.

And, he's brought a lot of joy to I think the people of Ames, Iowa, the Cyclone fans, because that kid has really poured everything he possibly could into this football program.

I know from a coaching standpoint, I have got a great sense of gratitude towards him just for his ability to keep playing and keep playing and, man, handle all the things that he had to handle with complete grace, humbleness, and great character.

I don't think anybody that's been an Iowa State Football fan for a long time, I don't think that they will ever forget Brock Purdy and what he's been able to do over his career at Iowa State. And, man, he's certainly had some really good moments.

Furthermore, I just think his character, his belief in who he is and never wavering from that, I think certainly has probably paved for more the young people on our football program than anything else.

You always feels like the clichéd coach moment of when your best players are your hardest workers, you feel really good. And certainly, in Brock's case, he is that guy. He means a lot to me personally, and I know he means a lot to our team. I'm quite certain that he means a lot to the people of Ames, Iowa.