GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 18 • 25
perhaps the strongest unit at the end. Free-
man has played a key role in molding young
talent, starting a trio of underclassmen by the
end of 2014, and seeing tremendous strides
made by Ja'Whaun Bentley, who started full-
time in his first season, Danny Ezechukwu
and Jimmy Herman.
"I had the most fun of my life being a
linebacker and being coached by Coach Free-
man," outgoing senior Sean Robinson said
after the season. "He does care for us and it's
easy to see. It's not fake. We're not idiots. We
can judge when someone is being fake or
not. I respect coaches so much who want to
develop a relationship with their kids and not
just be about football. He's made an impact
on my life and changed my attitudes in some
aspects, no question, and I know he's doing
the same for the 10 or 11 guys and the guys
who are freshmen coming in, it's going to be
the same thing. That's just who he is."
Parker had one of the most experienced
groups on the team with seniors Justin Sinz,
Gabe Holmes, Dolapo Macarthy and Charles
Torwudzo. He'll be faced with a tough task in
2015, needing to generate production from
young, largely unproven tight ends. Macar
-
thy and Sinz have no doubt Parker will do it,
though. Both rave about their position coach.
"Coach Parker has been nothing but
great," Macarthy said after the season. "I can't
even explain the amount of impact he's had
on me positively on how to be, not even just a
football player, but a man and a good person,
a good teammate. One of the best coaches
I've ever been around. He's not going to be
a position coach for long. He's going to end
up getting a head coaching position some-
where. He's a great coach."
In his first season, Johnson was blessed
with experienced players in the back half of
the defense, starting upperclassmen Frankie
Williams, Anthony Brown, Landon Feichter
and Taylor Richards for much of the season.
He'll have Williams and Brown returning in
2015 but few other experienced options.
INTO THE HALL
Since Taylor Stubblefield went into coach-
ing after his playing career, he's often talked
about how he'd rather be known as a coach
than a former All-America wide receiver.
There was no running from his signifi-
cant accomplishments on the field for the
Boilermakers last week, though. Taylor was
selected to the school's athletic Hall of Fame.
"It was kind of surprising," said Stubble-
field, currently in his eighth year as an assis-
tant, now as the receivers coach at Utah. "You
don't think of that kind of stuff very often.
However, you follow your alma mater, you go
the web site and see what happens and you
look back and see who's been inducted and
it's kind of like, 'Hey, that's cool. I'd love to be
This winter at a computer
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Special guest: Purdue Equipment
Manager Mike Shandrick
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Trent Johnson, Agent
