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16 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 24, ISSUE 6 f BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com T hey all talk about "weapons" and "play- makers." Darrell Hazell, Purdue's offensive-mind- ed head coach, reels off a list of people he deems as such. John Shoop, the man in charge of direct- ing and game-planning the offense, seem- ingly is salivating at the bevy of options who can create explosive plays. Danny Etling and Austin Appleby, one of whom will be directly responsible for distrib- uting the ball, hardly can contain their ex- citement for a group of skill players they see as being able to spread the field horizontally and vertically. Skill players who are "e-lec-tric," as Ap- pleby says, enunciating every syllable. And, for their part in it, those skill players believe in their abilities, too. Fifth-year senior tight end Justin Sinz raves about the speedy senior running back duo of Akeem Hunt and Raheem Mostert. Those backs praise the versatility of the receiving corps from big-play threat DeAngelo Yancey on the out- side to small-but-fast B.J. Knauf and Danny Anthrop and nice-and-steady Cameron Posey on the inside. Knauf lauds the savvy veteran tight end play of Sinz, the freakish potential of Gabe Holmes and the just-right transition of Dolapo Macarthy. "There's no question there's a lot of people on our football team right now that can hurt you. I believe that," Hazell said. "You look at teams and you say, 'OK, which guy are you worried about?' We've got some guys you need to be worried about." Every player mentioned was a part of Purdue's offense in 2013, the one that set near program lows for production and didn't score more than four touchdowns in a game until the finale. But because every player experienced that season of competition — the freshmen, the redshirt freshmen, the sophomores — coaches and players feel they're primed to break through in 2014. With an offense that averaged more than 15 points per game. With a running game that totaled just over than 800 yards rushing. With a passing game that completed better than 55 percent of its throws. The playmakers are there to do it, they say. But for Purdue's offense to really boost production, it's going to be about more than the flashy guys with some level of notoriety. The big fellas need to block consistently in the run game, need to keep the quarterback upright, need to im- pose physicality and play with some nastiness; all of this with whichever options are chosen as the best five up front. "In order for us to have any suc- cess, the line has to play good to great," junior center Robert Kugler said. "If everybody else is on point, but we're not getting the job done, F O O T B A L L : O F F E N S I V E P R E V I E W Older Means Better? More mature, better prepared young pieces could spark offense Tom Campbell Though Darrell Hazell won't make an official decision until training camp has begun, sophomore Danny Etling seems to have an edge after a turn- over-free spring to be Purdue's starting quarterback for 2014. QUARTERBACKS Sophomores 12 Austin Appleby 6-4 235 5 Danny Etling* 6-2 215 Redshirt freshman 17 Ti Domhoff 6-2 218 Freshman 11 David Blough 6-1 195 * Projected starter