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46 IllustrateD volume 25, issue 1 f interest in him playing there, as a backup to Jay Cutler. But if the NFL isn't in his fu- ture, Orton has his education to fall back on. The former Boiler- maker earned his Purdue degree in May, nearly a decade after he was last a full-time student. Orton took 13 credit hours in the spring semester — all online — to ob- tain his history degree after tak- ing a few classes during the last nine years. "It was more of a personal goal," he said of the degree. "I hope to never have to use it (the history degree portion), but it was a personal accomplishment to do it." Orton, who has a 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, with his wife, Bridget, says it was hard to mix academics back into his life, especially after so many years away from it. And that the classes were online, rather than in a classroom, made it more challenging. "It was harder, being at home and trying to do some homework around nap times," he said. "And when the weather's good, you want to go out and play golf some. It was hard to stay focused and kind of keep a schedule, but I was taking quite a few classes, so I kind of had to." Another 10 YeArs? Although he's been out of the preseason games while he nurses an oblique injury, Drew Brees says he expects his career to last a good while. Perhaps even up to 10 more years. "No doubt. There's no question," the 35-year-old Brees told NFL Network this summer. "I'm not getting ahead myself, like it's a pipe dream, at 45. I understand the challenges that come along with that. But why not? If I can stay healthy, and I'm having fun and playing at a high level, why wouldn't I want to do that? "The biggest challenge is physically, the mainte- nance, the recovery, the way you train. You've got to hope that you stay healthy, but why not?" According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, only sev- en players have played at least until 45 but five of those were kickers. Warren Moon, Steve DeBerg and Vinny Testaverde retired at age 44, but they were backups in the late stage of their careers. Four rookies VYing to MAke Cut Purdue has four rookies on NFL teams during train- ing camp, including draftees Ricardo Allen (Atlanta) and Kevin Pamphile (Tampa Bay). But Bruce Gaston (Arizona) might be the surprise among the foursome — Greg Latta, an undrafted de- fensive end in Denver, is the fourth former Boilermaker rookie — considering his rise up the Cardinals' depth chart. Gaston, a multi-year starter at Purdue, was un- drafted in May but picked up by the Cardinals. And with injuries to Arizona's defensive line, Gaston has been getting first-team repetitions and impressing coaches. In early August, Coach Bruce Arians told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM that Gaston is "a big, powerful guy. I mean, when I saw a couple of offensive linemen come backwards, it's just like, 'Whoa, who's over there?'" Gaston says he's trying to fit in. "My main thing right now is just to continue to learn the playbook and just continue to get better, do what (defensive line) Coach (Brentson) Buckner asks of me and try to be a dominant defensive lineman," he said to ArizonaSports.com. "That's my main goal right now." j Dallas Cowboys Anthony Spencer is not yet fully recovered from knee surgery last season, but he's hoping to be on the Cowboys' 53-man roster at the start of 2014.