t r a i n i n g
c a m p
r e v i e w
Creating
An Identity
Boilermakers
intent on being
tough team
BY STACY CLARDIE
SClardie@GoldandBlack.com
P
urdue's players have heard it since Darrell Hazell and his staff arrived on campus: To win in
the Big Ten, the Boilermakers must be a physical,
disciplined football team.
The spring was spent instilling that nature. Fall
camp was spent drilling it.
Rarely over the 15 days of camp did Purdue not
hear about being tough, whether it was offensive line
coach Jim Bridge yelling at his guys to push forward
and get nasty or defensive line coach Rubin Carter
urging his men to be "violent."
Practices were tough, lively and up-tempo, just
how Hazell wanted.
And after all of them, he thinks strides were made
14
IllustrateD volume 24, issue 1
Tom Campbell
Darrell Hazell's team made strides in key areas, namely
becoming more physical, in the coach's first training camp
in West Lafayette.
in further developing the attitude it'll take to move
out from the middle of the pack in the league.
"That's one thing I can positively tell you that we
came off the field and we became a much more physical football team, and that's what you need to be in
this conference," Hazell said after the final practice
of camp, the jersey scrimmage, on Aug. 17. "We wanted to be a tougher, more physical football team, take
care of the ball and come together as a team and I
think we accomplished most of that."
Though mentality was a key piece to Purdue's development, players also were still processing loads of
information on new offensive and defensive systems.
f
