Media Thursday: Outback Bowl

Below are partial transcriptions of Zoom press conferences with Indiana head coach Tom Allen, cornerbacks coach Brandon Shelby, and cornerback Tiawan Mullen on Thursday, Dec. 31.

Head Coach Tom Allen
ALLEN: Good afternoon everyone. Just got back from a good Thursday practice. I liked our energy, liked our focus. Really excited for these guys. Really excited to be in this bowl game. I love being back here in Tampa, a place that we know well. Just staying a few hundred yards from where we used to live for a few years here. It is so neat to see so many of our guys have family down here already and for them to be so excited to be so close to home. Even the guys that are from Miami and cities that are not necessarily Tampa, but it is just a cool thing for sure. And had a chance to, could not talk to the recruits but had a chance to have some guys there watching us practice, and just being able to have the Indiana football team here in Tampa has been a great, great thing. So, it has been a good week, just have to finish it off and play well on game day. Questions?

Q. On if they have the full team back together yet…
ALLEN: We feel good about it. The thing that you have to realize is every day they test. So, we have got one more of those. Had today's test and that was all good. We have got one more tomorrow so cannot say 100 percent sure for game day yet that we will have everybody. But as of today, the guys that had been out are all back and have been able to practice. So, it is just a matter of getting those guys physically ready. Quite a bit warmer than where we came from, so they are going to have to deal with that in terms the game day heat and keeping hydrated for that. Our guys are, the ones that were out are all back.

Q. On what they are allowing players to do…
ALLEN: I would say it is a controlled bubble situation. We do want them to be able to see family. They have got to wear masks. Family has got to wear masks. It is no different than when the families could come to a game, and they could come watch the game. Obviously, they spent some time with them afterwards, so we kind of treated that the same way. There is no question I want them to be able to be around their families. It has been so long, did not get to go home for Christmas. So that is the kind of compromise. We feel good. Our guys kind of understand now, from a social distance perspective, wearing masks. It allows us to create a protective shield for our guys. They are not on complete lockdown. They are not going out like you sometimes will do in a bowl city. We do not have any activities that we are leaving the hotel for. But the families can come here and see them and spend some time with them in that regard. So that is how we are kind of balancing.

Q. On not having anybody opt out of the bowl game…
ALLEN: I think it says a lot and I do not say that with any negativity toward any other team or any other kid's situation because I do not know their situations. All I know is this football team. And I know that we have built strong relationships with these guys. I would say this, when the season first was canceled or postponed or whatever you want to call the first time that the Big Ten said we are not going to play when we were supposed to play and put on that long, long pause. We had some conversations with some guys to try to figure out "hey, is this, what is the season going to look like? Should we, should I opt out just because I do not want to botch up one last chance to have a great season, let's just maybe wait for the next year?" And then when the NCAA came in and talked about giving everybody an extra year, that helped some of our guys work through that once we found that information out. At first, we did not know. When I think once we worked through all that, there has not even been a conversation with any of our guys even for the bowl game. The buy in here is extremely high. They understand what we are trying to build and they want to be part of it. They want to be a part of the team that wins the first bowl game in 29 years and that means something to these guys and they have invested a lot from our younger guys to our older guys to everybody in between. So, once again I said it is, I think it does speak a lot toward how they feel about each other when it is about the guys around you and it is truly and genuinely that is your motivation is to play for each other and with the guys beside you and then you value that. I think it makes a difference and like I said I just feel that we are building in the culture here and once again if guys in the future make those decisions, I do not always know what goes into that. I just know that I want guys to make decisions that are really others focused. That to me, that is a life principle. I get it you have to look out for yourself in certain situations. I understand that. And, but at the same time, when you make life about you, I think it is just shallow and I think it is just empty at the end of the day. When you make it about other people, I think it has a multiplying factor in meeting and value. And I think in this team that is what they have experienced and so when I talk to these guys and they want this. They want to play for each other. They want to experience this together. So, whatever thoughts they might have had individually it never really surfaced itself here at the end before the bowl game and I am just really excited for this team to be able to play together one last time.

Q. On your favorite memory from living down in Tampa…
ALLEN: Well, I will say, that going way back when I was here the first time when we had a chance at Temple Heights, two really distinct things, to be able to make the playoffs for the first time in 17 years there at a place that had just really had very little history and had that theme "dare to believe" and that just a group of guys just bought into that and to be able to do that together. And then go to Armwood and make the playoffs for the first time ever in the program's history. They would be a part of both of those. Those were pretty special. Then you go to South Florida and be part of that turnaround season there with Coach Willie Taggart and then they kind of call me with a massive win against Temple. They were ranked 25th in the country and I think they would beat them I think on either Thursday or Friday night and the place was rocking and it was just awesome. So just to be able to be a part of those turnarounds and just to see the belief grow and be built. That is kind of where it started for me and kind of those situations all ultimately led me to Indiana, which is pretty awesome.

