Indiana Football Coach Tom Allen Previews 2022 Season on 'Inside Indiana Football'
Indiana football coach Tom Allen had his weekly show 'Inside Indiana Football' with Don Fischer at Southern Stone restaurant on Wednesday to preview the 2022 season, which begins on Friday at 8 p.m. ET against Illinois.
Here's everything Allen said on Wednesday night.
Fischer: Tom Allen has joined us here this evening. Coach, I know it's exciting for everybody to get a football season started, but I've got to imagine you've got that heart jumping all over the place in your body right now because of the excitement of it all.
Allen: No doubt. First game of the year is always an exciting one for sure, and having it at home and a conference game, it's been a long time coming. Awesome offseason, guys are working their tails off and just ready to get back on the field.
Fischer: Coach I mentioned in the open here tonight, you got 35 new faces on this football team from a year ago.
Allen: Yeah, that's because we had all the seniors last year, so you knew there's gonna be some turnover and it's just, you know, kind of part of the cycle of it in some ways and also the part of it's the changes that have occurred in our sport and in college sports in general. So I think that will be probably a little more normal moving forward. But yeah, it's most I've ever been a part of a team that's had this many new faces, you know, in from one year to the next, but that's what makes it exciting to you know, a lot of new guys in there and a big chunk of them came in January, which I think is really critical. They've been with us for several months now and went through a whole offseason of lifting and running in spring football and a whole summer cycles. So that helps a lot.
Fischer: You also have five new coaches on this coaching staff.
Allen: Even as we went through this week to get ready for for kickoff, you know, it was going back and reviewing things that you kind of, you know, sometimes take for granted that everybody knows this is how we do it here, and so with all the new faces you just go through the ground zero on certain things and make sure all the communication is is crystal clear on game day and so we did extra mock games, you know, for the staff and for the players and situational things we were at an all time high just to be able to make sure everything that with everybody that's new even for home game is ready to get in flow of how we operate.
Fischer: Coach, in our conversations before this season has gotten underway here and listening to the other coaches talk and yourself, the one thing that interests me is how close the staff and the team have become over this past year, and I'm talking I don't mean that they weren't close before, but at the same time to have that many new people involved and to have what appears to be a tremendous unity in the group is amazing in itself.
Allen: It is, you know, and I think I've been asked that several times. You know how do you create that? You know, with that many new people and I think there's a common theme and that is that no matter whether you're adding a player from another school, out of high school, you know, the process you go through to identify who fits with you, it's the same you know, and you're still looking for guys that they believe in what you believe in and value what you value and that's you know, basically when you bring that many guys in and like you said we got a big chunk of guys are from groups from other colleges as well, they're, they're not, you know, experiencing college for the first time, they've had a chance to be somewhere maybe three years maybe been four and so but it's not fit, you know, coaches same thing guys that fit with you and we've added a whole bunch of coaches that I really excited about that I think are you know just quality, quality people that great football coaches, but they care about the things that that I care about, that we care about, and even as a team to get them to buy in to your culture and to your environment of of trying to create it to where it's not about you individually. I know that sounds all great, but at the end of the day, you know you gotta have somebody that's willing to understand that that's how a true team is built because the best team wins on game day, not the best group of individuals, and you have to have talented individuals within that team, but they have to understand that whatever my role is so, you got 125 guys, they all can't start, you know, and they all can't play as much as maybe they want to play and so that's I think more challenging than ever but you know, we did a lot of things this offseason to really build the unity and the connectivity of our team and and thankfully we were through the pandemic part of it where we couldn't do those things the last several years but we're able to get back to doing team activities and things together and building relationships and spending time together and just hanging out together. You know those are important things and and trying to get guys together from different positions. That's one thing we really emphasize this offseason was we created accountability teams that was in January, and they were all different positions, different sides of the football, different guys that usually don't hang out together and really forced them to spend time together and to create those relationships because you can't just get to know somebody is because you lift next to him for a two hour workout. You got to spend time with the outside of football you know, and so getting those guys to build those relationships, I thought was really critical for this for this group.
