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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 19 f Hammons' Time Is Now Boilermakers will ask everything of their big man this season BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com I saac Haas was struggling badly, the mammoth 7-foot-2, 300-or-so-pound freshman labor- ing to get up and down the floor during the tedious running of Purdue's first formal practice of the season, breathing like the engine of an idling 18-wheeler as he dragged up and down the floor with great difficulty. Meanwhile, A.J. Hammons was idling himself, off to the side. His practice group won the pri- or rep so he didn't have to run. These are moments, the little breaks, players savor during prac- tices, especially Purdue's grueling ones. Seeing his teammate struggle, though, Hammons ran anyway. It was actually more like a pro- nounced shuffle as he dug in alongside Haas, an arm on the rookie, helping to keep him upright and moving forward, helping him along the way a tugboat would an ocean liner in distress. "I know when I couldn't make sprints (as a freshman), I always had someone there pushing me," Hammons said, referring to former teammates Travis Carroll and Sandi Marcius. "Now it's my turn to try to help pick him up." It was a telling teammate moment, but also a human moment, an instance that jibed with something those around Hammons this summer said about him as his junior season nears. They've talked of how much the center, a bit of a loner in some senses at times in his career, cares about his teammates. "The (attitude in the) locker room is cleaned up and we have some really good guys who understand him and kind of understand what makes him tick," assistant coach Brandon Brantley said. "He's comfortable with those guys and able to be himself with them. He's em- braced being a leader now and he knows guys are count- ing on him and he doesn't want to let anyone down. That's what kind of motivates him." It's an interesting relationship between Hammons and his team. The junior says he's held no ill will against past team- mates or past teams — though there were clear discon- nects at times between Hammons and some of the bigger personalities around him — but does admit he fits par- ticularly well with this team, including its five freshmen. "I got along with guys my first two years, but it was a different kind of group, a different type of vibe," Ham- C O V E R S T O R Y : A . J . H A M M O N S Tom Campbell A.J. Hammons is learning to handle being the center of attention for Purdue.