Marquette tight end Vic Mullen will be going from playing Fridays and Saturdays in front of roughly hundreds of people, to playing in front of 65,000 to 70,000 fans in the ACC.
The 6 foot, 6 inch, 238-pound Marquette junior, and Times All-Area first team selection, announced Tuesday he's committed to play Division I football at Louisville.
"It's crazy to think about it, but something to look forward to for sure," he said.
"It hadn't crossed my mind, I was just playing for fun, until last year Coach (Tom) Jobst said I had chance to go play big time, and I started to believe it was true, then I started to go to camps, and had coaches following me, it started to sink in, that I'm going to go do this."
Mullen caught eight passes for 175 yards, and pulled down a team-leading four touchdown catches for the Crusaders, but he impressed with his blocking skills.
"They want me to be an on-the-ball wide tight end," Mullen said. "I'll be blocking in the run game, and on the next play go and catch a touchdown. That's what I want to do."
Playing in a predominantly run-based, wing-T offense at Marquette, Mullen is no stranger to blocking.
"It should be similar, except I'll be playing against some better players, and with a better offense, but it's nice to be able to be comfortable with blocking," he said. "It won't be a foreign language to me."
Mullen said coaches like his size, and he will work on his speed over the offseason. He's been doing individualized workouts while in quarantine.
He said he received other Division I offers, but he liked Louisville's coaching staff and their program. Under the Cardinals first season with Scott Satterfield, Louisville finished second in the ACC Atlantic Division with an 8-5 record, 5-3 in the ACC. Mullen also was recruited by Appalachain State, Iowa State, Syracuse and Central Florida.
Mullen was appreciative of the Marquette program.
"I would like to thank God, my family, friends, the Marquette family, and especially Coach Jobst," he said. "I'm ready to prove to everybody that even a small town kid can make a difference with this opportunity."