What Tom Allen Said in Final Press Conference Before Ohio State
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00:00 >> Yeah, looks like you guys got top three of Aaron, Jacob and Matt.
00:04 Well, just kind of wondering if anybody's kind of emerging,
00:06 you want to be able to rotate guys, keeping fresh for game and for the season.
00:10 Anybody emerging as the number four, number five guy at linebacker for you?
00:14 >> Yeah, I would say Jared Casey, without question, has been had a good fall camp
00:19 for us and continues to grow and develop in our system.
00:22 And Josh Rudolph is the other guy that's been there taking reps.
00:26 Those are the five guys that we have right now that are in the rotation of working
00:30 with our ones and our twos throughout the week.
00:32 So like the group, there's obviously got some several new faces there that
00:37 haven't played a lot of football here.
00:38 So just excited to get those guys out there on Saturday and let them go.
00:42 >> [INAUDIBLE]
00:45 >> Want to ask a similar question about
00:47 cornerbacks.
00:47 I think you talked about safety the other day with Lewis and Josh.
00:51 But a cornerback obviously, Ohio State's got a lot of,
00:54 a lot of receiver room is really tough and one of the biggest keys to kind of
00:59 being them and just I guess a cornerback with so many new faces just,
01:02 who's kind of emerged, what's the rotation kind of looking like?
01:05 Who are you going to be leaning on Saturday?
01:08 >> Yeah, as I mentioned, we got several new faces in the whole secondary.
01:12 But Jameer Johnson is really a guy that has come on,
01:17 has had a really good fall camp, Covey Minor, we mentioned him before.
01:20 I'm really excited about where he's at.
01:22 And he's definitely gonna be playing a lot of football for Saturday.
01:25 And Jamari Sharp is a guy that's been here, but was young last year as a true
01:31 freshman, so as a redshirt freshman, has length and speed.
01:35 And so he's really emerged as one of our top guys.
01:38 And just excited about him.
01:39 And then Nick Toomer is another new guy that has been really impressive during
01:44 fall camp.
01:45 This guy's come here, he's got lots of length, played a lot of football at
01:48 Stanford, and had an injury there that is really kind of now back from that.
01:52 Full speed has been a couple years ago, and he's now back to where he was before
01:56 that, and playing with a lot of confidence.
01:59 And just really excited to be able to have him with us,
02:02 a guy we recruited really, really hard the first time.
02:04 And really wanted him out of high school, and
02:06 he's now coming to us four years later.
02:09 And just feel like as a whole group, JoJo Johnson's also is the guy in that mix.
02:14 That's gotten a lot of reps during fall camp.
02:17 And then James Mons also is a guy that we've also repped.
02:20 So we got six guys there that have taken lots of reps for us.
02:25 And so probably gonna have about three or four of those guys.
02:27 We're gonna play quite a bit on Saturday, as you mentioned,
02:29 playing one of the best receiver cores in the whole country.
02:32 And that's a group that's gonna get tested early and often, and
02:36 we've gotta step up and play very, very well.
02:38 >> Jeff Jackson, Mike.
02:41 >> Yeah, just with all the new faces on defense,
02:44 do you expect to rotate more defensively than maybe you have in the past?
02:48 Or do you view week one as maybe more of an audition for
02:51 playing time than past week ones?
02:54 I guess just how do you view that?
02:56 >> Yeah, that's a good question.
02:58 I think it kinda depends.
03:00 We're definitely gonna rotate the D line just because that's just what you do in
03:04 that position, for sure.
03:06 Numerically and as well, just keeping those guys fresh.
03:08 But in the secondary, I think more because of having so many new guys.
03:12 We're just trying to, we've still not had a game yet.
03:15 So getting these guys to see how they perform in a game is gonna be big.
03:18 So you probably gonna rotate some guys early on and see how they respond.
03:22 And then play the hot hand.
03:23 The guys that are playing the best and seem to be doing the most positive things.
03:27 But I think you're gonna see quite a few faces out there in the secondary,
03:31 getting different guys involved and
03:32 just wanna do a great job of getting a chance to evaluate them as well.
03:36 I know it's a big, big game cuz it's a conference game.
03:39 It's the first game, it has all those things.
03:41 But it is also your first one that you're having as a team.
03:43 And scrimmages are great, but they're not full live football game.
03:47 So I just think that we're gonna have to expect us to play a lot of guys,
03:51 especially in the back end and up front.
03:53 >> Mike from Taggart.
03:56 >> Yeah, coach, just along those lines, I mean,
03:58 this isn't the first year you've had a bunch of transfers in your program.
04:02 Have you learned things from prior years in terms of integrating those guys fast
04:07 into both the culture and the scheme and how that all translates to functioning in
04:11 week one and how that maybe is a little bit different than years past?
04:15 >> Yeah, I think you do learn things for sure.
