In his first true road game against No. 25 Michigan State, freshman cornerback Tiawan Mullen had the statistics of a seasoned veteran on the field.
There was nothing different for Mullen walking into the stadium of ranked conference opponent.
“Football is football,” Mullen said. “I never get nervous or scared, I just come here to play. They put on their pads like I put on my pads.”
Mullen was knocking down every pass thrown his vicinity, shutting down the receivers standing across from him at the line of scrimmage. Mullen stuffed the stat sheet against Michigan State with four broken-up passes, two tackles and a half a tackle for loss all while not allowing a completion against him.
“He ain’t very big but he’s a tough sucker,” IU head coach Tom Allen said.
The main assignment Mullen had against the Spartans was covering senior wide receiver Darrell Stewart. In four games this season, Stewart has recorded 439 yards and brought in one touchdown. Against the Hoosiers, Stewart was no different bringing in five receptions for 117 yards and two touchdowns, except when covered by Mullen.
When Mullen was in coverage against him, the senior receiver caught none of his five targets.
“I was just playing my technique, the fundamentals, the basics,” Mullen said. “I just didn’t go outside my game and executed.”
Mullen’s presence was most noticeably felt at the beginning of the second quarter when Michigan State drove down the field to the five-yard-line. Senior quarterback Brian Lewerke tried throwing to Stewart on back-to-back plays in the endzone but both were broken up by Mullen.
After breaking up the second of the two passes, Mullen had to come out of the game due to cramping. IU felt Mullen’s absence on the next play as Lewerke threw to Stewart for the third straight play, this time connecting on a wide-open crossing route.
A big reason for Mullen’s success against the Spartans was his preparation and work ethic, something that has endeared him quickly to his teammates that have taken notice of the youngsters performance outside of gameday.
“Tiawan, in practice every single day he shows it,” redshirt freshman Michael Penix Jr. said. “He’s a dog. He works every single day and pushes hard. He helps the defense a lot and it’s really good to see.”
For Mullen, Saturday isn’t the day that matters. It may be the day that matters when people look at IU’s record and how people view the team, but it’s what happens during the week that matters the most to the freshman from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“The game days are Monday through Thursday or Friday,” Mullen said. “Saturday is just fun day. The more you practice throughout the week, the more you’ll enjoy the game on Saturday.”
