Coming out of high school, Tiawan Mullen had his pick of where he could have played at.
But, he fell in love with a message being driven home to recruits by Indiana head coach Tom Allen about turning around and building a program with the Hoosiers.
The message resonated so much so with Mullen he asked for a piece of paper and wrote down what he had been hearing from Allen – 10, 26 and 50 – which were his talking points of how long it had been since the Hoosiers had a winning season, won a bowl game and finished the season as Big Ten champions.
And since arriving on campus two years ago, Mullen has been doing everything he can to turn the tide and help propel the Hoosiers to all those goals.
Now, he has achieved an individual award and is the first in program history to be named a First Team All-American by the Football Writers Association of America.
"It is an honor, and it still hasn't hit me yet as far as winning the award. Probably 10, 15, 20 years from now, I will realize how special it is. I didn't do it myself, thanks to the man above, my coaches and teammates, just so thankful to be the first in history," Mullen said.
With the distinction, he becomes the second cornerback in school history to achieve the All-American status and is the first Indiana player since offensive lineman Dan Feeney to collect first team recognition. Mullen also becomes the first cornerback to achieve the accolade in Indiana football history.
Mullen says the accolade was the result of just going out and making plays and helping his team be successful.
"Being an All-American was never something I was looking deeply into. When they told me I got it, I was like wow and I was amazed by it. I am the first one and deeply grateful for it," Mullen said.
Last season, he played a vital role in Indiana posting a winning season with eight wins.
As a freshman, Mullen earned honorable-mention All-Big Team honors, first-team Freshman All American honors, second-team PPF All-Freshman Team, and Indiana’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year. Not bad for a player who started eight times in 13 games. However, Mullen, who entered this season on the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, 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.
Coming into this season, those expecting a sophomore slump from Mullen were sadly disappointed, and much of that has to do with the coaching of cornerbacks coach Brandon Shelby. Shelby told the media this season he has to coach Mullen harder as a result of his success and press clippings, all with the hope of ensuring Mullen never drops off.
“I have to coach him even harder about the little things, where are his feet, his eyes, his hand placement. I am a lot harder on him because, at the end of the day, a lot of players that have a successful freshman year usually fall into a sophomore slump,” Shelby said.
And, that sits just well with Mullen.
“I got one of the best cornerback coaches in the game with coach Brandon Shelby. Once you listen to a coach, he’s going to put you in the right position and then you have to go out and execute and that’s what I did today. When they let you play with vision, you just got to go out there and improvise and make plays,” Mullen said.
Mullen said despite turning out an All-American cornerback and a secondary that has earned All Big Ten honors, Shelby doesn't get the respect he should.
"He coaches hard and has been overlooked in the Big Ten but the whole secondary is All Big Ten. He needs to get his respect," Mullen said.
Making plays is exactly what Mullen has done this season as the Florida native prepares to return to the Sunshine State with the Hoosiers on Jan. 2, 2021 for the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
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, he is ranked second on the defense in tackles with 36 total, including 25 solo stops. In addition, Mullen has notched four-and-a-half tackles for a loss, three-and-a-half sacks, three interceptions, four pass breakups, one quarterback hurry and one forced fumble.
"To become an All-American, you have to do a lot of things in a great way. When he's playing corner, he is playing a lot of cover 2. At the nickel, he is blitzing and doing those things. What the committee got to see was a guy who does so many things," Shelby said, adding Mullen needs to be in the conversation for the Thorpe Award, which is given to the top defensive back in America. "He will keep working hard, and, hopefully, one day, he can accomplish that goal."
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.
And he has done it with speed and an style where he gets after opposing offenses on every single snap, something defensive coordinator Kane Wommack absolutely loves.
“To me, he is a guy that is crafty and explosive. He blitzes about two inches off the ground, so he is hard to pick up. That can always be a difficult thing as well when you play low and fast. You find creative ways to get in the backfield,” Wommack said of Mullen.
Blitzing is one area Mullen admits he has improved from last year.
“I am a much better blitzer than last year. That was something I wanted to work on, and I showed a bunch of progress. When my name is called to go get the quarterback, I am going to get the job done,” Mullen said.
Shelby said while he loves what Mullen has done on the field, it is his efforts off the field that he also loves.
"His athletic ability is God-given and he has taken his ability and he has crafted it and he works hard. I think some people don't realize how hard he truly works... look at his grades. This young man has a 3.4 GPA and was Mr. Academic in February. He goes to the other sports, he's at women's basketball, swimming and diving, people love being around him," Shelby said.
Doing his job is something Mullen has done since he arrived in Bloomington and asked for a piece of paper in Allen’s office.
“He’s one of those ones that chose to come here from far away because he believed in the vision of what we were going to do even thought we hadn’t done it yet. Tiawan is a special guy. Not the biggest guy on the field, but his heart is huge. He wanted to be a part of that breakthrough at Indiana, and, now he's being rewarded for it. He came here and he believed,” Allen said.
Mullen and this team is special, and Mullen admits he knew all along just how good this team could be.
“I expected this. I’m not surprised at what’s happening at Indiana University.”
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