Fischer: I also have heard coaches talk about the fact that they've had their position group over to dinner at their own home, that kind of thing. So you guys are doing something not just with players, but coaches and players together.
Allen: Absolutely. I mean, I think that's critical and and unfortunately you know, due to the situation we had last couple years we couldn't do that. I think that hurt us you know I think that's one of our strengths is to be able to have a really strong tight knit group of guys you know, even having our players in our home you know and coaches in our home and and being able to do that, again has been huge. I just think that you can't, you know, it's like anything, you know, when you spend time together, you know, that's how you build, you know, even just an empathy towards one another. You know, when you get to know somebody you get to know what they've been through because when you just like I said you show up and you practice together you're doing workouts, you don't always get to know them and then when you start sharing that's when things break down and you get a chance to really connect with somebody because hey, you know what, I had no idea you went to that when you were you know, a young younger person and even coaches sharing with their players so those things don't just happen overnight. It takes time and that's what I'm working really hard on.
Fischer: Well coach, let's talk a little bit about this football team. Without question, I know you've gone through a great spring, summer of workouts by the players themselves and then of course, fall practice sessions. What were you looking for and where did the most improvement need to take place?
Allen: Yeah, I think for sure, but before I get into that, I do want to congratulate you on 50 years at Indiana. How about that? Isn't that amazing? I just think that you know, I know you're given an award within the football foundation, which is an awesome award and, but I'm just proud to be able to know that you represent our program and do such a great job and, and not just talented but just care about IU and our program and everything that happens in Indiana. So we're really blessed to have you and now we'll get back into your questions.
Allen: Well, you know, I think when we think about spring and then you get into the fall camp and you know, big focus for us was to improve our offensive line play that was a big deal for us. And I think quarterback play improvement of that was gonna be a big deal and just creating depth deposition to be able to, you know, make sure what happened before didn't happen again in regards to that and not be able to have a guy there that's playing at the level we need to play to win and in our conference and so you go through those things and we made some schematic changes on both sides of football and so that to me has been a big focus is getting our guys to be brought in and get them physically developed and then get them ready to play, learning the system and being able to help this group of guys, you know, maximize their talents, you know, and then that's where that's kind of been the whole focus of you can have a system that's great, but you better match it with what your guys can do and what they can do really, really well. So that's been the focus, is offseason be able to get our guys to play with a lot of confidence and be able to play with a lot of you know, distinction and be able to just react and not have to overthink and then really kind of simplify some things in a lot of ways and so that's really been a big goal for us because I want our guys to be able to play fast and physical from start to finish and be able to play you know and have a structure in place where you can play a lot of guys so you can have be able to have the numerical ability to withstand the ups and downs of the season and the injuries that naturally come throughout the season in the sport that we play. So there's just a lot of things that go into it. You know, you think you gotta have, you're gonna play about 65-70 guys in the game and so you better make sure you have an ability for those guys to be able to be ready to go, that large number so that's been the focus and that's the conditioning piece. It's the physical part of it as well as the mental side.
Fischer: You had a player or a group of players come to you as soon as last season ended, like a day or two days afterwards after the season was over with. What was that all about? What were the players trying to talk to you about in that regard?
