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IllustrateD volume 25, issue 1 21 f Etling joked he is "socially inept" — it's something he needs to work on, he said — because he has a one-track mind especially during the season. Teammates said Etling's not that bad, but they're keeping a close watch. "I think a quarterback at this level, it's who you have to be," Knauf said of being football-focused. "But if it got to a point where he wasn't sleeping or something like that, there was an actual problem, I'd be like, 'Hey, you might need to cut back a little, man. Go on a date or something.' But he's an extremely balanced guy. We hang out with him in the offseason, off time. I feel like he's perfectly balanced. "He loves the game, he's a nut about it, and that's what you need at the quarterback position." gaining distance It wasn't all bad for Etling last season — he credits the experience, however harsh at points, for teaching him valuable lessons, saying it'd have been hard to ma- ture and develop the way he has without going through it. And he also exhibited some traits then that will con- tinue to be crucial for success moving forward. Toughness, for one. When Etling got drilled just before halftime against Il- linois in Week 11, getting up quickly wasn't really an op- tion. He'd jacked up his left, non-throwing, shoulder. He grimaced on the ground, grimaced as he slowly made his way to the sideline, grimaced as he was getting looked at by trainers on the bench and grimaced on the walk to the locker room. But he came back out in the third quarter and didn't miss a snap. The next week in the season finale against rival In- diana, Etling had the best game of his young career, throwing for a whopping 485 yards, the most yards by a Purdue freshman all-time and the eighth-best by any QB, and a true freshman-school record four touch- downs. And he probably shouldn't even have been playing. "They ended up giving me something to help me play through the Indiana game," Etling said. "I felt good. The next morning, I didn't feel so great. Everyone was like, 'Oh, you had a great game,' and I was walking around with my left shoulder limp. 'Thanks, guys. I don't feel my left shoulder, but thanks.' " Some of his teammates didn't know he was hurt until after the season: Respect level, up a notch. "It definitely makes you respect the man more, to see someone go through a struggle without telling anybody," Knauf said. "If you're a quarterback and you don't have those type of qualities as a leader and you're not deter- mined and tough, the offense wouldn't roll. The team wouldn't roll. It'd be like a missing puzzle piece." But it wasn't just physical toughness displayed. A key, perhaps under-rated, aspect of Etling's first sea- son was he never allowed for excuses, never gave him- self a break. So he never broke. Etling says he never let his mind wander to the logical place: That success could be difficult considering he was a "kid" thrown into a supremely challenging situation with expectations of being a leader in a brand-new, com- plicated offense. "I was thrown in the fire, I was willing to do that, and I couldn't play like a freshman and I tried not to," he said. "Toward the end, I feel like I didn't play as much as a freshman, started to feel more advanced and experi- enced. But those first few games, I didn't think, 'Oh, I'm just a freshman, so it's OK if I keep making these mis- takes.' Because the moment you start saying that, then you're going to keep making the same mistakes. So you just keep learning and keep trying to work your craft and try different things and keep pushing yourself to leave your comfort zone. "Your confidence can't be something you waver in. I may not talk a lot, but I'm a very confident individual. If you aren't getting the success you want, you've just got to work. I feel like if you keep working hard, you start feeling more confident. If you don't let your confidence waver, you can keep growing and keep growing." And, in do so, further distancing himself from that "kid" he so dislikes. j