Sunshine Pipeline Paying Dividends for Hoosier Defense

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Indiana University head football coach Tom Allen has a unique background. He was born and raised in the state of Indiana and began his coaching career in the Hoosier state. After success at Ben Davis, he chose to branch out and began coaching in the state of Florida. His professional aspirations took him to a few different stops in the Sunshine State and he developed strong connections that he quickly began tapping into as soon as he became the defensive coordinator for Indiana.

The stream of players from Florida to Bloomington has become a full-on pipeline and the impact can be felt all over the IU defense. Tiawan Mullen, Devon Matthews, Juwan Burgess, James Head, James Miller, Jamar Johnson, Thomas Allen and Micah McFadden are all standout Florida products on one of the best defenses in the Big Ten. Junior Micah McFadden knows how Tom Allen built what fans are seeing today.

“Coach Allen did a good job finding the right guys. Maybe we all didn’t have the biggest offers, but he saw something and we saw how many guys were committing to Indiana … It was exciting to see his idea for it and see who all was coming up here, like Mike Penix and everybody,” McFadden told the media on Tuesday morning.

McFadden says the same thing many others are saying about Tom Allen and his vision for what Indiana could become. Allen whole-heartedly believes IU can compete at the top of the conference and his players have bought in, beginning with how he recruited them.

“When I was a senior in high school in the recruitment process, he was true from the start. He was telling me Indiana is going to be a contender for the Big Ten championship, we’re going to win a lot of games if you come here, the guys we’re recruiting, it’s going to be a good class. He was so enthusiastic about the change that was going to happen … that led me to believe in the program and want to commit here.”

Micah McFadden has been a contributor since day one and this season has seen his game rise to another level. He leads the team with 30 tackles and has two sacks. The IU defense is benefitting from talented players and from those talented players having been through the rigors of the Big Ten and getting experience.

“It’s definitely an experience things. Guys are locked in. They know what they have on each play. It’s also coaches getting us in the right spots, making coverages hard to read, blitzes hard to pick up,” McFadden said. “It makes it easier for us to fly around, see the ball and converge on it … It’s come down to that experience. We have multiple guys who have played and know what they have to do on each play.”

They will face their stiffest challenge of the season this Saturday in Columbus as the #9 Indiana Hoosiers face the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes and dynamic quarterback Justin Fields.

“We earned this spot. It’s earned from the ground up. It may be shocking to others, it’s not shocking to us…we expected this,” fellow Floridian DB Tiawan Mullen said. “We got to this point behind closed doors. The summer practices, waking up at six in the morning, trusting each other, not letting anyone slack. People don’t see the blood, sweat and tears we’ve put in…practice has gotten us to this point. We’re well prepared for every moment.”