Allen: Well, it was the next morning, you know, so it was immediate and it excited me you know, and as hard as the year was, obviously, we wake up that next Sunday morning and it was just a great time together because it was the guys that that are our leaders on our team. And, you know, they had been through, most of them, 2019, you know, the breakthrough season. They'd been through 2020 and had done great things together and then they're like 'Coach we're not going to end like this.' So a lot of those guys could have chosen to go on and go to the professional level and they chose to stay. If you think about how that all works out, just so everybody knows what happened, is when the last game is played, you know we have set meetings with certain players and their parents because there's a lot of guys, you have a chunk of guys that have to make a decision. 'Am I going to play in college? I'm gonna go ahead and go to the NFL?' The way the NFL works is once you declare, get an agent and go that direction there is no turning back. You know, it's not like a basketball where you can do the tryout piece and go to the camps. It didn't work like that for football so that's an important time and so basically we set aside a couple of days for that and that's something I started new in the last few years because I felt like you sometimes you go start recruiting the very next day and then you got to make sure you don't lose the ones in your program that you don't want to lose even for different reasons. So I get it, I understand the opportunity, so but that was part of that whole process and so some of the parents were in town for that we had to schedule meetings, we had to meet with NFL scouts so the parents could ask questions and they can hear exactly. Because I don't want to be like 'Hey, this is what what I think.' This is what the guys that are making the decision, this what they think and so I think that has been a really good addition for us. Those guys wanted to meet and so basically we were just together and they were just being brutally honest about you know, where we were, and obviously the season was very difficult. They understood there's some things that, you know, the injuries were ridiculous, and the number of them was really tough. And so it wasn't really about that it was just about making sure that coach we want to make sure we get this, this and this and then you talk to them about certain things and obviously I've never really said publicly what those conversations were, but they were open and honest in both directions and I was honest with them about some things as well. I think that it was the beginning of the change you know, for guys, because the reality is it's such a fine line. I get it, the season was, you know, in a lopsided way an ended that way, but there's just such a fine line where you just get some close wins and it takes you one direction and you get some close losses and it takes another. It wasn't like a bunch of big stuff. It was just a little things. It was just about I think more than anything they just needed to hear from me. 'Hey, Coach, you know, what's the plan to create the change? Because we want to create the change. We came here to create change. We came here and we're not leaving after this. There's no way this is gonna be my last year at Indiana because I came here to create something special and we're gonna make sure we end with some special.' So that that fired me up and that was the beginning of it for our guys and then it created a whole other level of taking this thing to a level of intensity with the accountability piece, but that's always been big for our program. But I do think that was really the catalyst for the offseason we had.
Fischer: What you've established in that regard has been terrific, hasn't it?
Allen: Yeah, the kids have been great and like I said the one thing we go through, we talked about what is what a great team look like and one of the qualities is they're player-led, you know. So the coaches obviously have responsibility to set the tone, but they've got to buy it and they have to be the ones who really take it to another level. And so and what does that mean being player led as a football team? We challenged them, I expanded the number of guys our leadership council you know, I want to have more guys that I felt like to be in those meetings with me to be able to help shape the culture of our group and we had several of our transfers we put on that group because we felt like they had the potential just being around them for a few weeks as we recruited them and got them there and so just to get more guys involved to go back and affect the whole team in a positive way. So that to me was the beginning of it all and our guys really bought into that and once you start going it's easy to say a bunch of stuff and then you gotta live it out every single day and then you just make sure that all those guys are on board with that and when they're not, you bring them back in you make sure they understand, 'Hey, this is what we said we're going to do.' So we're gonna hold them to that and it goes both ways.
Fischer: Alright, coach, I've got to ask you about your football team right now and I know you can't give away secret. I know you've been very quiet about quarterback and you've been very quiet about the style of play because I know that's changed as well. But at the same time, tell us a little bit about the personnel that you've that you've recruited that you've got in here and the new guys the new faces. Who has impressed you? Who are guys that are likely to be big factors for this team this year?
