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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 1 • 16 did and, ultimately, after that initial pushback, Holmes responded well. "The issue was after the first two weeks, there wasn't anything he missed," Parker said. "He started owning it. I think with every test he took, with every new video he watched and all the stuff he started doing on his own, he took owner- ship in becoming what he needs to become." Holmes didn't only wake up early for the 5:45 a.m. workouts that Parker shuttled him to but also to hit the books. He'd stay up late studying, too, forgoing nights out with his buddies. "I just put more time into it," Holmes said. "I wasn't putting enough time in to get the right re- sults that I wanted to, so I had to buckle down even more. To see re- sults, I had to study more than I was before. Because math wasn't my strongest subject and I tried to get out of it, do the least I could do, but this time around, I had to put time in, just put more effort forth. "I just had to grow up in that school aspect." Holmes passed the math class he'd failed as well as another math class, Parker said, and completed two other classes to finish his de - gree in the summer. He wasn't able to participate in graduation be- cause Purdue had practice, but that didn't make it less impactful. "A lot of people, if they knew where he was at and what he had to do academically and whatever else, would probably not have tak- en the bet, I would say," Parker said of Holmes returning for 2014. "And he's here. So we're awful proud of him." Parker wasn't only pushing Holmes to achieve in school. Upon his arrival on Purdue's staff last year, Parker saw a player with tremendous talent that lacked the right mental- ity to excel. So he worked on that, too, trying to build confidence in Holmes by en- couraging him, not dogging him. When Holmes would drop a ball, Parker would be there to tell him to "check his chin," keep his head up and insist that he'd seen Holmes make the play a mil- lion times before. He was fueling him with positive reinforcement on the field and in the film room, and that led to meaningful and empowering conversations, helping Holmes to shake his apprehension and second- guessing. "When you don't have confidence in yourself to know you're going to make plays and be able to recover when you don't, you can't be dominant. He wasn't ready to be that yet because he couldn't handle the bad," Parker said. "Now, him coming through some stuff and succeeding in the classroom has developed this dif - ferent person that now allows him to be dominant and do some things he should do. "He's ready. Gabe's ready men- tally. … Now it's a matter of him going out and having the produc- tion he needs to have with his God- given ability, and I fully believe he's going to do that." Holmes said in his junior year his mind was "everywhere," and he struggled to move on to the next play after a mistake. But since Park- er's guidance, when Holmes now drops a ball, it's "no biggie," he says. That mentality was built last season, before it abruptly ended with the injury. It's still there now, Holmes said, despite the 11-month detour from football. The confidence has even been boosted since Holmes transformed his body in the offseason. Already a physical specimen, Holmes add - ed 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-6 frame, pushing him to 260 pounds, and it's changed his game. Parker said last sea- son Holmes could not control the point of con- tact at the line of scrim- mage, and now, he can. Holmes is no longer only a threat as a mis- match in the passing game. "For the blocking game, if I'm going to be a complete tight end, I'm going to have to help some people out at the line," Holmes said. "It was kind of hard at first. I was moving around, I was like, 'I don't think this is going to feel good (at 260).' As camp went on and as workouts went on, it felt better and better and better. So I'm happy I put it on. I think I'm running pretty well. I'm blocking, holding up people at the line. "It just adds more to my appeal, I can block and receive. It enhances my whole image." j When I say "good," you say "neighbor." P097313.1 State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL Call me for your insurance needs and see how it feels to be on a #1 team. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. ® CALL ME TODAY. Now that's teamwork. Trent B Johnson, Agent 249 E State Street West Lafayette, IN 47906 Bus: 765-743-9595 trentismyagent.com Tom Campbell Holmes took advantage of his injury as best he could, adding 10 pounds in the offseason to push him to 260 so he could hold up better in the blocking game.