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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 2 99 meet with Kugler and Roos early the next morning to watch the game again. Then he'll join Bridge and the rest of the O-line to watch it against as a unit. Then he'll watch the TV copy again at home. And, through- out the week, he'll pore over clips of the opponent, of his past performances and he'll pull out one of his two notebooks. He'll note whether he had footwork issues in the previous game. He'll write about what he wants to think about pre-snap, like pad level or how to execute certain blocks correctly. If Purdue is playing a defense that primarily plays an odd front, like Wisconsin in mid-October, he'll go back and watch the last time he played a similar front. Before the Minnesota game, he had a bunch of notes. "My whole thing this year was being able to look past the first level and look into, say, what the 'back- ers are doing or even further and be able to see the safeties. That was a big thing for me in the Minne- sota game," he said. "One of the things I did against Michigan State was I had some really strong blocks, say, when my guy was just right in front of me. A cou- ple of those touchdown blocks, I didn't have issues with stuff like that. I thought I was playing powerful. But the blocks where I was supposed to be getting up to the 'backer, I would get there, but I needed to get a bigger piece of him or something like that. That was strictly from being in my stance and not exactly look- ing and studying the second level enough pre-snap. So that was one of the things I changed during Min- nesota, even tweaked my stance a little bit so that I could make sure I see the down linemen and see what the 'backers are doing before the snap. "Just the growth process of learning how to watch film has been huge for the improvements that I've made." King knows he isn't done improving. Every time he watches film, he's reminded of how he can be better, even if it's in those nuanced details. But he's eager to continue to fix each area, howev- er small, to become the player coaches don't have to worry about, he said. To become the player who can be counted on to do his job every time, he said. "I want them to know that whenever they need me or whenever they're going to run the ball behind me, that I'm going to be doing my job and that's the big- gest thing for me," King said. "I'm taking that step to being a complete player now. It's definitely been a journey." j 1241 Cumberland Ave, Suite B West Lafayette, IN 47906 Phone: 765-497-0197 www.bankerinvestmentgroup.com A Fee-Based Investment Advisor located in the Purdue Research Park 25+ Years of Investment Management Experience Bill Banker, President Purdue University Alumnus '85 Purdue Baseball Alumnus '81-'85