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J

ohn Mullen doesn’t like to bring attention to himself. It’s why his favorite color is black. His wardrobe consists of black hoodies, shirts and sweatpants. Sprinkle in some orange — due to his allegiance to Syracuse — or gray, because it’s the closest color to black, and you can account for most of Mullen’s closet.

Mullen feels the color represents his mentality. It gives him a sense of stealth.

“I like to do things when nobody knows that I’m doing things,” Mullen said. “I like to remain a mystery.”

Mullen’s habits say otherwise. They’re anything but a mystery to those around him. His parents, Colleen and Matt Mullen, know too well. On multiple occasions, they’ve picked him up from late night runs because he was cramping so bad he couldn’t walk after a heavy leg day at the gym. To Mullen’s gym friends, he’s known as someone who does reps beyond failure. They also know him for his weird quirks like owning a wooden toothbrush.

If Mullen wants to remain in the shadows, he doesn’t do a good job of it. It’s also something he can’t do this season as Syracuse’s starting faceoff man. The sophomore got a taste as a freshman, splitting reps with Mason Kohn. Mullen held his own, going 107-for-185 at the faceoff X, adding three goals in 18 games. With Kohn gone, the position is now his, leaving him responsible for continuing SU’s faceoff success and trying to spark the program’s return to the best team in the country.

Though unorthodox, Mullen knows how to push the right buttons for himself. His late-night runs are a perfect example. They’re often spur-of-the-moment, whether at 9 p.m., midnight or 2 a.m. He doesn’t have a schedule, nor does he like running for exercise.

“I hate doing it so much, but I know that most likely no one else is doing that,” Mullen said. “That’s why I do it and because I don’t want to do it, I feel like that helps me grow. And all I want to do is grow.”

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Colleen will sometimes be in the living room watching television when she sees Mullen, decked out in all black, putting on his shoes.

She asks where he’s going but already knows the answer. Colleen often advises against his runs, but knows her son likely won’t listen. Usually, they last around an hour. That’s if Mullen can finish. Mullen sometimes experiences severe cramps, forcing him to call his parents and alert them where he is.

It’s not a recurring event but happens enough for Mullen’s parents to be ready for it.

“I love the ‘I told you so’ moments,” Colleen said.

Mullen doesn’t like to waste a single second of his day. In his free time, he’ll look through social media as a vessel to motivate himself. He watches videos of old-school bodybuilders like Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler. He’ll also slip in a David Goggins video — who’s known for pushing himself to the extremes — occasionally.

The mentality can be traced back to Mullen’s junior year at Norwell High School. A few years prior, Matt introduced him to weightlifting by starting with free weights in their basement. Mullen continued to dabble, though didn’t truly commit until later in high school.

He spent five to six nights a week at the Norwell Athletic Center, a local gym, beginning as a junior. Colleen would drop him off before 6 p.m. and pick him up around 8. It helped Mullen go from a scrawny 165-pound freshman to a broad-shouldered 205-pound senior that could bench 315 pounds.

Gus Weber, who went to high school with Mullen and attended the gym with him, observed his habits. It was an all-business-like approach. He often walked in with a black hoodie covering his head without saying anything. He’d give a small head nod to acknowledge Weber before getting to work.

Mullen would break his silence when he needed someone to spot him while he bench-pressed. He often did as many reps as physically possible. It wasn’t uncommon to see Mullen back on the bench with barely any rest for a few more reps. Nobody batted an eye because they know how Mullen operates.

“He’s got the same knucklehead approach,” Weber said. “It definitely has evolved, but it has the same, ‘I’m gonna go as hard as I can’ (mentality).

Mullen had less of a “knucklehead approach” when refining his faceoff skills. He started obsessing over the position in fifth grade playing for Kings Lacrosse, a local club in southern Massachusetts. It led to Matt buying him a 10×10 foot piece of turf to practice faceoffs in his basement.

Matt found Mullen practicing faceoff timing almost every night, with YouTube videos simulating a referee’s whistle. Matt eventually took over and blew his own whistle, before joining in to simulate live reps. A hockey player by trade, Matt always lost to Mullen due to the difference in skill.

“His intensity with everything he does, he figures it out. He learns it, and he perfects it,” Matt said.

Mullen became elite due to his work with Joe Nardella, the founder of high-level faceoff training program Faceoff Factory. Nardella’s professional experience helped Mullen polish his technique while providing a necessary challenge against stiff competition. In middle school, Mullen faced off against high schoolers, and by the time he was in ninth grade, Mullen was competing and winning against Division I players.

“His hand speed was elite, from the time he was younger all the way through high school,” Nardella said. “That’s what really separated him from a talent perspective at an early age.”

At Norwell High School, Mullen dominated at the faceoff X. He also contributed as a midfielder on both sides of the ball. Mullen turned down offers to play for various prep schools, preferring to be the underdog. It suited his mindset of not wanting to be in the spotlight.

During Mullen’s three varsity seasons, he recorded 64 goals and 73 assists, helping Norwell — a program that never made a state championship — to three straight title game appearances and victories in his junior and senior years.

It was hard for Mullen to remain discreet. He was ranked as Inside Lacrosse’s No. 68 overall recruit in the 2023 class and received interest from blue-chip programs like Syracuse, Maryland and Penn State. Mullen’s connection with SU was fostered early. Nardella had reached out to then-defensive coordinator Dave Pietramala when Mullen was in ninth grade.

Nardella told him Mullen was “his type of guy.” Someone that didn’t say much, will do everything you ask and probably more. A relationship was fostered from there, and once Mullen was allowed to visit schools after Sept. 1 of his junior year, Syracuse was one of his first stops.

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According to Matt, it took a quick conversation with Pietramala, offensive coordinator Pat March and later Gary Gait for Mullen to be sold. They barely walked around campus, but the staff told Mullen they thought he was the most underrated faceoff man in the country. Mullen committed nine days after the visit on Sept 20.

Two years later, back on Syracuse’s campus, Mullen texted Kohn — a then-incoming Tufts transfer — the day he moved in to work out. Kohn had an injured wrist and could only faceoff one-handed, but obliged.

“When I saw him, I was like, ‘Holy sh*t, this kid’s kind of intimidating,’” Kohn said.

Kohn described that session as “unremarkable” due to his injury, but once he was cleared to return in December, it was game on. During their first live session together, they took about 50 faceoffs. Mullen smoked him, winning about 40 of them, Kohn said.

The sessions became a recurring theme throughout the season. Sometimes, they faced off to the point of exhaustion. Eventually, Kohn started getting the better of Mullen.

“Every time I was going out, no matter who I was playing all year, I was like, ‘At least I’m not facing off against John,’” Kohn said. “He has the capability to pull your pants down and just take the ball from you every single time. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”

It wasn’t just Mullen’s on-the-field skill that stood out. Oftentimes, 45 minutes after team lifts, Kohn would see Mullen in a full sweatsuit completely drenched. He’d have four or five plates on a squat rack or bench press, pushing himself so hard that he’d be screaming.

Kohn said he’s never seen anyone work even close to as hard. It’s that combination of drive and skill that makes him think Mullen can be a Tewaaraton Award finalist one day.

At that point, it would be nearly impossible for Mullen to remain unnoticed, even if he did wear all black to the ceremony.

Photograph by Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

Published on January 29, 2025 at 11:31 pm

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