BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana head football coach Tom Allen spoke to the media on Tuesday (April 4) inside Mellencamp Pavilion following spring practice No. 10.
Below is a partial transcript of the press conferences, while video of the full media session can be found in the links above this story or at IUHoosiers.com/watch.
Tom Allen | Head Coach
On the quarterback competition…
TA: We have two more scrimmages that I feel like we need to know better for that. I think there is back and forth, good days for one where one may take the lead, so I think they are both obviously young, they are both learning, they are both making plays. I think it is a process you go through, without questions. I just think we are not even ready to say who is in the lead at this point.
On if he wants to make a quarterback decision in the spring…
TA: For me, we haven’t made that decision at this point. We are not ready to make that decision, but if something changed, we would. At the same time, there is so much to be done over the summer, there is so much to be done in fall camp, that it is really going to be difficult to make that decision prior to [summer], I would think. Especially when you have two guys that don’t have a lot of experience in games.
At the same time, I love the way they are working. I am excited about both of them. They’ve both shown that they can run our offense and lead our football team, which is great.
On what has stood out the most about the quarterbacks…
TA: I will tell you what, they are really great with each other, which is always an interesting dynamic, in terms of the meeting rooms and on the practice field and off the field. I just thing you have two high-quality young men that have a lot of talent, that are highly competitive. They both want to be the guy without question.
The thing that sticks out to me is that they encourage each other. It’s not like they are trying to be the other guy’s adversary. I don’t sense that whatsoever. They are teammates. I like the way they are working. We did some two-minute [drill periods] today for the first time and we have only had two full-padded practices, too, so there is still a lot left to be out there, without question. I think that they are learning the offense. We are passed the point of the initial install, now it is more about just learning to master some things and focusing on some scenarios and situational football, like we did today with two-minute, and continue to grow that.
I think that you still have a lot of time ahead of us and a lot of things to be decided for sure.
On Tayven Jackson handling being new to the program and competing for a starting role…
TA: That is probably a little more challenging because you are new to everything. Obviously, being here in January was huge, and he knew some of the guys already, which helped, I think. At the same time, you have to earn that ability to speak. he is part of our leadership council, [Tayven and Brenden] both are. They are both naturally that way, they are guys that don’t have a hard time communicating and speaking. They have that confidence about them, which is really good.
I think any time you come in new, you have to establish yourself in the weight room, establish yourself by how you are going to work, how are you going to practice, and how you handle when things don’t go your way. I think that is really what we are trying to create; as much stress and pressure on them, even as much chaos as we can on them, because that is the only way you are going to get them ready for a game.
