Indiana Sees Both Sides of Whop Philyor's Passion and Energy in Win Over Nebraska

Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Like any good coach or teacher Indiana head football coach Tom Allen is always preaching lessons and Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska was no different. His pupil this time was wide receiver Whop Philyor who had just tied a career-high 14 catches in a 38-31 IU win over Nebraska.

“Sometimes the very thing, and this is a life principle, the very thing that makes you special is sometimes the very thing that can be that can hurt you.” That’s a pretty good life lesson for anyone, but especially for a receiver whose biggest strength is his energy and passion he plays with. However, on Saturday that energy turned against him when Philyor was flagged for jawing with a Nebraska defender. A penalty that stalled a promising drive.

“He plays with a ton of energy and a ton of swagger,” Allen said. “Sometimes you gotta like. Sometimes I wish had a mussel, ok. He needs a mussel sometimes. But that energy is what causes him to make plays.”

After the penalty Allen did what any good teacher or coach will do with a player or student who is heated. Allen used his strong relationship with Philyor to deliver a strong message.

“I was not going to let him get away until I got eye-to-eye, ‘yessir’ the response I knew I needed to have and I wasn’t going to let go of him. Because he and I have a strong relationship, I mean he was hot. He was saying, ‘but they’re doing this, they’re saying this and they’re…’ I said ‘I don’t care what they call you.’”.

Philyor has been one of Indiana’s offensive superheroes this season. He has caught 57 passes for 737 yards and three touchdowns. He has 10-plus catches in three of the past four games as well. He should get to 1,000 receiving yards on the season. Philyor’s energy gives the 5-foot-11 178-pound receiver an edge, but like every superhero, he has his flaws. Philyor is a ball of energy and his passion for playing for Indiana comes out every week. Allen is hoping that he can “channel that energy in the right direction.”

Even Philyor knows that he got caught up in the moment. "I just have to be more disciplined,” Philyor said after the game, “I let my emotions get the best of me, so I have to be more disciplined. We're playing football so everyone's emotions are high."

After the game it came to light that there were things said by Nebraska that the Hoosiers took “personally”. Philyor took charge of leading the Hoosiers charge to proving Nebraska wrong. “(Philyor) was so determined to come here and prove...some things were said before about Indiana, about us playing Nebraska. You look at the history and it’s like we’re just not the same, ok. They’re just not the same. Our guys took that personally. He was the leader of the band.”

Well, Philyor channeled his energy for the good of the team and helped lead them to their sixth win of the year and capped off an undefeated month of October.