BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana football head coach Tom Allen met the media on Wednesday to provide his final updates ahead of this weekend's Old Oaken Bucket game in West Lafayette.
Above is the full Q&A.
Partial Transcript
On Purdue’s running game…
TA: They’re running different schemes and they’ve adapted throughout the season just to be able to match their talent up front with their talent in the backfield. I think they’ve got two elite running backs who do a good job of running what they do, and that’s obviously a huge part of it. And they have a third guy who is very effective, as well. So, between the combination of the talent in the backfield as well as being able to do the things up front that their guys can do well. It’s been effective, there’s no doubt about it. Obviously, the proof is in the numbers and the film doesn’t lie. So, hats off to them for being able to adapt to their personnel and be able to get the most out of that so obviously takes a ton of pressure off your throw game when you run the ball that effectively.
On building and moving forward with the young guys…
TA: I would say it’s been a big emphasis this week to get a lot of those guys some good reps and what you really want to be able to do is to get those guys in a position to continue to develop and also show them how we view them. The guys that we’ve talked about get a chance in a two-role or three-role in an offense versus defense situation, we’ve got more guys in for that, as well. We’ve really maximized that I feel like this week, but obviously the objective is to win the game. That’s the biggest thing that we can do for next season and for momentum in the offseason is to play well and win this big, big game for us and for our program. Excited the way our young guys have responded this week and got chances to get in there, get some good reps, and then also just to sit down and talk with them too about how we see their role expanding and growing this offseason and into next year. We have a lot of guys that will be back on this team, so it’s exciting for what we have moving forward.
On lessons from last off-season’s portal acquisitions and how that impacted this season…
TA: I think there’s no question that if you had more guys that had been there and less new faces, you’d have more continuity early, without question. No doubt about it. But I also think that with the guys that we added, we brought a lot of guys here that have more than one year to play, so we’re going to get a lot of those guys back for next year, which is huge, and to have a lot more continuity. When you look forward with the goal for us to add to our roster, there won’t be near as many spots to add based on the amount of high school guys that we’re bringing in and also the guys that we’re returning so that’s a good thing for us. When you look at the quarterback room, have a chance to bring back the two guys who have done all the playing this year, and bring back your starting quarterback, and have a good, young guy that’s already here with us and will be here another year as well, so to have that chance to have that continuity. Yet, with as many guys as we added, it’s hard without question, we still had opportunities to win some close games. You want to continue to have it to where you don’t have as many in a given cycle, but I think for that situation, it was what we needed to do, at the same time hopefully we’ll be able to reap the benefits of that in 2024.
On anticipating potential transfer portal decisions…
TA: I do think you have to have a good pulse for your guys and there’s always probably going to be a few surprises sometimes. I think you can kind of usually tell, I met with some of our guys already, kind of have an idea of where we are with that. I do think it is about having open communication with your guys and being able to have that with them prior to even this Sunday for the most part so you can be able to know where they’re at and they know what kind of what we’re thinking and where we’re at with them, as well. I do feel like this is definitely a new era of reality that we’re dealing with, but if relationship building is where it needs to be you’ll kind of know where a guy is because he can be honest with you, and you can be honest with him. There’s a 40-day window now after this game is over to where it’s now a dead period, so coaches don’t go out and recruit, they’re going to be with their guys, we’ll be with our guys and obviously spend a ton of time meeting with players in our role as coaches. It’s definitely an important time, but I think the relationship piece is critical there to be able to have those open and honest conversations about what’s next.
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