Get to know Braylon Mullins — Indiana high school basketball's hottest recruit.

GREENFIELD — The before times and after times of Braylon Mullins’ recruitment came when he received a couple of phone calls from numbers he did not recognize.

“I took my phone number out of my (social media) profile,” Mullins said.

And there you go. In 2023, this move might truly signify when a high school basketball prospect has truly transcended to star status. And in Indiana, especially. Mullins, a 6-5 junior at Greenfield-Central has quickly become one of the most sought-after prospects in what is shaping up to be an interesting recruiting battle that involves the state’s heavy hitters.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson offered Mullins three weeks ago. A week later, he visited the Notre Dame campus. Irish coach Micah Shrewsberry had already offered Mullins a scholarship six weeks earlier. Butler officially got involved last week, offering Mullins following a visit. And while Purdue coach Matt Painter has not officially offered yet, he did come through Greenfield in September and Mullins has a visit scheduled for Oct. 14.

So yeah, probably best to hide that phone number.

“I just told him the closer he gets to committing the more people will get his ear I’m sure,” said his father, Josh Mullins. “I’m sure the top five kids in the state are going to get hounded at games, whether it’s a kid who doesn’t like him or they want pictures because they think he’s going to IU or Notre Dame. I said to get ready because it could get worse. That’s part of the process, I guess.”

And if Mullins is being honest, he could do without the attention. “I mean, I’m grateful for it,” he said, but Mullins’ personality is to let his play to the talking. And it says plenty.

“When he gets on the court,” said his mother, Katie Mullins, “he’s a totally different person. That’s where he’s most comfortable. He might be frustrated here and there, but he knows what to do when gets out there. I don’t think the attention there will bother him.”

Katie Mullins said she saw the biggest jump in her oldest son’s play come between January and March of his junior season. Mullins averaged 16.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.3 assists per game as a sophomore for Greenfield-Central, which went 21-1 in the regular season, but lost its sectional opener to a 20-win Anderson team.

As a freshman and probably for the majority of his sophomore year, Mullins had reputation as an outside shooter. Not a bad reputation to have. But not really accurate, either. Not that he can’t shoot it. When Painter visited recently, Mullins shot 500 3-pointers on the shooting gun and made 90%.

“It used to be like that,” Mullins said. “It was like ‘We can put that kid in the corner and let him shoot.’ I haven’t heard that in a while, though.”

Mullins was a 47% 3-point shooter as a sophomore (54-for-116), establishing himself as one of the best outside shooters in the state. But it was his athleticism that surprised some college coaches in the spring. Mullins had only one offer, from IUPUI, going into the spring. Indiana State, Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Southern Indiana, Toledo, Tulane and Valparaiso offered from April through June.

“I showed a defensive side,” Mullins said. “I took that from high school to AAU, where some teams don’t guard people. A gained a little bit of weight, played defense at a really high level and developed a little bit more with finishing on offense. Those were things coaches talked to me about. I guess they believe in me.”

That was just the start. During and after his play in July, an avalanche of offers followed. Ball State. Iowa, Virginia Tech. Notre Dame. Cincinnati. Indiana. Butler.

“I definitely felt like they were going to happen,” he said. “I just didn’t know it was going to be that soon. Notre Dame and Shrewsberry had been following my path for a while. I felt like that one was going to come. IU came a little sooner than I expected. But I’m just grateful.”

Josh Mullins, sitting in the same coaches’ office as he did 25 years earlier, can relate to his son. Sort of.

Getting cussed out by Bob Knight

Josh Mullins, now an assistant on Meredith's staff, was a bit of a late bloomer, but as a junior at Greenfield-Central in 1997-98, he blossomed into a standout for coach John Hamilton. Mullins, John Hamilton Jr., and Rhett Reed led the Cougars to a Class 3A sectional championship in Shelbyville with tight victories over Pendleton Heights, Mt. Vernon and Rushville.

