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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 65 his redshirt burned. But Dawson got hurt the next week — the bye week — during practice. Fortunately, the rest of the 'back- ers stayed healthy enough, allowing Dawson to finish his season on the sidelines. "I think it's good to get the expe- rience of both being on scout team and also being on the actual travel team and practicing with them and seeing what kind of effort they put into it," Dawson said. "Of course, as soon as you come in, you want to play. But I think you need to take the necessary requirements that you need to play next year. I'm just looking forward to next year." Cook and Faison spent their first seasons on the scout team. Faison especially made an im- pression there, earning the team's defensive scout team player-of-the- year award at the December ban- quet. But he needs to continue to gain strength, weight and power, especially, to compete in the Big Ten, Freeman said. Cook came to Purdue physically ready to play, but he needed the year to "catch up a little bit on being able to translate from the classroom to the field," Freeman said. Being able to trigger quickly — knowing an as- signment and quickly reading keys from an offense — is essential to landing playing time for Freeman. Once Cook gets more comfortable with Xs and Os, Freeman said, "he'll be ready to go." "All three of them have shown flashes. Markus is obviously in a different category, but all three of them have shown flashes of be- ing able to help us in the future," Freeman said. "They've improved a lot. They've come a long way since the time they stepped on campus. Those guys are starting to learn, starting to get it, starting to un- derstand the culture of our room, which is important." SECONDARY Purdue desperately needs at least one of its young players to rise by the start of next season with the starting cornerback spots open after Anthony Brown and Frankie Williams exhausted their eligibili- ty. Though there will be JUCO help, this current freshman crop probably will produce at least one of those starting spots. "There's no doubt about it — the offseason is going to be key, from the last ballgame all the way to spring practice, not only just the physical aspect but the mental," secondary coach Taver Johnson said of the group. Evyn Cooper may be the most intriguing option, but David Rose and Michael Little could be more realistic because of their previous experience. Cooper harbored hope he'd be al- lowed to still play offense in some capacity after he signed — it's what he did in his final high school season — but with his length, ath- leticism and size, the Boilermakers like his upside at corner. Cooper Tom Campbell Markus Bailey was racking up snaps as a backup linebacker early in the season and could have moved into the starting lineup eventually had his year not been cut short by a season-ending ACL injury in Week 3.