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were usually locked in with tight coverage and deflecting balls. But which unit is the team's strongest? "I honestly think we can be contenders for best secondary in the Big Ten," Feichter said. "It'd be a disappointment if we weren't." Took the words out of Russell's mouth — kind of. "I believe our first defensive line is as good as anybody in the conference," Russell said. Injuries mount Purdue seemed to be in relatively good shape injury-wise — until the last few days of camp when it lost two receivers who figured to be in Tom Campbell the rotation within three days of each other. Purdue got through much of camp free of serious injury, until the On the final day of camp, during the jersey receivers Danny and Dan scrimmage, sophomore receiver Danny Anthrop final days when setbacks that willAnthrop (pictured) months. Monteroso suffered sideline them for came in motion and took a handoff. He was tackled low, and the one who did the tackling knew an impact so early," quarterback Austin Appleby said right away something was wrong. Backup DB Phil of the injuries to Anthrop and Monteroso. Taylor slammed his fist in the ground as Anthrop's While not as serious as those injuries, a pair of scream was heard throughout the stadium. Anthrop projected starters did land on the DL for several was carted off the field with a left knee injury and weeks in camp. will likely miss at least eight weeks with an MCL. Middle linebacker Joe Gilliam had surgery to place Only two days before during the last two-a-day of a pin in his left pinkie finger on Aug. 8, and left guard camp, freshman receiver Dan Monteroso was work- Devin Smith hurt his right knee on Aug. 12. ing against Allen in a one-on-one drill. Allen, whose Hazell hopes both will play in Purdue's opener physicality was ratcheted up in camp, played Mon- against Cincinnati, but both could be close. teroso tightly on the route. The pass was thrown into Hard to stay which absence hurts Purdue more. the end zone, and Monteroso went up for the ball, but Linebacker is one of Purdue's thinnest positions, and there was contact the entire way, and he didn't come without Gilliam, redshirt freshman Jimmy Herman down with it. Instead, Monteroso stayed down, and and Lucas worked with the first team. But Herman Allen quickly waved for trainers. only made the switch from outside to the middle last Monteroso had broken his collarbone, an injury year, and Lucas' 20 career starts have been on the that required surgery Aug. 17, and has him set for a outside as well. six-week rehab process. The left guard position was thought to be up for It's not a huge blow, considering Monteroso wasn't a fight in camp, but from the first day, Smith was slated to start, but in a receiving corps looking for anchored in with the 1s and Hazell raved about the playmakers, Monteroso seemed like he had a chance performance of the left side of the line early in camp. to be one. The 6-foot-4 freshman was praised for In Smith's place, Purdue worked redshirt freshman his tireless work in the offseason and was most of- Jason King. ten mentioned by teammates as a young player who Potential all-conference defensive tackle Bruce could make an impact. Gaston also missed some time toward the end of "You hate to see us lose a brother ever, but espe- camp with a hamstring injury, tweaking the muscle cially those two guys who were going to make such early in a positional drill on Aug. 13 and staying in 17 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 1 f