Mueller lands first Power Five offers

Mequon (Wisc.) Homestead two-way lineman Josh Mueller boasts a double-digit school offer list, and he got there with a pair of Power Five offers last week.

"Illinois was on Friday and Iowa State was on Thursday," Mueller reported. "The Iowa State one definitely (caught my attention) because it was the first Power Five offer I had gotten. Then, the one from Illinois because it was the first Big Ten."

The offer from Iowa State was preceded by a visit from offensive line coach Brandon Blaney to Mueller's school.

"I really liked him," Mueller said of Blaney. "He actually came in and watched me work out before school. We don't get to really talk when they're there, but then he called me that night and we had a good conversation. My dad actually called him and talked to him for a little while too.

"We talked on Wednesday night and he said he was going to talk to the head coach. On Thursday he offered."

Now that he holds the offer from Iowa State, Mueller's next task is to research the school and football program.

"I don't know much about it, but I have a couple friends that are there attending the school and they say they like it," Mueller said. "I watched a couple videos on the atmosphere on the games they have and it looks real fun. I don't really have anything planned yet, but I definitely want to get out there and see what it is like."

While a phone call from the Iowa State staff preceded the Cyclone's offer, Mueller did not see the offer from Illinois coming through when it did.

"I was pretty surprised and Coach (Dave) Keel, my head coach, was pretty surprised too," Mueller said. "The first time I talked to them was about two weeks ago when their recruiting coordinator came in and just said 'Hi.' They sent their o-line coach last Friday and he offered, so I was pretty surprised.

"I called them that night and just talked to them about the school. They said they were a really good academic school and I have to keep working in school if I want to go there. I haven't been down there much, but I've always watched them on TV and it also looks like a great atmosphere to be playing around."

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound is listed as a strong side defensive end, but he also could project to defensive tackle in college. Most colleges, however, see him on the other side of the football.

"I'm actually hearing offensive tackle," Mueller said. "I have actually never played it before (but) I think I'm going to be playing both sides next year or just all offense. I am starting to run offensive drills and am going to be going to camps as an offensive lineman."

Mueller expects to attend 2-3 college camps this summer, but the only one he has scheduled at this time is May 31 at Wisconsin. He does not hold an offer from the Badgers yet, but is expecting offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph in his school Monday morning.