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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 45 he said. "We want to run X amount of plays offensively that are perfect. We want to run X amount of plays defen- sively that are perfect. Those drills, we're going to try to gut you, we'll try to test your character a little bit. But these are more geared toward finish- ing with perfect plays when you're tired." If players don't execute the rep how coaches want it performed, they'll do it again. And again. And again. "We'll do it until we're perfect," Hazell said. The hope is it won't take that long, even though there will be new, cru- cial pieces of personnel on the field leading into the April 18 spring game. The offense is littered with holes after the team lost its top two run- ning backs and top three tight ends to graduation, and it'll also be without its top two playmaking receivers with Danny Anthrop recovering from knee surgery and B.J. Knauf's decision to end his career because of injuries. The top two options at right tackle (J.J. Prince, Cameron Cermin) also will miss the spring while rehabbing from surgeries. Technically, the last two starting quarterbacks return, but it's essen- tially an open competition again. Danny Etling started 2014 but then was benched in favor of Austin Ap- pleby, but after winning his first start at Illinois, Appleby didn't win again. Redshirt freshman David Blough is in the mix, too, but by training camp, freshman Elijah Sindelar will be cleared from ACL surgery. It's a crowded backfield again. "The key is to get them all as many reps as you can and let the dust set- tle where it is. It's a lot easier said than done, obviously," said Hazell, who plans to rotate the three healthy scholarship quarterbacks this spring. "I don't necessarily want to see separation, but I do want to see sig- nificant growth. I want to feel like we come out of here, all three of those guys — we'll see where Sindelar is, obviously, he's not going to be able to do full practices — and see these guys have gotten significantly better. That's the most important thing in my mind." All of the quarterbacks will be work- ing with a bit of a tweaked offense. Coordinator John Shoop likely will experiment with ratcheting up the tempo. It would add another el- ement to offense and, depending on how it works, it could become more than a wrinkle. Purdue had the abil- ity to do it some last season — it worked on hurry-up in practice and used no-huddle usually in two-min- ute situations during games. But it's perhaps an especially attractive option considering Sindelar's high school experience is from a shotgun, no-huddle style. "Definitely want to have it in the package to be able to go fast, as fast as we want to go. The better you get at it, the more pressure it puts on people," Hazell said. "Pressure" could be the key word for Purdue's defense, too. The Boil- ermakers desperately need to apply more with their front, and they'll be hoping someone develops this spring off the edges who can provide it. But there aren't many options. Gelen Robinson and Evan Pan- fil will move into starting roles with Ryan Russell and Jalani Phillips gone, but neither the undersized but strong Robinson nor the plodding but big-bodied Panfil showed an ability in their limited playing time to be the total answer. Perhaps Antoine Miles or John Strauser will emerge — they'll get plenty of reps this spring as the backups. Transfer Shayne Henley's arrival in the summer will be much-anticipated. There also are two starting safeties spots that need to be filled, and other than Austin Logan's limited starting experience, there aren't any proven options. Robert Gregory has shown he packs a punch, but he needs to be trusted in coverage. Tim Cason and Brandon Roberts came to Purdue as cornerbacks but were moved to safety and will factor into the depth chart. "You've got a cluster of guys," Ha- zell said. "Young, but that doesn't mean they're not good players. It just means they're young." More than personnel decisions, Hazell is hoping the defense can bet- ter play as one unit, and he's trying to facilitate that by changing how install will be done in the spring. Instead of coordinator Greg Hudson talking in front of the group, each defensive assistant will explain key parts of that group's responsibility on certain schemes and how those fit in with the rest of the unit's as- signments. The returning players already have a grasp of the defense, but Ha- zell said they can still learn more. "I want the linebackers to hear, 'The safeties are fitting here, and this is how it affects me.' Or 'I'm pass-rushing in this gap as a de- fensive end and the linebackers are hitting this gap on the blitz, this is how it affects me, that's why I can't get out of my gap,'" he said. "That's the important next step we have to take." j