Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/266614
12 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 f ers I've ever coached." Bentley is one of two linebacker recruits in the '14 class for the Boiler- makers, joining North- west Indiana's Gelen Robinson. They fill a posi- tion of great need for the Boilermakers, not only to replenish numbers there but to possibly play right away. Bentley committed to Purdue in early December, one of several to do so from the big recruiting weekend on Dec. 6. Afterward, Ha- zell and Co. had to hang on to him, a challenge consid- ering some of the BCS pro- grams in pursuit. "He had visions of playing in the Big Ten," Brooks said. "He wanted to go to the right fit. He was offered by several Big Ten schools because he just feels that's his style of play: hard-nosed, downhill and he was just fortunate enough to find the right fit. "As you watch college football, you have Wis- consin, Purdue, Mich- igan State, they're big, hard-nosed football play- ers. I just think that he felt that was his style of play. Early on, he made it known to me that he didn't know what school he was going to go to, but he wanted to go to the Big Ten." DAVID BLOUGH Quarterback Purdue got its quarter- back commitment early in the recruiting process, when David Blough de- cided on the Boilermak- ers during the summer of last year. It just so happened that Blough's stock was blow- ing up at about the same time, rising after his per- formance at the exclusive Elite 11 national quarter- backs camp only a couple weeks later. But Purdue, the first major BSC pro- gram to offer, held on to Blough, a 6-1, 190-pound- er from Carrollton, Texas, who Rivals.com ranks as the 19th-best pro-style quarterback nationally in the class. "It meant a huge deal to me," Blough said of the early Purdue offer. He had one from Memphis then, as well. "I like honestly to compare it to the Drew Brees script. He was an under-recruited guy from Texas, undersized. And that's what everybody said about me that I was too small or couldn't play the position well enough. So when Purdue came and planted their trust in me, it meant a lot and you don't want to let those people down." Offensive coordina- tor John Shoop says he was drawn to Blough's physical tools but more than that, too. He'll have a chance to work with Blough this spring, as the three-star Rivals.com quarterback was a mid- year enrollee at Purdue. "He's wired right," Shoop said. "A coach once told me, 'You want to have a motivated team? Get a bunch of motivated players.' And I'm not sure we recruited a guy who's more motivated than him to be a great player. "I can't always define what it is in a leadership quality that sets some- one apart, but you know it when you see it. And I saw it whenever I went down to visit him in Tex- as, just the way he direct- ed the whole practice. Yeah, he spun it well, but a lot of guys spin it well, that's not what is going to separate him. And then when he came up here to our camp, I think the oth- er coaches saw it as well, that he has a natural cha- risma about him that will serve him well. Ball-and- stick sense, a little bit of savvy, but what it really is is a whole heap of moti- vation." As a senior at Creekview High School, Blough com- pleted 55 percent of his passes for 1,502 yards with 13 TDs and two intercep- tions, plus he rushed for 350 yards and six more scores. "David can do a little bit of it all," Creekview coach Jay Cline said. "He can throw the ball, of course, and has a quick release, but also is a very good runner. So they're getting the total deal with him." TIM CASON Cornerback Tim Cason might have gone a bit under-recruit- ed. Count Rivals.com Mid- west recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt among those who think so. Helm- holdt notes that Cason attended not one Rivals Camp Series event last summer, but three. "Some may perceive that as trying to get his name out, but I know Tim and he just wanted to compete," Helmholdt said. "Coaches try to ig- nite that competitive fire in talented athletes, and sometimes it doesn't take. Blough