The Hoosiers finished their final Saturday scrimmage before the Spring Game on April 14 . It ended in a bit of drama, as the offense and defense required overtime before a Mike Penix pass to the endzone fell to the ground.
Head coach Tom Allen addressed the media following the scrimmage.
“The thing I love about today is we got a lot of situations," Allen said. "We put our guys in a lot of positions that are game-like. Things you don’t always get, from overtime to tight red zone. We got a lot of guys a lot of reps, so we feel like it was a productive days. Film will show things we have to work on and things we have to get corrected.”
Reakwon Jones
Allen said he's been impressed with redshirt junior Reakwon Jones this spring, so much so that the head coach said he's the most improved player on the defensive side since last season.
With Tegray Scales and Chris Covington lost to graduation, IU needs two linebackers to anchor the defense, and while redshirt freshman Thomas Allen and redshirt senior Mike McGinnis have been praised this spring, Allen wanted to give Jones the same attention.
"Reakwon Jones has exceeded my expectations," Allen said. "I’m really proud of him.We needed him to, sit him down and challenge him. He knew this was his time. He’s been so decisive in his decision-making. Another one that’s not very vocal but he’s been leading by how hard he’s played. I love his effort. Matter of fact, I just praised him in our last defensive meeting. From the very first practice, he’s been flying to the football. He wants to extend the culture we’ve created here.”
Ahrod Lloyd
The redshirt freshman walk-on running back was able to show his abilities at running back Saturday, as Allen said he wanted to rest some of the first-team players to give other players opportunities. He and Connor Thomas took the majority of the carries.
Running backs Ronnie Walker and Cole Gest did not see the field often, and Morgan Ellison will sit out for the rest of the spring due to a knee injury suffered a week ago.
Allen said this has been an effort at every position, which was noticeable at the defensive line position especially, as Jacob Robinson was on the sideline for most of the scrimmage and other positions boosted their rotations.
“We’ve got some older guys that we know what they can do," Allen said. "We just wanted to give these young guys a chance to get reps. Really impressed with Ahrod Lloyd. He’s been really impressive through the whole spring. Was really good for us in the fall on scout teams.”
Juwan Burgess and Bryant Fitzgerald
One position with noticeable turnover was the safety position. Safeties coach Kasey Teegardin was all over the field, guiding his safeties through each possession, calling to the sidelines for substitutions in situations where other positions were not switching in players. Some of the safeties switched in included redshirt freshmen Juwan Burgess and Bryant Fitzgerald.
“We need a lot from them," Allen said. "With the loss of so many seniors at the safety position, we have big plans for both those guys. It’s highly competitive back there. Jonathan Crawford is obviously a mainstay, but he played too many snaps. Juwan has tremendous burst and Fitzy’s a great tackler. We have those guys in spots that fit their skillset. They’re both going to play, and they may be starters or next guy in. However it plays out, they’re a very valuable part of our defense.”
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