Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/405025
114 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 f player that could infuse the offense with energy. Appleby's always had a captivating quality, but Hazell sees it raised a notch now that Appleby has "ownership" of the unit. "He's got really good leadership. He's constantly de- manding more from the guys in the huddle, pumping them up and asking for more," Hazell said. "They've done a good job of following him. He has a command of what he's say- ing in the huddle." King and Macarthy can attest to that. Macarthy said Appleby communicates confidence in a simple look. "Like you know he believes in you," Macarthy said. King feels it, too, and that's regardless of the situation. "He's got the 'it' factor," he said. "It's just the way he car- ries himself. He has so much confidence that it just kind of makes everybody confident around him. When we're going for it on fourth down, he comes into the huddle with such confidence that nobody even has a chance to think, 'What if we don't get this?' With him, everybody just believes." What none of Appleby's supporters can seem to agree on, though, is exactly how to define the aura he's emanat- ing. Macarthy goes with passion. Ridiculous passion, like, "never met a more passionate person," he said. No, wait, intense. Ridiculously intense, like, "I don't know who can match his intensity on the field," he said. No, no, confidence. Ridiculous confidence, like, "I would love to have confidence like that, an unwavering confi- dence," he said. "He's really different," said Macarthy, shaking his head. "I haven't met a lot of people like him. It's unique." Maybe the man who knows Appleby best, dad Michael, can describe it. "You can call it a chip, a swagger, whatever it is, a quar- terback needs that. He's always had it," said Michael, a for- mer college quarterback. "I'll never forget (at the Elite 11 camp in high school) one of the coaches saying, 'We're not looking for the best quarterback. We're looking for the best competitor.' That's what Austin is. Period." JOURNEY NOT OVER It's not nearly all he wants to be, though. Austin Appleby has not arrived. Though his moxie, poise and decision-making in Pur- due's zone read game belie his relative inexperience, Appleby also has placed blame on his shoulders when the Boilermakers have faltered. He threw fourth-quarter interceptions in losses to No. 8 Michigan State and Minnesota when Purdue was with- in a score of either tying or maybe winning a game. He couldn't convert a fourth-and-short on a run earlier in the last quarter against the Gophers that could have potential- ly sealed a victory. So, even though the Boilermakers probably scored enough points to win either of those games, dropping 31 against the vaunted Spartans' D and 38 against the Gophers on the road, the defense didn't do its part. That meant the offense was left looking at what plays it left on the field, instead of celebrating over the many it didn't. And Appleby was left staring at two losses, and that's unacceptable. "I'm not really concerned with numbers. I guess our of- fense has been very efficient, scored a lot of points. I guess I've been efficient according to whatever stats. But at the end of the day, it's about winning the football game," he said. "The next step for me and the next step for us is to make the plays we have to make to put ourselves over the edge. We're so close. We're right there." Appleby isn't entirely sure how long he'll be there, though. Coaches have given no assurances, made no public votes-of-confidence by naming him the starter for the rest of Purdue's season. Each week, Appleby will have to continue to produce, to fight, to prove his worth. Each week, he plans to do just that. There will be no relinquishing what he's seized. "I've always been a very, very confident guy because of the way that I work," he said. "It's not just me talking. I'm not just running my mouth. I'm backing it up with the way that I work. It's hanging my hat on being the hardest-work- ing quarterback in the country. I've been told there's no magic, if you want to be something, you better go work. "All I can do is continue to be the hardest worker out there and control what I can control. If I do that, I think I give this team the best opportunity to win, and if that's the case, then I'll be out there. That's my job. I think I'm going to be the quarterback for the next two years, and I think we're going to win a championship." j