Greenfield-Central lost to Cathedral in the regional the following week. Cathedral went on to win the 3A state title. Greenfield-Central has never won a sectional since.

The following year, in 1998-99, Hamilton averaged 27 points per game and Mullins averaged 17.5 points and 9.1 rebounds. But that 15-6 season ended with a first-round sectional loss to Mt. Vernon when Marauders’ guard Jeremy Riddle torched the Cougars for 28 points.

“He’s further along than I was,” Josh Mullins said of Braylon when asked to compare their on-court styles. “I was athletic, always trying to get to the bucket. He’s more skilled than I was at his age. I got better sophomore and junior year in college as a shooter.”

Josh Mullins’ options were also limited due to academics. That earned him a stern talking to by a certain coach in Bloomington.

“I got cussed out on this phone in here by Bob Knight,” Mullins said, nodding to the phone on the desk of current Greenfield-Central coach Luke Meredith. “Because my grades were bad, and I wouldn’t go to a Maine prep school for him.”

Instead, Mullins enrolled at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., a junior college where he could work on his grades and his game. His high school sweetheart, Katie Miller (now Mullins), joined him at Lincoln Trail. Coming out of junior college, Mullins considered two options: a scholarship offer at IUPUI or walking on at UNLV with the promise of an opportunity to earn a scholarship from then-coach Charlie Spoonhour, who had coached in the JUCO ranks.

“I said, ‘I’ll get in trouble if I go to UNLV,’” Mullins said. “My priorities were all jacked up. I loved basketball, but I thought I could take whatever path I wanted to. There was another path I needed to be on. I didn’t figure that out until later. Coach (Ron) Hunter and coach (Todd) Howard helped me figure out where I needed to be. It all worked out.”

Mullins went on to play for Hunter and Howard at IUPUI, starting for two years. He averaged 12.2 points as a senior on the 2002-03 team that became the first in school history to reach the NCAA tournament.

“Josh in high school was not a shooter,” Katie Mullins said. “He was a great defensive player, and he could throw down dunks. That’s how he played in high school. His first year in college he wasn’t really a shooter, but his sophomore year and at IUPUI he became a good shooter. Braylon always had that in him, too, that athleticism and aggressiveness. He always played that way, he’s just taller and more athletic now.”

Those qualities have led to big goals for Braylon Mullins.

'He’s just that freaking good.'

Meredith sat down with Braylon in the offseason to discuss his goals for the upcoming season and the rest of his career at Greenfield-Central. Those goals are taped up on a piece of player in the coaches’ office. Many of them are expected. Achievements like Junior All-Star, scoring 1,000 career points, Indiana All-Star, Mr. Basketball, all-time winningest player in school history, etc.

Others are less tangible. Like leadership and handling adversity. One line near the bottom of the page reads: “Don’t worry about other people’s expectations — that’s for other people. Work your tail off and allow your work/game to do the talking like you’ve done the entire 5 years I’ve known you!”

“This is his program now,” Meredith said. “This is him. If you want to beat Greenfield-Central, you have to find a way to beat Braylon Mullins.”

When Mullins was in elementary school, Josh coached his teams. “Not a good thing,” Katie said. “They bumped heads. Water and oil.” Josh stepped back and coached his younger sons, twins Cole and Clay, instead. When Braylon was about to enter high school, Katie expressed her uncertainty over Josh coaching him again.

“Braylon takes his personality from me,” Katie said. “A little bit introverted and shy. He doesn’t always express himself. Josh is the total opposite of that. But it’s worked out in high school. It hasn’t been a bad thing.”

Not to say it is all smooth. Meredith loves them both, but quickly adds “there is no playbook or manual on how to handle some situations, especially when they get into it.”

“Sometimes there might be a choice word or two,” Meredith said. “I may have to tell an official, ‘That’s his son,’ just in case. … I don’t tell him how to raise his son. He’s obviously doing something right.”

But sometimes Meredith just must walk away. At a recent workout, Josh could tell Braylon was lagging a bit. He told him he might be the worst one-on-one player in the gym.