Allen: "Yeah, I think that there have been several guys you know and you watch them and you develop them and you see you know who they are as a person and now the kind of talent that they bring in. You know, the one that sticks out to me offensively, Shaun Shivers, you know, he's a guy that brings, you know, a lot of experience to our team. He's brought strong leadership to our team, great work ethic. He's strong and he's fast, you know, and he's faster than the guys we've had in that room in the past and since I've been here and so just excited for what he brings to us. The bottom line is that it's about creating explosive plays. It's about creating points, you know, and it's a lot easier to get points when you can get chunk plays, you know, rather than trying to just go five yards, four yards, three yards, six yards, that's a long way, you got to be really really, you know, just hard to be that perfect on a 12-13 play drive, you know, so just guys to be able to create things like that. Emery Simmons is a guy that sticks out to me Andison Coby is another guy that's a transfer that sticks out to me be able to make those plays in space. Cam campers, another one that I see that kind of a player. Jaylin Lucas is another young man that's, that's, you know, on the offensive side of football that's new. Even though he's a freshman and he came from high school he was here in January. He's been here longer than some of the other freshmen, but on that side, those guys stick out to me. Obviously we have the competition at quarterback and whoever's going to be the starter there. You'll find out here in a couple nights, but bottom line is that guys and the guys up front, they got to come together and be able to produce on offense and score points. That's what it's about, you know, and I look at all the stats out there you can you can be inundated with numbers, but it's how many points can you score? How many points can you keep them from scoring? At the end of the day, last time I checked, the team has no point wins the game. So that's the whole objective. And we got to do a great job of creating that. That's on that side of football. Defensively, we've got quite a few guys that we brought in as well. I think we had more guys back on defense than we had offensively in some of those key roles, but I'm just excited to get them back healthy. Having Taiwan back and Monster back. Missing those guys last year was really devastating for our team. And Jaylin Williams had a tremendous fall camp and Lance Bryant's playing his best football for us and that really excites me, as well. We got a lot of defensive linemen back from last year's team, but Myles Jackson, the guy that coming that the we haven't seen before and I'm really excited about what he brings to our football team and and Bradley Jennings as well at linebacker and Jared Casey is another linebacker that's gonna play a lot and I think those guys really bring a dimension to our team and JH Tevis, another defensive lineman that's brand new that came from Cal Berkeley. So just those guys have played a lot of football in places but now they're here and give us a lot more depth as a football team.
Fischer: That's the next thing I wanted to ask you about was the depth factor because I know that's the one Indiana has always had. You get one or two guys hurt the next thing you know you're in trouble.
Allen: Oh yeah. I mean, I will say this. I thought we had, no, I don't think, we had the deepest team we've ever had last year. You know, there was no question about it. And still you know, it was the issue was not having enough guys, but you just got to be able to battle that. It's always gonna be a challenge, and I think it's gonna be probably more of a challenge for more places moving forward, which is different. The fluidity of rosters now, I think that will create some of that as well. But yeah, it's just a constant challenge and in the sport we play where guys get dinged up.
Fischer: Tom, we talked about the offense, we talked about the defense. Give us an idea of what special teams look like this year.
Allen: Yeah, I'm excited about our special teams. I always tell our coaches this and our players that if you want to have great special teams, you have great specialists. That's the key. And so you know, Charles Campbell is a very talented kicker for us and, excited to have him back is just huge. You get in position to score points, you got to be able to come through for us with those. Then James Evans is in the second year now, and I've seen a lot of growth improvement from him as the punter just really excited about how good he can be. He has tremendous talent. I really know he does it. And it's about being consistent for him. That's been the whole his whole offseason and he's gotten better at what he's doing. And so, the cover units is you know, to me, it's about getting more guys that can run. I think our team speed has increased, which has been a big focus for us this offseason and, guys that cover punts and cover kicks, which is critical. Then the return game, you know, just getting D.J. Matthews back, he's a guy that I know was here a year ago, but he didn't get to play much. You know, he was really just coming into his own when he got hurt, and so he's a guy that has tremendous talent you know. We're gonna get some new faces back there on kickoff returns and things like that. So to me, it's about you know, being great in those positions and you know, coach Kasey Teegardin has done a tremendous job as our special teams coordinator and that's a really, really important role for our team and you think about a guy that has that role. You know, he's in front of, other than the head coach, he's in front of the whole team more than anybody else. I learned that when I was the special teams coordinator at Ole Miss, and I never really thought about that piece of it until I did that, you know, there and I realize how important that person is to be able to – even the message to your team and in the way that they are an extension of the head coach, and then the different things you want to do as a program because it touches everybody, you know, and so it's just a really important part of your team and I think if you want to have a great football team, you've got to have great special teams.
