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14 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6 f P urdue will be better this season. By default, if nothing else. You saw it last season: A foot- ball team overwhelmed in every phase of the game but, sadly, punting; kids — literally — being thrown to the proverbial wolves and devoured; a new staff and holdover group of veterans that clearly went together like peanut butter and Clo- rox, especially when things went bad. Nothing of any value came from last year's 1-11 scorched-earth Boilermaker season except for the relief that came with it finally ending and the hope that as part of this process — and it will be just that — the worst was over. It's trite and shallow to say, "Nowhere to go but up" and to suggest that things can't get worse, because they can. Things can get worse by not getting better. But things will get better, at least incre- mentally. I'm not saying Purdue's going to win X number of games or anything like that, just saying that things will be better. It's not going from 1-11 to 11-1 and in all likelihood will still have to fight like hell to prove its inevitable last-place pre- season projections wrong. But there's hope on multiple fronts. For one thing, 19-year-old college foot- ball players are not static beings. They get bigger, smarter and better with experience, and the many, many sophomores Purdue will rely so much on should be on that path, no one more so than presumed quarterback Danny Etling, who can now look back at a year spent as a piñata as crucial experience. You should — should — see a calm- er, more prepared quarterback throwing to more savvy receivers (many of whom were also freshmen last season) as part of an offense that should — should — be better tai- lored to them all. You should also see a defen- sive front that will get younger before it gets older, but at least will be equipped with some experience when last year's freshmen, Ra'Zahn How- ard, Jake Replogle and/or Evan Panfil, are on the field. With a year-and-a-half in the books, Darrell Hazell and his staff should have a better understanding of what they're working with. Or at least they had better at this point. Case in point: Raheem Mostert. Mostert didn't just now get really fast, but at least this staff has coached him for a year now and should know how to put him in positions to be more useful. (No, a whole season shouldn't have to go by for these things to come to light, but hey, we're looking forward here.) Purdue should improve organically in those senses, with there being no way of knowing yet whether the finished product will be good enough. That's still filed un- der "hope." But the biggest cause for optimism, as back-handed a compliment as it might be, is that the schedule draw has pulled the pillow off Purdue's collective face. Last year's schedule was relentless, its composition suffocating. When the Boilermakers struggled early, it allowed few opportunities for redemption, or more importantly, confi- dence, until late in the season, after all was lost. There will never be an "easy" schedule in the Big Ten. But of all the teams in the conference, an argument can be made Purdue Had Better Be Better, fense, get him the ball that way a little bit easier. "Those are the things we need to be able to do. You can move a lot of them around if they can handle it mentally. (Cameron) Posey can. I know (Danny) Anthrop can. (Dan) Monteroso can handle a lit- tle bit, probably not as much. B.J. (Knauf) has not shown us to be able to handle it. Right now, he's pretty much a one-position guy for us. But hopefully he changes. That was our first year." Gold and Black: You have an offensive background as a player and a coach. How have you managed your time overseeing both units, though? We see you in practice largely hanging out around the offense. Are you changing the way you approach that? Hazell: "Probably not on the field because I like to see things and I don't like to get hit by the ball. I used to stand behind the defense. I was constantly dodging re- ceivers and defensive backs pedaling out. So I like to see things from an offensive per- spective. But, I talked about this with the defensive staff, this year being able to sit in some more defensive individ- ual position meetings and be able to give some insight and some offensive perspective to those defensive guys." j