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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 20 • 8 he's winning 50-50s. And then afterwards, we get on his Twitter to try to look him up and everything's in French. I was like 'C'mon, guys, tell me what's going on.' "The guy's from Paris, France, and has a wonderful story. He's one of my favorite guys that I've ever recruited and I'm telling you, when you get to know him in the coming years, not only is he going to have some un- believable production for us on the film, he's one of those guys that this entire community is going to invest their feelings in. This is a good guy." Soon after, Purdue offered Mahoungou a scholarship. He accepted and will now compete at the Boilermakers' X receiver po- sition, where they need better production. "When Coach Shoop called me during the week of Thanksgiving, I was like 'Wow, that's really happening to me right now,'" he said. "I signed the letter Dec. 17 and that was great. It was great." JONES SEES OPPORTUNITY Markell Jones sees the spring as a big opportunity. Purdue doesn't have a proven No. 1 running back, now that Akeem Hunt and Raheem Mostert have graduated. And only Keyante Green, a sophomore, has had a car- ry in his career, going for 199 yards on 27 at- tempts as the No. 3 back last season. That means Jones, Indiana's Mr. Football, is likely to get every opportunity in the mix, perhaps sharing first-team carries with Green and sophomore D.J. Knox in an effort to see who rises to the top. Jones is grateful for the chance. "That, along with trying to build a great class here, was part of my decision for coming early," the Columbus East graduate said, "so that I could start this spring, with the lifting, starting to learn the playbook, watching film. "Our room is going to be pretty full next year and I think not a lot of those guys had a lot of playing time last year, besides Key - ante. Coach (Jafar) Williams talked about an opportunity to play, if you come in and work hard. He's going to play the best guy in the end." Jones is coming off an excellent season, as part of an excellent career, at Columbus East. The 5-11, 205-pounder, a Parade All- American, rushed for an Indiana high school single-season record of 3,536 yards as a se- nior, with 60 touchdowns, and finished his career with 7,793 yards, the second-most all-time. "It was almost unreal what this guy was doing," Williams said. "This is a guy you do not want to get in front of. You do not want to tackle him. Extremely explosive in his hips but also is very athletic. He does a great job of getting out of the backfield, catching the ball with his hands, very fluid. He's going to make an immediate impact. We talked, and I told him from Day 1, 'You're coming in here with the attitude to start.' I think he has that attitude and that work ethic to compete right away." SINDELAR AHEAD OF SCHEDULE Elijah Sindelar won't be able to com- pete to be the starting quarterback during the spring. A knee injury on the last play of his high school career ended those thoughts. But the Kentucky recorder-setter — Sinde- lar threw for a state record 144 touchdowns in his career at Caldwell County, with his 12,637 career yards ranking second all-time — still feels good about being at Purdue early. The 6-4, 200-pounder is rehabbing on campus and feels that might be a reason why he's ahead of schedule from his Decem- ber surgery. "It's really good," said Sindelar of the knee. "I've made a whole lot of progress. I go to therapy like five days a week. I was actu- ally cleared (Feb. 2) to throw, so I'm really ex- cited about where I am." That mark beats Sindelar's goal; he had hoped to be throwing by the start of spring practices next March. "To be able to throw in February, mov- ing around, taking drops, it's feeling really good," he said. "I'm happy where I'm at."j When I say "good," you say "neighbor." P097313.1 State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL Call me for your insurance needs and see how it feels to be on a #1 team. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. ® CALL ME TODAY. Now that's teamwork. Trent B Johnson, Agent 249 E State Street West Lafayette, IN 47906 Bus: 765-743-9595 trentismyagent.com Todd Griffin Sindelar, who suffered a knee injury to end his high school career, says he's ahead of schedule in rehab.