Fischer: One other guy I want to talk about is Aaron Wellman, who is your strength and conditioning coach. Last year or this year is probably the first year he's had an opportunity to coach everybody the way he wants to since he's been here it was.
Allen: There's no doubt. We joke because literally his first day with us was the last day that we were together prior to spring break. So I introduced him to the whole team and he got to meet the whole team and they left for spring break and they never came back. That was really kind of tough a tough way to start. So basically, this was the first calendar year they've had together, you know, in person from start to finish being together, being able to do things the way you want to do them and have your groups together and train them the way you want to do it. I think the way our guys look, the way they've trained and how hard they've worked and the way their their bodies are and in the speed and just the lean muscle mass emphasis that he's really made. I think he understands the human body better than anybody I've been around you know. It's big, we got to be great in the development of our guys, it's is a crucial part for our program. And so being able to have him spend all that time with him and help him grow in those areas are really, really big for us. And because it is it's about you know, staying healthy and being able to perform at a high level, so Coach Wellman is phenomenal at what he does and we're blessed to have him.
Fischer: Talk a little bit about this Illinois team you're gonna face on Friday night. They were pretty impressive against Wyoming 38-6 win on Saturday.
Allen: Yeah, they were you know, and so, we've not played Wyoming, but you know, they won their bowl game last year and are a good football team and so I know that coach Bohl is an excellent football coach. [Illinois] dominated them you know, and so I feel like that as you watch the film and we obviously did and we all got together as a staff and watched it you know, as it was played live on TV and then got together later that night and broke it down in depth, but big physical offensive line like you're expecting from coach Bielema from when he was at Wisconsin and when I was at Ole Miss when he was at Arkansas. We played when I was there and so big, big offensive lineman and they run the football, and really sound on defense and special teams. So he's done a great job wherever he's been. So you expect that from them. And then the last year they had seven one possession games, you know, they they won three of those and they lost four of those, you know, so you think about how their season could have easily been different if they win a couple of those one possession games. And so that's just kind of shows you in that even in that first year, they're highly highly competitive. And then they played that game against Penn State, winning in nine overtimes, which is the longest game in the history of college football. Yeah, I mean nine, that's crazy. They won on the road at Penn State, so they found a way to beat them. So it just shows you about that kind of toughness that you're going to have and that's what they showed even in this first game. They got new offensive coordinator. They made a change at that position. This offseason, they got the same defense coordinator back and then a lot of guys back on defense that are talented, so a lot of length to their defensive line and their secondary. They run really, really well. They got I think one of the best running backs in the Big 10 in Chase Brown. Then Isaiah Williams, one of the most talented athletes, he plays slot receiver, he can do a lot of things. He was the quarterback for them two years ago, they moved him to slot receiver and so very, very talented player. We're playing a Big Ten team that's got a lot of momentum right now and they they finished the season with a huge win over Northwestern, they blew them out like 47-7 that's a rivalry game for them, right. Then they opened the season with Wyoming, so a lot of momentum you know for them. They've got anew quarterback transfer from Syracuse in Tommy DeVito, who does a lot of good, good things, so that's going to be a huge test for us without question. They've played a game and obviously we haven't, but a lot of respect for Coach Bielema and what he's built there.
Fan question: Why are we playing Idaho? My husband graduated from there. Why?
