Indiana Hoosiers Football Video: Spring Practice - Day 3
Indiana offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer and wide receiver Nick Westbrook met with the media following the Hoosiers' third day of spring practice.
Videos of their comments are available below.
Video: DeBoer
Three practices in, I know it's early, but how would you assess the progress of the offense getting installed?
Install, we have our schedule. Install 1 is pretty heavy. Install 2 is pretty light. Install 3 is another level to it. Install 4, practice 4, will be kind of cleaning up today. I think the guys are putting everything into it. The first practice and the third practice were a little bit sloppy at times, because it's new stuff. I would hope that Practice 4 is just like Practice 2 was and we clean it up.
What are your thoughts on the QBs?
They all bring a little something different to the table. Experience, especially out of Peyton. I've been impressed with Jack's arm strength. Then Mike, you can see that he's got that 'it' factor to it, as far as how he throws the ball, as well. They're all gonna make mistakes here at this time. They're all learning new verbiage and a couple different concepts, and things like that. They're all gonna make mistakes, but they've all had their highlights already, even in the first three practices. They've gone and made plays, and you can see how you'd tailor the offense to each one of them and be successful.
How much are you emphasizing throwing the ball downfield?
I think that's part of it. We've hit some play-action shots in each of the last three practices, so that's part of when you get a run game going. To me, the explosive plays aren't just about always throwing it all the way down the field. It's about timing and accuracy and good protection. Everyone just trusts each other. If you can hit guys on the run, then great yards-after-catch can happen. We've had a little bit of both. We've completed some deep balls on the field, which is good to see.
What do you like about your receivers?
You like our length. We've caught some balls down the sideline where we throw it up. If you can get a quarterback to be on the same page with some guys there. When you get that look, give him the little nod or hand signal and throw it down the field, just like we did here at the end of practice. You tend to like that with that height. We have to use that to our advantage. I really like what we got. They're competitors. They go for the ball. I like the nature and aggressiveness that they all have. I'm excited to keep working with them and they'll keep getting better as they get comfortable with everything.
Who are some players who have surprised you early on?
I thought Miles Marshall had a great practice, Practice 2. Maybe one of the guys that stuck out the most over three practices. Just watching him run, I knew he looked like he had some athleticism and some juice to him, but then he went out and competed and caught some balls in traffic. Really was locked in. There's a lot of guys that I have noticed. With the coaching staff already having been there, they filled me in with what to expect. But a guy like that, who hasn't had a lot of reps on game day I think he's surprised a little bit of all of us. There have been some other guys that have done a nice job too.
Any concern about Penix developing bad habits with the way he throws with his knee injury?
We talked a little bit about that. We watched some clips and making sure he's aggressive and transferring his weight through his throw. It affects the way your shoulders are tilted and all that kind of stuff. We have to make sure we're conscious of that. I don't want to over-coach him right now. He's trying to learn the offense. He knows who he is better than I know who he is right now, so we'll work together on it.
Video: Westbrook
Last year, worrying about your knee, just trying to get back, what's different for you attacking spring ball from the start this year?
Obviously, being healthy. I think this is the first time in the last two spring balls I've been able to start off right off the bat, get rolling full speed. Being in my fifth year, (there's) a sense of urgency. Making my plays and also leading this receiver group to try to be great.
When you're installing a new offense, what's different three practices in from what you're used to doing the last couple of years?
Kind of just the procedure of everything. A lot more focused on the details of running to the huddle and in between the huddle, everybody making sure they're getting mental reps on the sidelines. Offense-wise, just a lot of different terminology, still trying to get used to that. And then just establishing this culture Coach DeBoer wants to get started here at Indiana. Making sure it's going out throughout the whole offense and not just through a few guys.
What does that look like?
Just having a 1-0 mindset, that something bad might happen, whatever it is, just make sure you're winning every little rep you can. In the season, it's 1-0, it's always to the next game, it's always been the next game, but taking it to spring ball, it's always about the next rep, the next drill, the next practice, making sure we're winning every small win we that be can and build those to have great success.
How have Jack, Mike and Peyton looked?
They've been doing great. Definitely picking up on a new system really fast. At least for me, when I'm in with them, it feels like we've been doing this for at least a season already with the players that we have in so far. You can tell all of them are in-depth, in the details, in the books, making sure that they know exactly what they need to do. Throwing the ball deep downfield, it's great to see that.
You were one of the guys mentioned as having one of the best offseasons in the weight room. What was your mentality?
Just everyday, kind of what Coach DeBoer said even before he got here, it was just 1-0, my whole mindset going into this year. This past offseason, with these winter workouts, it's just been, why not? Why not do everything you can to make this team better, do everything I can to make myself better, and do everything I can to make this team win some ballgames this year?
Practice got chippy toward the end. Is that something that's a good sign of the health of this ballclub?
Yeah, it's not encouraged, it's not something Coach Allen is trying to impose on everybody, but it's just kind of showing the intensity that everybody wants to get better and wants to play hard and make sure they're doing everything right. You can just tell everybody's passionate about what they're doing. That's why it gets so chippy, because we all love to play this game and we don't want to make mistakes. We always want to be winners.
Downfield plays in the passing game, is that something you're emphasizing early?
Yeah, definitely just from the first practice, noticing that we're getting a lot more balls thrown down the field. I think it's emphasized with the reads for the quarterbacks to look for us early on and always have that in the back of their head that we're going to be down there. Definitely noticed more of an emphasis on that. I've caught a few of those, and I've just noticed as a receiver group we're getting a lot more of those opportunities.
Things feel a little bit different now that you've had a full season since the injury?]
Yeah, definitely. I talked to Coach Heard this past offseason and he even noticed a difference between the first four games and then to the Ohio State game is where he noticed where I picked back up to where I was beforehand. I've noticed that change, ever since then it's just been rolling, building on top of each other.
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