GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 44
BY STACY CLARDIE
SClardie@GoldandBlack.com
W
hen Darrell Hazell closed
the door to his office in
Mollenkopf during December
break and turned on the film from
Purdue's 2014 season, he was struck
by one thing the most: An inability
to finish.
"We're getting so close, but there
are certain things that if we finish
better, the result is different," Hazell
said. "It just jumps off the screen,
whether it's finishing the block or
finishing the coverage (or) obviously
finishing games. Without any stretch,
at least four games within 10 points
in the last quarter, that if we do a bet-
ter job, we get different results. So
that's got to be the key."
So it will be during Hazell's third
spring football session, which starts
March 10. It's not a new emphasis,
though. When Hazell met with the
sports performance staff before win-
ter conditioning, finishing was one of
his major directives. Duane Carlisle
and his staff pushed that purpose,
ending each workout with "focus and
finish" periods in which players were
expected to perfectly rep what they
were tasked with. If they didn't, they
kept going until they did.
That'll be a theme that shows up
over the 15 spring practices.
Hazell has incorporated "Big Ten"
and "Hoosier" periods before, de-
signed to push players to limits, but
there will be a new practice-ending
period in the spring.
"We'll have a perfect finish period,"
Tom Campbell
Spring ball will be key for Darrell
Hazell's program for not only identifying
personnel but also for learning to finish.
Program looks
for next step