Allen: Well, you know, I had nothing to do with. That was made about 10 years ago. That's usually how far in advance they're made, seriously, they're way in advance. When people like go put out a matchup that you have, that you negotiate a contract for, it's like 2030. You know, you're thinking, well, that's how it works, right? They do it that far in advance. So I have no idea what the rationale behind it. But I do know this though, I know when we scheduled them, they were in the Sunbelt Conference, you know, at the time, which means they were at the FBS level and then they moved to the FCS level after that contract was already put in place. I do know that for sure. But other than that, we played them when I was at Ole Miss, it's was crazy. That's pretty far away from here, you know for sure. A long trip they gotta make out here, but I'm glad we're not going out to Idaho. That's for sure.
Fan question: After watching the tape of Illinois' first game, what sticks out the most to you?
Allen: Yeah, I'd say probably, talking about the different sides of the ball, offensively, their running back Chase Brown has that burst, the speed, it's pretty obvious and he gets to full speed right away, takes about three steps and and he's powerful. He rushed for over 1,000 yards last year, so I thought he picked up right where he left off and the offensive line has got some new faces, but they're big and they move pretty well. They got to the second level pretty well as pullers and the way they block. Then just their defense, you know, they've just kind of smothered them. I think [Wyoming] converted one third down. I think [Wyoming] couldn't really do much offensively. I don't think [Illinois] had to show much. They were still able to stop them, which is kind of a pretty good sign, you know, that you're a really sound and physically talented football team that can just play base defense and really not make any adjustments and pretty much shut them down. So that to me, I was impressed with their team.
Fischer: Well, that's what they were good at last year. They were a very good defensive program in the first season under Bielema, so he obviously emphasized that.
Allen: He did, and it's interesting because they played a certain scheme early in the year and it didn't go the way they wanted it to go and they completely switched. They stuck with that the rest of the way and that's what they're doing now. So just you know, credit to them to be able to make that adjustment and yeah, their defense is really talented.
Fan question: I have two questions or comments. What happened to the quarterback that you had who's now a wide receiver? And the second question is you have another Mullen coming in I believe. Tiawan and his little brother, who's bigger than Tiawan, but I would like comments about those
Allen: Okay, great. So yeah, Donaven McCulley, we moved to receiver. He actually came to me, you know, this offseason and wanted to make the move and so I we talked about it and didn't make a decision right away. Talked to family, talked to his high school coach, and we just kind of worked through that and then just felt like there were a lot of good reasons to do it as well. He's a very, very talented. He's really one of our most gifted athletes on the team, not from just from a size perspective, but just his ability to make plays in space and he's fast and he can jump and he's tall and he's big guy. So I just think that getting him more involved in our team. He said 'I want to play on special teams, I want to be able to do more things,' and so it was a good conversation, but I obviously felt like even watching him move around that he could be a high level guy at that position as well. So that's really the decision making process for that.
Allen: And then Trevell Mullen is Tiawan's younger brother. And yes, he is taller than Tiawan and he's thin like Tiawan was when he first got here. Tiawan was about 158 pounds when he first got here and he's up to about 185 right now. So yea, little Trevell, and you watch them interact with each other, you know, there's no doubt that Tiawan is definitely looking out for his brother and he's not gonna let him slip on any little thing for sure. It's just great having them together and I think even for him, Tiawan could have gone on and tried to take his hand at the NFL a year ago, he was eligible to do that age-wise, but I think having a chance to play with his brother was big part of why he wanted to stay.
Fan question: With you taking over the defensive play calling, how does that affect your defensive coordinator and will you be the one communicating with the booth?
