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96 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED casions, he should have been the one getting a little love. On eight of those TD runs, King played a pivotal blocking piece. Not surprising, really. King may have began his Purdue career as a fourth- string center who'd never snapped the ball, but he's blossomed into a consistent, powerful, savvy starter as a fourth-year junior. "It's amazing how much he's progressed, mentally and physically," offensive line coach Jim Bridge said. "He's gotten bigger, stronger. He's got a better body. He's certainly a guy who sees the game better than he did. We always talk about hav- ing the game be slow in your eyes. It's really slowing down for him. … He's getting it. He's really, really progressed. "When Jason has been called upon to make a key block, he's made key blocks for us." Two of those TD runs were Pur- due's longest run plays of the sea- son, a 60-yarder against Virginia Tech in Week 3 and a 68-yarder against Michigan State in the Big Ten opener. Against Virginia Tech, King double-teammed Dadi Nicolas off the snap with center Robert Kugler before quickly moving on to next level. King took out the linebacker, turning him outside to produce a massive hole, along with Kugler's block up front, to spring Jones for 60. In the fourth quarter against Michigan State, King exploded off the snap on second down, immediately wrestling the tackle and turning him right and con- tinuing to carry him that way, allowing Jones to shoot through a crease. Jones kept running for 68 yards. "For me just watching him, there were times last year where if he didn't technically know what he was doing, he was a little bit hesitant about it. I feel like that's pretty much out the window now," starting right guard Jordan Roos said. "He's playing full speed and is where he needs to be all the time and he's do- ing it quick and fast and strong." Each of those words work to describe another TD later in that game against the Spartans. On a play from the 3-yard line, King showcased what coaches had been pleading for in regards to fin- ishing — that was a mantra in the spring — when he latched onto his man off the snap and not only held the block but drove the defender lit- erally to his knees, allowing Jones to slip behind him for a score. It looked nasty, a trait King and the rest of the offensive line want to play with on every snap. But, for King, it's one that some- times only comes when it's spurred by circumstance. And it has been, on a couple of occasions this season. Like against Minnesota, a game Bridge later called King's best of the season. But that's not exactly what Bridge was saying about King's per- formance in the game before that. After the Michigan State game, King said he took heat from Bridge in meetings about not doing things "exactly how Coach wanted it done." Later in the week when King met individually with Bridge, Bridge asked King how he thought he played. King joked, "Is this a trick ques- tion?" He'd just gotten reamed for not being good. Well, good enough. "You didn't play how we know you can play," Bridge told King. King said he took that critique to heart and went back and watched the Michigan State film "hundred times" — that's an exaggeration, though King did reel off the list of every time he watched it and, still, "He's playing full speed and is where he needs to be all the time and he's doing it quick and fast and strong." Jordan Roos