Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/506631
GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 5 46 Bishop. "You could flip a coin as to whom had the better game that day," said Spack, the Boilermakers' defensive coordinator from 1997-2008 and who last year led his Illinois State team to the FCS title game. "Chike and Rosevelt were different players, Chike being a longer guy and Ros- evelt could really bend and was one of the best pass rushers I have ever seen in college. Chike could really go from speed to strength very quickly, and we just kept switching them and the tackles just never got used to the same style of play that whole game. To this day, I've been around some great efforts, but never for that long like that game." To that point, Spack said that sacks weren't always the best way to mea- sure a performance. Okeafor's ability to run and chase quarterbacks out of position was just as important as get- ting the sack. "For a defensive end, Chike was as athletic as any I have coached," Spack said about Okeafor, who enjoyed an 11-year NFL career with the 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals. Colvin concurs. "At that point in our careers, it was all about the get-off. It doesn't matter who is lined up in front of you — if you get up off the ball there is not anyone who is going to stop you," said Colvin, who now lives in Indianapolis after a 10-year NFL career that included two Super Bowl titles with the Patriots. "(Kansas) State's tackles were big, but that worked to our advantage." Okeafor and Colvin played just one year together as defensive ends. The year earlier, Okeafor was suspended by Tiller in a move to this day that doesn't sit well with him. "I was in- jured," said Okeafor, after admitting sit- ting out the 1997 season did him a favor no matter the reason. Spack and fellow assistant defen- sive coach Gary Emanuel agree with the latter point. "Taking football away from him for a year really lit a fire under him," Emanuel said. "He loved football and played it as hard as anyone, and when it was taken away, it just re-kindled his passion for it. "In the end, a great defensive end (on the field) has a desire to hate and kill quarterbacks. And no one did it better than those two guys. Nobody." Spack, who directed some special defensive end units during his 12 years at Purdue, put it into perspec- tive. "Some people give credit to our 2003 defense as being the best (due to) all of the draft picks," Spack said. "But when talking about guys reach- ing their full potential and playing at a high, high level, that team, at least de- fensively, was the best we had. Those two guys, Okefor and Colvin, are real- ly what started the 'Den of Defensive Ends.' " j Tom Campbell Chike Okeafor (second from left) and Rosevelt Colvin (third) were inducted into the "Den of Defensive Ends" in a ceremony April 17. Six members of "The Den" made it back to campus for the honor.