04:17 And I think that the biggest lesson is, in the process of getting them here,
04:22 getting the right guys and the guys that fit with you.
04:24 I think it speeds up that ability to get them connected to your culture,
04:29 connected to your team, get them to buy into what you're doing.
04:33 It happens at a higher rate when the guys already fit what you're looking for.
04:37 But once you get them here, I think just, yeah,
04:39 just trying to do as many things that we could possibly do for
04:42 those guys to spend time together away from football,
04:45 both with our coaches and with each other.
04:47 And we've kind of relied on that heavily to get our guys.
04:51 I think the summer for us has been huge because of having the new OTA schedule
04:56 that we have and the opportunity to have our coaches with our players as I've
04:59 described already with them over the summertime, especially during the month
05:03 of June, some guys didn't get it till June.
05:06 And so being able to spend that time with them in both football and
05:09 away from football has been big.
05:11 And I've already mentioned the accountability teams that we do that are
05:14 cross position across sides of the football,
05:16 just trying to get guys connected with one another.
05:18 Cuz it's once again, the end of the day, you're trying to build the best team.
05:22 And the best team is a team that's connected, is player led, and
05:25 a team that really truly has each other's back.
05:28 And that's what we're trying to create here as a culture,
05:31 from no matter what year it is.
05:33 But obviously when you have a bunch of new guys, the end result,
05:36 the end goal is no different.
05:38 How you get there has to be a little bit modified.
05:40 >> Todd and Zach.
05:43 >> The new clock rules in college football,
05:46 how do you feel like that might influence not only Saturday's game,
05:50 but all the games?
05:52 How did it kind of influence your scrimmages?
05:54 And what are your thoughts on the rules?
05:57 Some coaches have come out against it, some for it.
06:00 Where do you stand on that?
06:02 >> Yeah, it is, I think probably to be determined.
06:04 We've had a handful of games last weekend.
06:07 I've heard anywhere from seven to 12 snaps it reduces in a game.
06:11 I guess we'll have the data here real soon once we have several more games being
06:15 played.
06:15 As a defensive coach, I've heard all the offensive coaches complain about it
06:19 because they want more snaps.
06:21 As a defensive coach, you're always trying to find ways to keep your defense off
06:25 the field and shorten the games.
06:26 But at the same time, I think when you think about the reasons why they're doing
06:32 it, obviously we all know from a practical perspective,
06:36 they're not gonna cut out the commercials because that's how things are financed.
06:41 And so but at the same time, a way to shorten the games a little bit and
06:46 maybe some of the wasted time that can happen in the length of a game in
06:50 college football, which I think has become very, very long for a variety of reasons.
06:55 So I'm not necessarily against it.
06:58 I'm anxious to see how it really impacts it a lot.
07:00 I know we've had two scrimmages with officials here, and
07:03 it does feel a little different.
07:05 I kind of look as if an offense is able to stay on the field and
07:09 sustain long drives, you can eat a lot of clock up from a game.
07:13 And that's really a thing I think it can hurt a team if you can't get off the field.
07:18 And teams allows if your defense can't get off and that's a problem for
07:22 your team, not get enough touches for your offense and
07:24 enough series for them to be able to produce points.
07:27 So I think it will have an impact on the game.
07:30 I guess the degree to how much way is to be determined, we'll see.
07:33 Because obviously it's an NFL rule that they've been using.
07:36 And so when you get in the last two minutes, obviously we have normal clock rule.
07:40 So I don't think it's a major change as far as there's gonna be a massive
07:43 difference in games.
07:45 But I do think they're gonna be a little shorter, a few less snaps.
07:48 And like I said, the offenses that can stay on the field and
07:51 keep that clock moving, will shorten the game for sure.
07:54 >> Hey, Coach, I'm just wondering about game day responsibilities and
08:00 how they've changed from last year.
08:05 >> Well, for me game day, obviously I'm not calling the defense.
08:09 So major emphasis on the clock, the managing the clock, the timeout.
08:14 So obviously I always had to do that before, but
08:15 just do it as I was doing everything else.
08:17 I'm still gonna rely on, we have our staff divided up to do a lot of things from
08:21 the press box and keep track of all the information that I need to have to make
08:24 great decisions in regards to putting the football and going forward on four downs.
08:28 And being able to be more involved in offense and not having to go back and
08:33 attend to some of the corrections that are being made in between series defensively.
08:38 So I won't be doing that.
08:39 I'll definitely be involved defensively without question in talking to those guys.
08:44 But trust them and I think they'll do a great job with that.
08:47 So just more involved on offense in regards to what we're doing with the ball
08:52 and not necessarily play calling, I'm not gonna do that.
08:54 But at the same time, I'll be able to have my focus and attention on the team,
08:59 the flow of the game and the intent obviously is to be able to do
09:02 the best job possible to be able to manage that.
09:04 >> All right, thanks Tom.
09:06 >> Appreciate you guys, have a great day, L-E-O.