Highlights From Tom Allen on 'Inside Indiana Football' Radio Show

Indiana football coach Tom Allen appeared on the radio show 'Inside Indiana Football' on Wednesday night with play-by-play broadcaster Don Fischer. Allen talked about how the team has gone about integrating so many new players onto its roster, the current state of the IU quarterback room and a whole lot more.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana football coach Tom Allen joined "The Voice of the Hoosiers" Don Fischer on Wednesday night's edition of the "Inside Indiana Football" radio show, live from Chop Shop Market & Table in Bloomington.

During the show, Allen discussed Indiana's quarterback situation, how the team has adjusted to having so many new players on its roster and much, much more. 

Here are the highlights:

On How IU Built Team Chemistry During Offseason

• Allen said that with Indiana having more than 50 new players on its roster, most of whom are veteran transfers, the team used cross-positional accountability groups within the team during the offseason. Allen said the groups were not just split off by position because he wanted, "the offense, defense and special teams to all mingle with each other." Football teams are already heavily siloed by position during the season, and with so many new players in Bloomington, Allen wanted to make sure there was variety within each group.
• "They had to do something [for] team building once per month," Allen said. "Go out together, meet at somebody's house or apartment or restaurant or whatever, do something together with their coach that's got that group. And it's built from there. We did things over the summer time to build this connection with our guys, spend time together, playing paintball together, or basketball we do. We do things at our house, we bring our players over, but just more opportunities to get the guys together, just everything possible to be able to spend time together."
• Allen also said that the team had a leadership council this offseason with 25 players on it. Allen said those players on the council were charged from January till now to see how many times they could get their teammates together and get to know each other better. 

Update on Indiana's Quarterback Room

• No, Allen will still not be naming whether it's Tayven Jackson or Brendan Sorsby who won the starting job for Saturday's game. 
• Allen did, however, say that Broc Lowry is currently the team's No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart with Dexter Williams II still recovering from injury. 
• On Williams II, Allen said that he's practiced with Indiana this fall camp "way more" than him and his other coaches originally thought he would. Allen said that IU won't rush Williams II back, and that he will be unavailable for the first few games, but that he's doing well in his recovery. 
• Allen did talk about both Sorsby and Jackson, though he largely said similar things about the two of them in terms of traits on the field.
• "Brendan [Sorsby] has been here obviously for a year and [he's] out of the state of Texas, and the thing about him that's unique was he came to us and did not have an extensive quarterback background," Allen said. "But he played other positions, and moved to quarterback his junior year [of high school], so didn't have a lot of film. That was kind of a lot to figure out in the recruiting process, but really excited about it."
• Allen mentioned that Sorsby is a big guy at 230 pounds with a strong arm, and moves very fast on the field at his size. 
• "Tayven [Jackson] is another guy that's got good size, good arm talent and good athleticism, and he has a lot of moxie to him," Allen said. "He just really understands the game, and plays with loud confidence."

On IU Transfers to Look Out for on Sunday

• Coach Allen was asked by Fischer who he expects to make a difference on the defensive side of the ball this Saturday as a new player on the Indiana roster via the transfer portal. Allen named the following seven players in response.
• Andre Carter (DL, transferred in from Western MIchigan)
• Philip Blidi (DL, transferred in from Texas Tech)
• Marcus Burris Jr. (DL, transferred in from Texas A&M)
• Lanell Carr Jr. (OLB/BULL, transferred in from West Virginia)
• Jacob Mangum-Farrar (LB, transferred in from Stanford)
• Kobee Minor (CB, transferred in from Texas Tech)
• Jamier Johnson (CB, transferred in from Texas)
• Allen reiterated a common line from fall camp — this Indiana defensive line, chock full of new transfer players, is by far the biggest and largest in terms of pure mass he's had at IU. 

On New Offensive Line Coach Bob Bostad

• "There's a toughness about how he does things," Allen said in regard to his new offensive line coach, Bob Bostad. "He's just he's a bulldog ... he's just relentless and he's tough on the guys, but at the same time, I just think he's a great teacher as well. He's done a tremendous job developing players."

On the Indiana Kicking Situation

• Not Allen speaking here, but personally this feels like one I have to address given that I feel partially responsible for the "Indiana mystery kicker" drama from Monday.

Coach Tom Allen said that Indiana has a starting kicker, but that they won't reveal that publicly. #IUFB

— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) August 28, 2023

• "Chris Freeman was our kickoff specialist last year, and he's going to continue to do that," Allen said. "He and Nico [Radicic] competed during fall camp as well. Nico was set back, he had an injury [in] the first half of camp, nothing serious. But it did keep him from being able to compete in that competition, [which] kind of made it a little bit more drawn out than it was. But those guys are both going to kick. [I] believe in both of them, so based on the situation, we'll use whoever we think is playing to their strengths."

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