MUNCIE, Ind. — Mike Neu can still remember the confidence Antonio Phillips had as Phillips stepped onto the field at Notre Dame in 2018.
Neu, Ball State’s head football coach, said his cornerback “didn’t blink” in the face of an opponent that would eventually finish its regular season undefeated. That game, Phillips would collect his first career collegiate interception in a contest the Cardinals came so close to winning. Neu could tell Phillips belonged on that field with that caliber of an opponent, just as Neu could in 2019 when BSU played Indiana and North Carolina State.
Phillips felt be proved he belonged against the Fighting Irish and Hoosiers, too.