Allen: The way it works for us, and everyone has their own way of doing it, for me, yes, I’ll be calling the defense. I’ll have the headset on and I’ll give the call to our guy that signals it in and so Chad Wilt is our defensive coordinator and when I hired him he knew this and we were very up front with him that this was going to be the structure, so he knew I was going to be calling it and so I needed him to be able to coach linebackers and run the meetings and the organizational part of writing scripts and organizing practice and running different drills we’re working on so I can step out and administrate things that coaches do. From a daily, gameday position, I’m going to be the DC, I’ll be still taking care of business with managing the clock and things like that, so he’ll really handle all of the adjustments. It’s kind of like when Kane Wommack was here before he took over calling it, he did that first for me and he was really good so he could make adjustments on the side and we spent a lot of time together and he has a tremendous offensive mind and also a defensive mind and he’s a really organized guy and really sharp, so I feel really confident in that, but I’ll be involved and I’ll be in communication with guys in the press box and they’re spotting for us, but yeah it’ll be kind of the way I did it before, but I also feel good that I had the three years before to focus on running everything and not being in that role, although I was never not involved defensively, but definitely it’s completely different than what it would have been a year ago but I’m excited and I really feel like that is something that is one of my strengths for sure and I’m working on all the calls for Friday night before I came to this and then we’ll go home and work on it for a long time to get it finished and all the calls and the film preparation. I love it. To me, that’s kind of – I’ve done it for over 20 years calling defense so when someone asked me about that I said ‘Well, I’ve done it for 20 years, so it’s not like I’m doing something I’ve never done before,’ but at the same time there’s more going on with the game, just being real with you, there’s no question about that but at the same time that’s what I’ve taken on and I’m excited. I really think it’s going to help us and the buck stops with me so I’ll make sure it’s right.”
Fischer: As we wrap things up tonight, obviously this first ball game is hugely important to your football team, I know, hugely important to the staff, hugely important to the fanbase. Opening with a Big Ten game to begin the season is always very difficult and opening against an Illinois team that’s obviously already proven itself in its first ballgame, so what are your thoughts going into this matchup?
Allen: I think you go through it and as I told our team, it’s the biggest game of the season, why? It’s the next one. That’s the mindset and you understand that all of our focus is on one game at a time, but it is one game, but yeah it’s very important. Any time you start with a conference game, it sets the tone with conference play and your whole season. It’s great to be able to be at home and we’re excited about that, but it’s about being fundamentally sound in all three phases, playing our best football, getting our guys out there, we’ve got a lot of new faces and they’ve got to be able to come together and play well together and do a great job of being able to live out all the hard work we’ve done the last several months because it’s been that way and our kids are excited and I can’t wait to get on the field with them.”
Fischer: I know playing on a Friday night is a little bit different, obviously there’s a lot of high school situations we don’t like about playing on a Friday night, but I know playing in front of a home crowd with new lights and so on and so forth
Allen: They’re bright, I just saw them last night. They’re definitely different for sure, pretty awesome. It’s great to be home and I love that part of it. Friday night is high school football night, I coached 15 years of high school football, but this is what they assigned us and it’s a great opportunity for us to be on a national stage with everybody watching us across the country, that’s big for our program and that excites me as well.
Fischer: Coach, we wish you nothing but the best.
Allen: Thank you so much. Have an awesome night. LEO.
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- INDIANA'S APPROACH TO CHASE BROWN: Illinois running back Chase Brown posted over 150 yards from scrimmage with three touchdowns against Wyoming in Week 0 after a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2021. Indiana linebacker and team captain Cam Jones said all 11 defenders will need to swarm to the ball. CLICK HERE
- BIELEMA TALKS INDIANA MATCHUP: Illinois defeated Wyoming 38-6 in Week 0, and now the Illini will begin Big Ten play on the road at Indiana on Friday night. Here's what coach Bret Bielema said about the Hoosiers. CLICK HERE
- WIDE RECEIVER POSITION PREVIEW: Indiana lost its top two receivers from 2021 – Ty Fryfogle and Miles Marshall – and coach Grant Heard left for UCF. D.J. Matthews returns to Indiana after tearing his ACL in week four, Donaven McCulley is making the switch from quarterback to receiver, and transfers Cam Camper and Emery Simmons have stood out in fall camp. CLICK HERE
