A trio of Indiana University football players have earned preseason All-American status by Phil Steele.
Wide receiver Ty Fryfogle, cornerback Tiawan Mullen and linebacker Micah McFadden earned the distinction for the Hoosiers the team announced Wednesday.
Fryfogle made waves earlier this season when the receiver announced he would be returning for another season in Bloomington.
A season ago, Fryfogle was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week twice this year. The senior wideout was named the Big Ten Receiver of the Year in 2020, finishing with 37 catches for 721 yards and seven touchdowns. Fryfogle's historic season was capped off when he became the only player in Big Ten history to have consecutive 200+ yard receiving games in conference play (Michigan State, Ohio State).
For his career, the IU senior has 112 catches for 1,719 yards with 13 touchdowns.
The 2020 season was a magical one for Mullen, who became the first cornerback in program history to be named a First Team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.
Mullen finished second among freshman in America and tied for 11th in the country with 13 pass breakups, four of which came against Michigan State. He also forced two fumbles and had two fumble recoveries, which was good enough to tie for first on the team, and had 29 tackles, 25 of which were solo stops.
In 2020, Mullen opened the season with eight tackles and a tackle for a loss in the upset over Penn State and followed that up with another seven tackles, two-and-a-half sacks and two-and-a-half tackles for a loss at Rutgers. Following the win over Michigan, Mullen had a career day at Michigan State, recording three tackles and two interceptions and then added seven tackles at Ohio State a week later. Against Maryland, he notched four tackles and an interception, before closing out the regular season with four tackles, a sack, a tackle for a loss, a forced fumble and two pass breakups at Wisconsin.
On the season, Mullen notched 38 total tackles, 27 of which were solo stops, to go along with three-and-a-half sacks, four-and-a-half tackles for a loss, three interceptions, one forced fumble, four pass breakups and a hurry. He led the Big Ten defensive backs in sacks and tackles for loss and was sixth in the Big Ten for interceptions. In addition, Mullen finished tied for first on the roster in forced fumbles, second in sacks, third in solo tackles, tackles for loss and interceptions.
For his efforts he was named a First Team All-Big Ten Team member by the media and a Second Team All-Big Ten Team member by the coaches.
Much like Mullen and Fryfogle, the 2020 season was a banner one for McFadden, who also earned All-American honors.
A season ago, McFadden finished with 58 tackles, 10.5 tackles-for-a-loss, six sacks and two interceptions.
Not only was he a major cog in Indiana's record-setting defense, the linebacker from Tampa, Fla., earned All-American honors after finishing third in the Big Ten in 2020 with 10.5 tackles for loss last season and led the conference with six sacks. He led Indiana with 58 tackles, including 44 solo tackles, and he also recorded two interceptions. As a result of his efforts, McFadden was named first-team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media and third-team All-American by the Associated Press.
McFadden was also recently named to the Walter Camp Preseason All-American Team.
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