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64 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATE VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 By the end of the season, Brown even got some second-team reps in practice with senior Michael Rouse out of the rotation and backup Ra'Zahn Howard missing time for various reasons. "He's been a pleasant surprise," former defensive tackle coach Ru- bin Carter said in November. "He kind of reminds me of a young Ru- bin Carter — he's an undersized guy but, boy, is he explosive. He's gained about 25, 30 pounds and I think he's going to be a really good football player for us because he has a motor and he loves to play and plays with a passion and level of in- tensity that I'm looking forward to seeing in the near future. "He plays with natural leverage and good knee bend and all the qualities you have to have to be an interior lineman." Turner was on the scout team throughout the season. At times during individual periods, he showed nice explosion on pass rush, either on a bull rush or using a spin move to beat tackles. But, as typical with first-year players, he didn't have the intensity or focus consistently enough. "Chaz has gone from a lost ball in high weeds to … he's gotten stron- ger, he's on time, he's doing better, he's getting size. He's improved," Hudson said. "He's got a long way to go. He's not where we want him to be. He's not where he needs to be. But, thank God, he's not where he used to be. If he keeps making the progress he's made since Sep- tember in those stages and maybe a little bit more, he'll be OK." LINEBACKERS When Purdue started its season, the expectation was the lineback- ing corps would be the strength and that the freshmen — Markus Bailey, Sawyer Dawson, Tim Faison and Wyatt Cook — would be able to spend the year learning, watching and waiting. But when Jimmy Herman injured a hamstring and Danny Ezechukwu hurt his knee in training camp, po- sition coach Marcus Freeman had to quickly shuffle the depth chart. And that meant Bailey, whose high IQ stood out, was into the mix much quicker than either he or Freeman thought he'd be. By the first day of fall practice, Bailey was working with the first-team unit and in Week 1, he got an unofficial 19 snaps. By Week 2, it was 27. By Week 3, it was 46. "Mentally, he understood," Free- man said about why Bailey was ready to be inserted into the lineup. "Probably 1B is the way he prac- ticed. He went 100 miles an hour from the time he stepped on the field. Even when he didn't exactly know what he was doing, he prac- ticed hard. That's probably more important than what he knew men- tally. He practiced like he was a col- lege football player, from the minute he stepped on the field, from A to B, he was running as hard and playing as fast as he could. I think that's a little developed in your high school culture. He came from a great high school program … He came here ready to go." And Bailey looked the part, too, using his athleticism to move well in coverage responsibilities in the zone, as well as showing a bit of physicality to come up and make tackles. But his fluid movement couldn't save him from what hap- pened in the final minutes against Virginia Tech on Sept. 19. On a third-and-goal play from the 3-yard line, quarterback Brandon Motley rolled right and Bailey raced forward. But the running back, also moving with Motley, lowered to cut- block Bailey at his legs. Bailey im- mediately went down clutching his left knee. Results revealed a torn anterior cruciate ligament, ending Bailey's rookie season but preserv- ing the redshirt option. "It's tough because, shoot, he was pushing starters. I didn't have any hesitation of making him the starter. That's how far ahead he was," Freeman said in late-Novem- ber. "Mentally (for Bailey), it's a little bit devastating when you go from being a true freshman to go- ing from being that guy (who nearly starts) to all of a sudden having a season-ending injury, that's hard. But he's been good. He's been lift- ing and getting big. Mentally, he's sharp. He is a sharp kid. He's going to help us a lot in the future." As the injuries continued to pile up in the corps — starting middle linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley tore his ACL, Herman continued to bat- tle hamstring and other injuries, backup Dez'wan Polk-Campbell was out with a concussion — late in the season, Freeman thought Purdue may have to play another freshman. Dawson, who'd started the sea- son on the scout team, made the trip to Wisconsin in mid-October. If he was needed, he was going to get