Q. On all the individual awards helping out in recruiting…
ALLEN: That is huge and here is why. The thing I taught our team and I said it from the very beginning, because when you start talking about LEO you start talking about it is not about me. I want a whole bunch of guys who do not get a bunch of credit. I get it. We are motivated by wanting to get recognized, I understand that intrinsic desire for that. There is nothing wrong with that. What I challenged them is this, I tell them is when you submit to this and you totally buy into this, when the team does well, I believe the individuals get recognized and that is what is happening. And so, but when you flip it and when the individuals try to make it about themselves and they try to get the recognition themselves in front of the team, usually they do not get the individual recognition and the team does not do well. It is an amazing phenomenon when you put the team first, you unselfishly buy in and you become a team guy because I do not care if it is quick. It is not about me and I love the guys around me. I care about the rest around me. When the team does well, individuals get recognized and that is what is happening. So not only have I said that to them from day one, it is now happening and the team has done well and the individuals are getting recognized. And that to me is what you can sell in recruiting is that these kids came in here and they believed. Kids like Tiawan Mullen. He came here before the breakthrough happened. He chose to come to Indiana before the breakthrough. He wanted to be a part of that breakthrough. And now he has been rewarded individually for being a part of that. Same with Micah McFadden and Jamar Johnson and same with Jerome Johnson, same with all those guys. Same on offense. Same with Ty Fryfogle on offense and Whop Philyor and Stevie Scott and all these guys and Peyton Hendershot. Michael Penix. Those guys came here and they believed. And they are getting the recognition and it is an awesome, awesome thing. And so yeah, you talk about "Hey you want to come to Indiana, get a world class education, they can be developed as a man and have a chance to play football at the highest level, play for championships, have the chance to earn some of these elite awards and the country individually, which is pretty, pretty special."

Cornerbacks Coach Brandon Shelby
On Tiawan Mullen's versatility…
SHELBY: To become an All-American, you have to do a lot of things in a great way. When you watch him on the field out at cornerback, he is in press man, off man and sometimes in Cover 2. When we put him at the nickelback, he is blitzing. Really, that spot is similar to a linebacker. We take a linebacker off the field and put another defensive back in there. The committee saw a guy that does some many different things, even on special teams. When you add all of that together, to me, that equals an All-American. He has talked about the Jim Thorpe Award. I think that when the committee looks at it, when you look at the whole body of his statistics and what he has done, I think that he needs to be in that conversation. I know that he will keep working hard and hopefully one day he can accomplish that goal.

Q. On his improvements since coming to campus…
SHELBY: The one thing that you cannot coach is that he has the will to work. He loves to be coached, he loves to be pushed, and he loves to watch film. When he got here, I just had to refine some things. Sometimes in high school, especially when you are the best athlete, you can have dirty eyes, you look into the backfield and you cheat a little bit. When you get to this level, you face quarterbacks that can look off one direction and come back, they can go through all the reads. It is about the little things. It is film study and knowing how the receiver you are going to go against on Saturday likes to release off the line. Those are the things that I have tried to refine over the last couple of years. His athletic ability is God-given. He has taken his ability and he has crafted it. He works hard. Sometimes, people overlook the work. People do not realize how hard he truly works. He does not let the things outside of football distract him from his overall goals. I am so excited for his All-America award, but I am more excited that this young man has a 3.4 GPA. He was Mr. Academic for the month of February. Those are the things that I am excited about. As he grows, as he builds, he is going to have one great resume.

Q. On his leadership…
SHELBY: He is a guy's guy. He is a leader. The great thing about him is that he does not have to talk much. When he does talk, people listen. He is starting to assume that role, take that role. His play on the field allows him to be more vocal. As a freshman last year, he just went out and did his job. He had a lot of success on the field. Then coming into this year, we started to see him be a little bit more of a vocal leader. The great thing about our room is that we have a handful of older guys in Jaylin Williams and Reese Taylor to go along with Tiawan. They all respect each other. Sometimes everyone needs to be pushed, but they love each other enough that when someone is out of line, the other guy can say something and it is out of love, not disrespect. Even with Tiawan, Reese and Jaylin can jump him a little bit and he will tighten up. He has the same respect in the room that when he says something to those guys, they tighten up as well. We have created a great dynamic in that corner room. The young guys are starting to buy into it with Larry Tracy III, Lem Watley-Neely and Christopher Keys. When you set that standard, the older guys can refine it to get those guys to become leaders as they get older.

DB Tiawan Mullen
On earning All-America honors…
MULLEN: Earning All-America is an honor. It still has not hit me yet as far as the award. It will probably be 10, 15 or 20 years from now before I realize how much it means. I am very grateful to be the first cornerback in IU history to earn first team. I did not do it by myself. Thank you to the Man above, my teammates, and the coaching staff. I am very grateful to be the first person because it will go down in history. It will be something that I can look back on in 10 or 15 years. It is definitely an honor.

Q. On personal goals heading into his commitment to Indiana…
MULLEN: I just go out there and play for the team. I do have some personal goals, but being an All-American was not something that I was deeply looking into. Whatever comes with the team, the accolades will take care of themselves. It was not a shock, but when they told me I earned it, it was a wow moment. Then they told me I was the first person [in program history] and I was amazed by it. I thought there was someone before me, but I am the first one and I am grateful for it.

Q. On satisfaction of earning All-America honors…
MULLEN: It is a great award but it is not satisfying because there is always more out there like the Jim Thorpe Award or being an All-American again next year. It is not satisfying because there is always more out there. But it is an honor to receive the award and I am very grateful for it. I am going to just keep pushing and playing for the team. I do not play for self accolades and things will fall into place. I did not look to become an All-American, it just came as I kept working and helping the team out.

Indiana University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Ty Fryfogle

Peyton Hendershot

Jamar Johnson

Jerome Johnson

Christopher Keys

Micah McFadden

Tiawan Mullen

Whop Philyor

Reese Taylor

Larry Tracy III

Lem Watley-Neely

Jaylin Williams

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