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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 1 • 22 BY GOLD AND BLACK STAFF J ust days before his first start — in his first college game — Purdue linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley didn't seem that excited. Perhaps it was because his first game-week practice Tuesday didn't go smoothly. Defensive coordinator Greg Hudson was on Bentley hard for mistakes, as Hudson typically is, and had the freshman rushing through interviews so he could spend 20-plus minutes watching film. For the most part, though, Bentley has been a quick study in his short time on campus. His will - ingness to learn the scheme and work hard to perfect his craft has vaulted him up the depth chart, pushing him from Day 1 fourth- teamer to season-opener starter. Still, Bentley seems intent on proving himself before talking all that much. "I work extremely hard and I just have to continue to push on. It doesn't stop here," he said Tues- day. "I constantly have something I have to work on every day. "(The goal is) just to play hard- nosed, assignment football. That's what I've been brought up on. So I'm just preparing myself every day, play the game now, so on Saturday it will be easy." Coaches, generally, have been impressed with Bentley's ap - proach, even if Hudson's outward appearance indicates otherwise. It's likely Hudson is pressing on the freshman because he's keenly aware of Bentley's potential. Bentley will be the first fresh- man linebacker to start a game for Purdue since Will Lucas in 2010 and the first to start the season opener since Gilbert Gardner in 2000. "The production is on the film," Coach Darrell Hazell said of Bent- ley. "You come in every night, and you evaluate players and how well they're adapting and adjusting to your defensive scheme and I think he's done an unbelievable job of Bentley Likely To Get First Start F O OT BA L L : N E W S A N D N OT E S PRESENTS Tom Campbell Freshman Ja'Whaun Bentley's first start seems assured by Sean Robinson's injury, forcing weak- side linebacker and Bentley's main competition for that spot, Joe Gilliam, to Robinson's middle linebacker spot. www.MeetYouAtArnis.com LAFAYETTE • INDIANAPOLIS • GREENWOOD Visit one of our 18 Indiana locations Meet You At Arni's TM Celebrates Purdue's Student-Athletes SERVING BOILER FANS FOR 50 YEARS World Famous Pizza, Salads, Sandwiches Austin Appleby Sophomore, management major Appleby, a quarterback from North Canton, Ohio, was one of 47 players on the Boilermaker football team to make Coach Darrell Hazell's "A Players" list for the spring. Players qualify for the list by getting a 3.0 GPA or better for the semester. The team posted a 2.78 GPA for the spring, up from a 2.65 in the fall, and improved its cumulative GPA to 2.77, up from 2.75 prior to the spring semester. It is the highest team GPA for football in at least 20 years. Appleby is a junior academically.