As Indiana football and every other Big Ten school prepares for Week 1, rankings will continue to come out on a daily basis. Joshua Perry, Football Analyst at the Big Ten Network, is ranking his top 30 Big Ten football players for the 2022 season and happened to include just one Indiana football player on the list.
Most Indiana football fans understand that Hoosier football players this season will not be making many headlines, if any, by seasons end. The only Hoosier that should be making All-American or All-Big Ten lists is defensive back, Tiawan Mullen, who is heading into his final season in Bloomington with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.
Mullen was ranked at the #14 spot on Perry’s Top 30 list, which should mean that he will be making an appearance as a first team All-Big Ten player by seasons end. Of the players listed ahead of Mullen, only three are defensive backs and five of the 13 ahead of him are defensive players.
Mullen is more of a mystery for this upcoming season due to missing the majority of last season with an injury and coming in fresh off of a treacherous season for the Hoosiers. The 5-foot-10 DB out of Florida has the abilities, and talent to put up All-American type numbers, evident by his appearance on the Bednarik Award watch list, but can he stay healthy. The Big Ten defensive backs that rank higher than him in Perry’s rankings are Ji’Ayir Brown (Penn State) at #11; Denzel Burke (Ohio State) at #12, and Riley Moss (Iowa) at #13.
3⃣0⃣ 👉 3⃣@RIP_JEP is almost at the end of his 𝗝𝗣𝟯𝟬 Countdown.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) August 25, 2022
Who goes 1⃣ & 2⃣? pic.twitter.com/wSlXpQD6ph
Though Perry has his top two remaining spots open, it’s definitely not going to be an Indiana football player that sneaks into the top two and likely will be Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR at Ohio State) and C.J. Stroud (QB at Ohio State) rounding out the rankings.