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IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 15 f liked to have played bas- ketball, I like it a lot. But it gave me more time to work out and focus on football-related stuff, fo- cus on my future, which is playing football, so I thought that was import- ant." Colmery's hoping the extra work can put him in a position physically to contribute early in his ca- reer at Purdue. He'll play defensive end as part of what's expected to be a 3-4 alignment for the Boilermakers, after play- ing on the edge primarily in a 4-3 at Nazareth. As a senior last season, Colmery made 43 tackles, including 14 for loss and six sacks, with two fum- ble recoveries. "He has great length. He's tall in his body and also his arms," Purdue defensive line coach Ru- bin Carter said. "He has great acceleration, and he has two good quick steps coming off the football. He's very quick and that's what you want from your defensive ends rushing off the edge. And he can terminate plays in space, and that's special." Colmery, a three-star Rivals.com prospect, chose the Boilermakers in early November over Wyoming, Central Mich- igan and other smaller schools. He had interest, too, from Wisconsin, Illi- nois and Arizona. Colmery says he'll continue to focus on his weight training in the coming months, before his scheduled arrival at Purdue in the early sum- mer. "I'm trying to get to 270 by the time I leave for Purdue," Colmery said. "… I feel like that would be a good starting weight as a freshman and I'd able to develop that weight into stronger mass, and be able to obviously gain some more while I'm in college." CEDRIC DALE Cornerback It's not often that re- cruits prefer defense over offense, where t o u c h d o w n s are much eas- ier to come by. But Ce- dric Dale, who broke a long-standing c o m m i t m e n t to BYU to play running back when Purdue offered him as a cornerback, saw things dif- ferently. "The de- fensive posi- tions, they last longer in the NFL," Dale said. "They stay healthier. They're not taking that constant pounding, which will wear you down, get to your knees, things like that. I do enjoy both po- sitions about the same, so it really wasn't a major issue for me." The 5-9, 180-pounder has played all over the place in his high school career, whether it was at Timber Creek High School in Keller, Texas, or Hebron High in the Dallas area, where Dale spent just his senior sea- son and really locked in on playing cornerback. Prior, he'd played safety in addition to his various roles on offense. Dale's not big by any means, but he routinely clocked 4.4-type times in the 40-yard dash in his high school career and is regarded by Hebron coach Brian Brazil for his quick- ness and for being very physical for his size. As with any multi-pur- pose high school player, focusing solely on one po- Rhiannon Sheets—Carmel, Ind. Junior, Movement and Sports Science Rhiannon was one of 39 Purdue student-athletes honored as Distinguished Scholar Award recipients by the Big Ten in July. In all, nine members of the 2013 women's swimming and diving team were named to the list. Dale