“The ball came zipping at me,” Josh said with a laugh. “Good thing I have good hands.”

Braylon knows the best way to get to his dad, though: say nothing at all. “Drives me crazy,” Josh said. “And he knows it.” But Braylon, most of the time, realizes Josh is coming from a good place. He does not want Braylon to make some of the same mistakes he did along the way.

“I’m definitely appreciative of it,” Braylon said. “When I was little it would get on my nerves if he yelled at me, but he’s helped me a lot through the last five or six years. I don’t like butting heads with him, but it happens, and it will help me out in the long run for sure.”

But those goals, taped up in the office, is what Josh has in mind for Braylon, too. On the paper, too, is a mention of the “Over-rated!” chants he is sure to hear from opposing student sections when he misses a shot or commits a turnover. Last season, he had Dylan Moles, one of the best players in program history, to lean on. Tyler Kerkhof, the third-leading scorer, is gone to graduation, too.

“It’s definitely a lot different without Moles here,” Mullins said. “I’ll have some different defenses coming at me. I just have to keep the consistency part down.”

When Mullins was a freshman, his mental toughness was tested in a January game against rival Mt. Vernon. With seven seconds remaining in overtime, Mullins was fouled. He made the first free throw to put his team ahead by one point. But he missed the second, then fouled Armon Jarrard with 1.5 seconds left on a baseline shot.

Jarrard made both. Greenfield-Central lost, 60-59.

“He struggled after that,” Meredith said. “But that struggle was good. He’s never going to forget it. He lacked confidence for about a month, then he just got better and better and better.”

Moles was the player leader for Greenfield-Central, organizing early morning shooting and taking charge on the court. Meredith saw that “passing of the torch” this summer to Mullins.

“I hadn’t seen it with him in a Greenfield uniform,” Meredith said. “This summer, we’re playing Ben Davis, Lawrence North, the ‘who’s who’ of Indy and he’s giving them buckets. (Crispus Attucks) coach Chris Hawkins looked at me like, ‘He’s that dude.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah he is.’ It’s not anything I’m calling, he’s just that freaking good. He’s run with it ever since.”

Braylon Mullins' recruitment heats up

Those “Where are you going?” questions. Yeah, those are already tiresome.

Mullins has no plans to decide anytime soon. It could be a year from now. He would like to play through next year’s grassroots season and see what his options are at that point. But this increased push in recruiting has been good for Mullins beyond basketball.

“I think it’s broken him out of his shell,” Katie Mullins said. “He’s had to talk to all of these coaches for the last three or four months. He’s more vocal about some things.”

One question his mom and dad ask him: “If every single college in the nation was recruiting you, where would you go?”

“He’s still mum about that one,” Katie said. “He either doesn’t know what to say or doesn’t want to say it yet.”

Right now, it looks like a Midwest recruitment. Mullins visited Illinois, Indiana and Notre Dame in September and Butler and Iowa last week. There are upcoming visits planned to Purdue (Oct. 14), Indiana (Oct. 20) and Cincinnati (Oct. 21). But it’s also not difficult to envision a scenario where an athletic 6-5 guard who can shoot would become more of a national prospect.

His recent national recruiting rankings in the 2025 class have vaulted to No. 93 (247Sports) and No. 95 (On3sports). Why?

“Physically and mentally, he’s so much tougher,” Meredith said. “He can score at all three levels. He’s 6-5 and much more athletic than he gets credit for. He can score off the bounce, he can catch and shoot, and he can finish around the rim. What more can you want?”

There are expectations. Mullins knows he will not always live up to them. But more than anywhere, he is at home on the basketball court. When he looks to his future school, that is a big part of the process.

“I want to go where I’m going to play,” he said. “The culture of the program (is important) and the academic side of it. I want to go to business school. The coaches and the playing style are important, too.”

No one knows where that will be, Mullins included. But it will be fun finding out.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball: Braylon Mullins has IU, Notre Dame, Butler offers