'He's a Tough Kid:' Tom Allen Reacts to His Son Thomas Allen's Injury

It was a tough moment for Indiana coach Tom Allen when he had to watch his son, Thomas Allen, go down with a serious injury Saturday and had to be carted off the field.

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In all the good that happened Saturday for Indiana to shutout Michigan State 24-0 and obtain the Old Brass Spittoon for the first time in Tom Allen's tenure, there were a few bad moments.

One came in the third quarter when Allen's son, linebacker Thomas Allen, went down with what looked like an injury to the leg.

Thomas was writhing in pain on the ground, and after being down for a little bit, a cart eventually had to come over to take him off the field.

Tom was by his son the whole time, and the two embraced before the cart took him off the field.

Thomas' teammates also ran out to greet him one last time before refocusing their attention on Michigan State.

It was a moment that fit the bill for the Hoosiers' LEO philosophy.

Allen was asked after the game about the injury and his emotions.

"He's gonna be all right. He's a tough kid," Allen said. "I love him so much, but it could be pretty serious."

It's another tough break for Thomas, who suffered a shoulder injury last season that knocked him out of Indiana's final games.

Although we don't know the specifics of his injury at this time, Allen finds it hard to remain optimistic.

"It's hard to see your son out there," Allen said. "As tough as he is, I knew by how he was responding that it was serious."

Allen admitted it was hard to stand there and see that, and then have to finish coaching the rest of the game.

"But that's what you gotta do," Allen said. "You got to be able to compartmentalize those things."

After the game, when Allen was addressing the team, Old Brass Spittoon in hand, he called over his son to give him the trophy and said, "you helped us win this thing."

Thomas walked over to his father in crutches, grabbed the Brass Spittoon, turned to his team and said, "Hey, I love y'all. That's what we do," and he held up the Spittoon. 

Thomas is a part of Indiana's strong core of linebackers, but Micah McFadden believes that Indiana has enough pieces and depth to still be effective this season.

Allen said he will announce the injury for his son once they know more, but for now, he was confident his son will bounce back from this.

"Just like always, he'll fight through this," Allen said. "He'll find a way to overcome it and come back, and play again one day."

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