Michigan Football: 3 Indiana Hoosiers to watch this week

Michigan Football is off to a turbulent start to the 2020 season and is looking to get back on track against Indiana. Here are three Hoosiers to watch.

Michigan Football heads to Bloomington, IN for a Big Ten East showdown with the Indiana Hoosiers. Can Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines bounce back from a devastating loss? These 3 Hoosiers will have a large hand in deciding the outcome of this game.

QB Michael Penix Jr.

Season Stats: 36-62 (58.1%), 408 Yds, 4 TD, 1 INT

The sophomore out of Tampa, FL missed last season’s matchup with the Wolverines as Michigan football rolled over Indiana 39-14. Indiana’s offense largely struggled in that matchup as they did not have a passing touchdown and barely broke the 200 yard benchmark despite playing from behind for nearly the entire game.

Michael Penix Jr. is a rare southpaw who presents big challenges as both a passer and a runner. He has scored a rushing touchdown in both of his games thus far in 2020, although he did rush for a net -18 yards against Penn State.

Containing Penix Jr. and the Hoosiers downfield passing attack will be paramount if Michigan wants to win this game. As the Wolverines know all too well, allowing big plays down the sideline or giving up devastating pass-interference penalties on those attempts can lead to catastrophe.

WR Whop Philyor

Season Stats: 10 Rec., 173 Yds, 1 TD

After seeing a former 3-star true freshman torch the Wolverine secondary a week ago for nearly 200 yards, the Hoosiers’ star senior wideout should be a massive point of emphasis this week in practice for Michigan Football.

The Wolverines will need to have a repeat performance of Week 1 against Minnesota and Rashod Bateman if they want to avoid a pure shootout in hostile territory.

A senior from Tampa, FL, Whop Philyor is perhaps the Big Ten’s best kept secret at wide receiver. 2019 harbored four games where Philyor eclipsed 130 yards, but also embedded between those were five games with less than four receptions, and two games with less than 10 receiving yards.

Inconsistency could be the reason for Philyor’s lack of recognition and the Wolverines will face a difficult task in keeping him at bay this Saturday.

CB Tiawan Mullen

Season Stats: 15 Tackles, 2.5 Sacks

Tiawan Mullen has yet to record a pass breakup or interception this season but had 10 pass breakups as a freshman last season. However, his 2.5 sacks do show an affinity for blitzing off the edge from the Indiana defense.

Michigan’s running backs will have to be aware of Mullen coming from the outside in pass protection to keep Joe Milton on his feet.

So far, Mullen has only mustered an overall grade of 60.1 according to Pro Football Focus. The second year player out of Fort Lauderdale is much more of a run stuffing and pass rushing  specialist as defensive backs go, but he still has the potential to make a difference when the ball is in the air.

The Wolverines will need to keep the Hoosiers’ stars at bay if they want to move to 2-1 on the season — especially the skill position players on both sides of the ball.