Indiana Receiver Ty Fryfogle Talks Coming Back, Unfinished Business

Ty Fryfogle was the Big Ten Receiver of the Year last season, but he wants to accomplish even more next season.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The reigning Big Ten Receiver of the Year had the opportunity to forego his senior season and declare for the NFL Draft.

It seemed like that was the decision most expected Indiana receiver Ty Fryfogle to make, so that's why it was a shock to most when he announced on Jan. 9 that he was returning to Indiana.

"There were a lot of things that factored into me coming back," Fryfogle said Tuesday. "Obviously, one being the way the last season ended. With this football team I feel like we left a lot on the table last season. We have a lot more to accomplish and the future is bright for this team."

Fryfogle also thinks there's some individual things he wants to improve on this season.

"Learning defenses, cleaning my routes up, top-end speed," Fryfogle said. "I could get better at everything I feel like. That's my goal this spring is to get better at those things."

Last season, Fryfogle caught 37 balls for 721 yards and seven touchdowns across his eight games played. He became the first receiver in Big Ten history to have back-to-back 200-yard receiving games

Despite his success last season, Fryfogle said that all goes out the window in 2021, and he hopes to accomplish even more come the fall.

A big reason for Fryfogle's success last season was his connection with Michael Penix Jr. Even though Penix won't be taking snaps this spring as he recovers from a torn ACL, Indiana expects to have him ready to go for the season-opener on Sept. 4 at Iowa.

"We talk about the goals that we have for this season and how we're gonna accomplish them and how we're gonna get better this offseason," Fryfogle said. "We talk about that every single day because we feel like we can do special things together."

"I was very excited," Penix said on Feb. 22 about Fryfogle returning. "We talked about it for awhile. He was honest with me and said he wants to be a part of the program and continue to build the program up."

Even newcomer D.J. Matthews, who just arrived in Bloomington as a transfer from Florida State, was excited to see Fryfogle make his return.

"I was excited when I saw that Ty post that he was coming back," Matthews said. "It gave me a lot of confidence that we will have older guys in the room, willing to lead and take the next step."

But Fryfogle wanted to make it known that he wasn't the only important piece coming back to Indiana this season.

The Hoosiers have a majority of their roster from last year back in Bloomington and ready to get to work.

The Outback Bowl loss to Ole Miss still stings for Indiana, as does the seven-point loss to Ohio State last season, and the Hoosiers are motivated in what Fryfogle described as a wide-open conference to work toward a Big Ten title.

"We have a really good football team, and a lot of guys are coming back," Fryfogle said. "I feel like everything is in our favor. We can do everything that we want to accomplish this season."

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