‘I knew what I had to do’: An in-home visit between Tom Allen and Jaylin Lucas? In today’s age of NIL, yes.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Did Jaylin Lucas receive ‘offers’ to leave the Indiana football program and head elsewhere after his history freshman season? While we won’t really know, the assumption is yes. And probably more than one.

Lucas was one of three player-representatives for Indiana at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday. He enters the 2023 season as a preseason All-American kick returner following his All-American year and All-Big Ten season as a true freshman.

One of the most dynamic playmakers in the Big Ten a season ago, Jaylin Lucas averaged 28.1 yards per return and returned two kicks for touchdowns. He also added 944 all-purpose yards. This year, the expectation is much, much more.

But, that may not have happened if it wasn’t for an early in-home visit between head coach Tom Allen and the Lucas family this offseason.

“Let me tell you this. So the season ended — this just shows you how things have changed — so soon as we were done, okay, I made a home visit to his house because I knew how special he was, I went down home. I flew down there and I met with his parents. I mean you usually do that for recruits. You do home visits when you’re recruiting. Well, we had to make sure that he knew that we were gonna do a great job of helping him be rewarded for you know, his performance,” Allen said at Big Ten Media Day on Thursday. “He’s the First-Team All-American, that’s pretty special … that’s the relationship piece. You know, they trust us, we trust them. And I get it. I mean, that’s the neat part of this whole opportunity is he’s able to do some things and be a part of some things now, that really helped with his family, and they’re really good people and it’s been a huge blessing for them to be able to have this opportunity.

“I never sat down and said — because I always tell people the truth —so I never said ‘have you gotten an offer from somebody else?’ I knew he did. Okay, I’m not — I was born at night, but not last night. So that’s exactly what happened. But that’s why I was down there as soon as I could, to be able to get with that family and get front of them and just show them how we felt about him and what we’re going to try to be able to do. That’s just how it is now. The tampering piece is going on, and it is bad, okay. So I’m not gonna sit here and get out. But at the same time I want to do the best job I can … when we have an individual like that, we got to make sure we’re being proactive and it’s just the nature of where it is right now. And we just got to be aggressive and assume anything.”

More: Big Ten Media Days Notebook: Takeaways from Indiana football head coach Tom Allen

While Jaylin Lucas’ freshman season may have jumped out to certain people, it wasn’t a surprise to the Indiana football staff. Originally committed to Tulane, Lucas flipped his commitment to Indiana during the signing period last year.

That opportunity sticks with Lucas and was a major reason why he decided not to head elsewhere this offseason.

“Here at Indiana man, it’s just all love,” Lucas said this spring. “I’m not really [thinking] about the portal right now. I just feel like this is the best fit for me, and I could see myself building a legacy here at Indiana.”

So, while NIL has been cast in a bad light — and for certain reasons that’s understandable — it also creates opportunities that would otherwise not be there. Not be there for the player, or in this case, potentially Indiana.

Regardless of how bought in Jaylin Lucas was to Indiana at the time, Tom Allen, a man of relationships and love, knew he needed to show that to he and his family.

Allen knew ‘what I had to do’. 

“I knew what I had to do, you know, because you can say that, but if we don’t do anything with it we’re gonna lose and that’s the new world that we’re in right now,” Allen said about NIL. “That’s a really special part of what we have, but we got to be willing and understanding of that, and our school stepped up and responded and that’s the case for several other guys as well.

“I want to be able to do that for as many guys as possible because to me, this is a window of time to help them and beyond. It’s not a generational situation financially, but it also is something that can be a real blessing, encouraging to them and help them do something they couldn’t do in the past.”