New IU defensive coordinator Tom Allen said there’s three things IU wants to do defensively.
As long as the Hoosiers take the ball away, play with what he calls fanatical effort and are the best tackling team in America, he said he’s fine.
Allen said he is trying to instill those three things every day. And as IU finds itself three days into spring practice, a new rule has surfaced regarding terminology. The Hoosiers can’t say the word turnover.
Whenever someone says the word turnover, including coaches, they have to do 25 pushups. The rule was put in place because Allen prefers the word takeaway.
“Basically, we are going to take the ball from you,” he said. “It’s an act of aggression.”
Allen is trying to install a new 4-2-5 defense designed for speed and athleticism. He spent time with this scheme as linebackers coach at Ole Miss and most recently installed it as defensive coordinator at South Florida.
IU Coach Kevin Wilson mentioned Sunday there have been talks of Allen and other coaches making a trip to Ole Miss or South Florida to learn about bringing the defensive strategy in as a new scheme.
Allen said it’s been an adjustment for coaches as well and said he told the staff to get in shape because practices will involve them running around.
All in all, Allen said he was encouraged by the first few practices and noticed the team having good energy in all three thus far. Other than takeaways, Allen had the team do a pursuit drill to work on effort and a tackling drill to work on technique.
Allen’s 4-2-5 scheme brings in two new position titles, husky and bull. The husky position is a combination of a strong-side safety and a linebacker. He mentioned juniors Jayme Thompson and Ben Bach as two he saw with potential to make plays at husky.
“But I was encouraged by today,” Allen said. “I think we worked really hard on our angles and drops with that guy at that position and I think we saw a lot of improvement.”
The bull position is a defensive end, linebacker hybrid. Allen said he put pressure on junior Greg Gooch and sophomore Nile Sykes to step up at the bull spot this week.
His goal is to watch film and workouts to gain an idea of where players fit from a body and skills perspective.
“So we try to get the pieces in the right spot in the beginning, but I also know that there’s always not an exact science with that,” Allen said.
Allen and the Hoosiers are trying to turn around a defense ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten since Wilson took over, since well before Wilson took over. Wilson has said he is more concerned with culture than scheme.
“There’s a sense of excitement from these guys, and they’re hungry,” Allen said. “They want to get this thing fixed, and they want to get it right. They want to play great defense here at IU.”
