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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 5 15 were met. "I think there is a world of, 'You know what? We've got a chance to be pretty good.' I think that's their mindset right now," Hazell said of the players. "There's certain posi- tions you've still got to figure out a little bit, but I think they feel like we've got enough guys in our locker room to get things done. They really believe that. We'll find out. "But I think that, too." NEW LOOK Though coordinator John Shoop won't deem it a "new" offense, Pur- due unveiled changes this spring to allow for varying tempos. They've shown a no-huddle, hur- ry-up offense before, but that came in game situations that called for a two-minute offense, typically at the end of halves or games. This will be more mainstream, allowing Purdue to change speeds at any point in the game, going as fast as snapping the ball with 34 seconds on the play clock to rushing to the line before faking a snap then pulling back to survey the defense to actually huddling and running a "normal" offense. Shoop calls it dictating the tempo. And it'd seem to have its advan- tages. It makes sense to try something new after the offense stalled in the second half of last season. After av- eraging 28.3 points through the first eight games, Purdue managed only 60 points in the final four games. Much of that could have been due to losing major playmakers in B.J. Knauf and Danny Anthrop to injury and another who disappeared in a sophomore slump, forcing true fresh- men receivers who weren't ready to play significant snaps onto the field. Maybe this approach won't rely so heavily on one player, especially if Purdue puts four receivers on the field, snaps the ball quickly, slings it around and potentially wears defens- es down. But that'd be only one posi- tive of a hurry-up approach. "You can gain advantages in that the defense may not have as large of a menu of calls that they can draw on. Sometimes it forces the defense to be a bit more vanilla," Shoop said. "Other times, if you can get to play seven, eight, nine, you have a real advantage if you stay the same per- sonnel groupings that the defense, then, will have trouble substituting. But unlike some teams, we still mo- tion, we still shift, we still use mul- tiple personnel groupings when we change speeds. So what that does, too, is it keeps the defense on their heels a little bit because it's not al- ways going to be just the same for- mation, either 2x2 or 3x1. You can have anything in our playbook." There were signs this tweak can provide the boost the offense needs. During the two big live prac- tices of the spring — the jersey scrimmage and spring game — the group looked decisive, fast and ex- ecuted long drives, finishing many with touchdowns. It was especially impressive when the tempo was considerably fast, when the quarter- backs got the ball out of their hands quickly and got the defense gassed. Because Purdue was in the of- fense exclusively this spring, it also helped the group not only grasp the pace and the point but also, by the www.MeetYouAtArnis.com LAFAYETTE • INDIANAPOLIS • GREENWOOD Visit one of our 18 Indiana locations Celebrates Purdue's Student-Athletes SERVING BOILER FANS FOR 50 YEARS World Famous Pizza, Salads, Sandwiches Meet You At Arni's TM Robert Kugler Senior, Major in Political Science and History Kugler, a center from Pittsburgh, Pa., was one of 20 football players to be named Academic All-Big Ten on Dec. 10. In total, 71 Purdue student-athletes received academic recognition in the fall, eclipsing last fall's total of 64. To be eligible for an academic All-Big Ten selection, student-athletes must be letterwinners, in at least their second year at their institution and carry a GPA of at least 3.0. Women's cross country was second only to football with number of honorees with 19. Women's soccer followed with 16, men's cross country had 11 members recognized and the volleyball team had five.