Football and Rocket League: those are what senior receiver Mitchell Paige and sophomore receivers Nick Westbrook and Luke Timian talk about most at their apartment when they’re not on the field.
On-field strategy and a video game that simulates soccer with rocket-powered vehicles. The trio tries to get at least one game in every night before they go to bed.
Then on Saturdays they catch touchdowns for the Hoosiers.
“We’ve built an awesome bond,” Paige said. “Especially being an older guy, it’s nice to have younger guys that are buying in to what we do here and the standards that we set here the way that they have. It makes coming in here a lot more fun.”
Between the three of them, Paige, Westbrook and Timian have 566 of IU’s 1,002 receiving yards and five of its seven receiving touchdowns.
Coming into the season though, it appeared that, for the younger guys at least, the targets would be few and far between. That was until junior receiver Simmie Cobbs was suspended for the season opener and went down with an ankle fracture in IU’s home opener.
Westbrook stepped in for Cobbs and caught six passes for 70 yards at FIU and three passes for 133 yards — with two touchdowns of 48 and 79 yards — against Ball State.
The sophomore also had six catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns in the Wake Forest loss.
Paige has caught 15 passes — tied with Westbrook for the team lead — for 169 yards, while Timian has reeled in six catches for 65 yards and one touchdown against Ball State. Timian nearly had another touchdown against Wake Forest as well.
Westbrook said it wasn’t the production the trio expected coming into the season, but, because of each other, they were able to perform at that level.
“We all hyped each other up,” Westbrook said. “We brought each other up all of camp and throughout the season. We back each other as brothers because we’re roommates. We’re so close. It wasn’t that we were expecting it. I guess it was more like we were anticipating it, pushing for it.”
The pushing began in camp, when all three were on the field at the same time.
“Six-two-eight on the field. 628 on the field,” they would shout for anyone on the field to hear.
Their apartment number is 628.
Westbrook said that rally cry served as comfort and drive for the young receiver, who knew he had to keep getting better because Timian and Paige were getting better, too.
Now with 628 all within IU’s top-four receiving wideouts, IU offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Kevin Johns said he sees additional chemistry between the three players that helps them on the field, too. Even within a positional group that is already tight.
Paige wants to lead IU’s young receivers in order to set the position’s standard for the future. Westbrook and Timian have received that message.
“Me, (Timian) and Mitchell were talking that we need to have that chip on our shoulder now so that when Mitchell’s gone or when (senior receiver Ricky Jones is) gone next year, we need to step up as leaders,” Westbrook said. “Helping the young guys come along, like they helped me and Luke come along.”
For Westbrook and Timian though, the mission with Paige has been a personal one.
After the Ball State victory, Westbrook walked out of the weight room and onto the field. He was greeted by Paige’s family, who embraced him and celebrated under the goalposts like he was their son, too.
Westbrook — who grew up in Lake Mary, Florida — said Paige’s dad will visit from Carmel, Indiana, and take them out for steaks, and Westbrook said he always sees him on the sidelines during games.
“He’s always there,” Westbrook said. “It’s a huge deal having them there, almost as another set of parents, I guess, to really help me and guide me.”
It’s the on- and off-field chemistry that Westbrook said plays a big role in his confidence and comfort.
Whether it’s sprinting down the field during Timian’s first career touchdown pass at the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in December or seeing Paige running toward him holding up his hand in the “Star Wars” force-choke hold after Westbrook caught a 79-yard touchdown pass. Or eating at Chili’s or B-Town Diner because they are breakfast food guys.
It’s seeing each other do well on the field and off it that Westbrook said he enjoys the most.
“Seeing them do well and succeed, it’s just an awesome feeling,” Westbrook said.
