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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 33 game, I would be out in the first quar- ter, second quarter. Some games we would maybe play one series the third quarter. It doesn't even feel real. If you count how many quarters I actually played, I probably played maybe like two years total with 10 games, four quarters. It's just crazy. "The records that I was fortunate enough to break this year, I can't even comprehend. You think about 144 touchdowns. That's, like, unre- al to me. Tim Couch set the record and nobody has even come close and then all of a sudden I break it by 12. I never played past half- time. It's weird to think about. Been very blessed, very fortu- nate and very lucky to be part of something like that." But it's not necessarily the ridiculous statistics that were the most impressive element to Sindelar's career. Barnes just as easily points to the intangibles as what sep- arated the QB. How the intense work ethic and competitiveness meant attending 6 a.m. weight-lifting several days a week — some- thing only a handful of players did. How an ultra-cool personality al- lowed him to be an effective leader, one who commanded respect but also wasn't afraid to hold teammates accountable. How the desire to never be un- prepared led Sindelar to daily lunch- time film sessions in the coach's office, as well as night-time ones on his own. How the knowledge gained from studying the game produced a cere- bral player who earned his coach's trust to change plays as soon as Year 2 as a starter and having even more control as a senior. "He's a 4.0 student, did a really good job in the classroom and he took that to the field," Barnes said. "There were things we were able to do. Each year, he got better because he studied it and that's what made him such a good quarterback. "He had a lot of leeway. The play I'll never forget was his sophomore year in a big playoff game. We had a fourth-and-1 on our own 30-, 35- yard line, and I called a quarterback sneak. He checked to a screen and it went for a touchdown and it broke the game open. He was able to get us out of plays that were not really good just because of his awareness of what the defense was trying to do. That's what set him apart." Studying really is all Sindelar has been able to focus on in his first month on campus. Though he was cleared to throw in early February, he's still regaining strength in the leg while recovering from December knee surgery and isn't exactly mo- bile. Without the injury, which hap- pened in a game one day after he'd told Purdue coaches he was coming early, Sindelar probably would be in the mix for the starting quarterback job this spring. Instead, he'll use the spring to continue to learn — with an intention to compete during training camp. "Of course, it's my goal to start. I want to do everything I can right now in the spring, in the summer and into the fall to win the spot. If I don't, I'm going to support the guy who is and I'm going to compete and push him and later on, I'll hope- fully get my shot," he said of the race that doesn't have a front- runner heading into spring ball. "But I think coming early was a really big help for myself. While I'm here and just rehab- bing and not really having to worry about football as much, I can learn all the offense, the terminology, the plays, the mo- tion, the formations, everything like that, get that out of the way so when it comes spring and I'm able to throw routes — it won't be in contact — but I can at least throw all the routes, learn the plays, say the plays, then I'm able to compete, build the bonds with the teammates and get that and when it comes fall and I'm able to go full go, I'll know the offense, I've already been with the team for a spring and I can just compete." j "He should be on the cover of whatever magazine they put perfect people on." Markell Jones, freshman running back