As Tom Allen and the Indiana football program continue to march closer towards the season opener, they are about to enter a very critical couple of weeks when it comes to the future of the program.
The reason?
For the first time since before the global pandemic, Indiana will be able to host recruits and their families on campus for official and unofficial visits when the NCAA lifts the dead period on June 1.
As a result, recruits are lining up official visits to Bloomington, something that has Allen excited, but also knowing that there will not be a second to waste.
"June will be one for the ages. There’s only so many hours in a day, but we are going to have to squeeze every ounce out of every thing. Can't wait to get out and recruit, get on an airplane and watch recruits work out and have people visiting, unofficially and officially. It's going to be massive," Allen told TheHoosier.com.
A year ago, Indiana was putting together its class of 2021 class, and while small, many of the players Indiana signed were able to visit campus and meet with the coaches.
Such is not the case for the class of 2022 prospects.
"Almost none have ever stepped foot on campus and we have not physically seen the vast majority of them. We have not seen these guys. We may think a guy is 6-foot-1 and he may walk in the door and he’s 5-foot-8. All we can do is see him on tape, Zooms and Facetime but I have not stood next to him and seen him eye to eye. We don’t know how big these guys are, so, to me, it is that and when you feel the time together, the interaction and all the things you can’t do when you are separated," Allen said. "We have to see them, we have to evaluate them, we have to do it in a very efficient way and get guys on campus."
Due to ongoing Covid-19 protocols, camp will not be held at Indiana, but Allen says the coaching staff will still get out and see recruits.
"We can’t have camps on our campus but we can go visit and do camps off campus. We get 10 days to do that and we can bring guys in individually for one hour workouts and have guys on an unofficial visit so we will get those guys in here," Allen said.
Now, will these visits translate into commitments?
That is the hope, but Allen notes without getting them on campus, a commitment may not come.
"It is a very critical month for us and everyone is in the same boat and that is the interesting thing. You have all these schools trying to get everyone to visit in a short window of time. They can’t go everywhere and we can’t go everywhere so we have to be very intentional in where we go and how we maximize the days in June."
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