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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 48 practice (in March), maybe we'll go out there and see what he can do, (try to) do some on-field stuff. It'll probably be a lot of straight ahead and short yardage," Vallejo said. "There's a time- line for him, so our focus is getting him for summer condition- ing. So we'll progress him as he can tolerate, but we're not going to push him to the point where we're going to cause any damage to the knee or make it swell, lose motion. But we still have that goal of May, June, getting him back to full activity. He'll definitely be doing 7-on-7 this summer." THE FUTURE Anthrop has no fear he'll be a lesser player when he returns to the field. He said the knee feels like new, fluid and smooth. Quite an upgrade from it feeling "crunchy" and loose. He'll need to learn to trust it again, though, and have faith it'll hold up when he plants, when he cuts, when he gets hit. He's eager to return punts full-time, despite his injury occur- ring on one, and he'd love to be a kick returner, too, after block- ing for the last three seasons for departed Raheem Mostert and Akeem Hunt. Regardless of his role and how the ball gets in his hands in his final season, Anthrop doesn't anticipate changing his style of play, even if he's been asked by Appleby to be careful. "He asked me to exercise discretion when I get a first down, instead of getting picked up and slammed by people, to try to slide or something. I said maybe," said Anthrop, smiling. "I actually I think I made a deal with him with how many passes he throws my way." Anthrop anticipates many opportunities. Especially knowing now what he can do when he gets them. That 2013 game at Indiana was an eye-opening experience for him, he said, and then he just kept building that confidence as a junior with the three-catch, 99-yard effort at Illinois, followed by the season-best, nine-catch, 133-yard game against No. 8 Mich- igan State. By the next week at Minnesota, he was approaching Appleby on the sideline and pleading for the ball. "Coming in, I was definitely really happy to be here but my goal all along was to get where I am right now," Anthrop said. "It hasn't been an easy road by any means, but I am excited to be where I am right now and to be able to have the opportunity I do this next year. I want to capitalize on what I did last year and just keep continuing with that." j AT INDIANA VS. MICHIGAN STATE AT MINNESOTA When Anthrop ended his sophomore season with a 151-yard game at IU, he changed. "Ever since then, I've been trying to repeat that kind of performance." He had a breakout year in 2014 with top efforts against Michigan State and Minnesota. Photos by Tom Campbell