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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 8 • 18 mance this season. Although the 6-foot, 183-pounder might not have a booming leg, he's an excellent tacti- cian, with his hang time and place- ment being largely on point. His goals: At least four seconds of hang time, at least 40 yards of distance and placement between the right hash marks and sideline. "I'd say my strength is being able to put the ball where they want it," said Meadows, who has put 12 of his 34 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line. "Put some touch on it and control it and preferably put - ting the ball down inside the 20. … I can get more hang time on it when I need to and drive it more when I need to, but it's definitely more of a control thing. "But from then on, it's really the punt team and the gunners who have been doing a phenomenal job. When I haven't exactly been out there and hit the punt that I wanted to, they've really stepped up for me and have done a great job. I owe a lot to them." It's the placement that might be most important, and that starts at the snap. When snapper Jesse Schmitt puts the snap on Mead - ows, which he's generally done, the punter can be consistent with his technique. With Meadows be- ing right-footed, the Boilermakers nearly always punt toward the right sideline — the left-footed Webster did the opposite last season — hop- ing to pin the return man between it and the hash marks. If Meadows can do so, the snipers, those quick players on the outside of Purdue's spread punt formation, can be near the return man in a hurry. Those guys — Purdue's primary snipers lately have been Antoine Lew- is, Leroy Clark, Raheem Mostert and Anthony Brown — have shown an ability to wrap up almost immediately. "What we try to do as a group is avoid contact (with the blockers) in the first 10 yards as much as pos- sible," Lewis said. "From that point on, those blockers, if they're trailing, they panic and get to reaching, so the distance (of separation) gradu- ally increases. That's a big part of it. But another part is Meadows, his punt placement for the most part this season as been outstanding. It works hand-in-hand." But miss the placement and the opponent has a chance; it's what happened on one punt against the Spartans, when Meadows hit a low liner to the middle of the field that Macgarrett Kings returned 15 yards. Those instances of misplace- ment have been few this season, however. Because of that, Purdue is netting 40.7 yards per punt, the 17th-best mark in the nation. "We can continue to get better, though," Meadows said. "I only plan on getting better from this point. I'm coming out here doing the best I can to get better. As I continue to give our guys better kicks to cover, they're going to rise to the occasion and continue doing what they've been doing. I think we're going to continue to get better." The Boilermakers take the play serious, as evident on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. "It's a mindset that has been instilled over the past year-and-a- half," Lewis said. "Anyone who is out there, from the long snapper to the punter to the guys blocking, every - body knows how critical to us it as a team, so we just try to give maxi- mum effort, no matter how tired we are or how many plays we've had so far. Maximum effort is the key to everything." j Tom Campbell Raheem Mostert (8) and Leroy Clark (3) provide the punt coverage unit with the speed to make the early contact necessary in the return game.