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58 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED pounds. "That's probably where I'm going to be spending most of my time because I'm a late bloomer, according to some other people, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. So are these (coaches) top of the line? Are they going to help me get from Point A to Point B? Are they going to help me reach my dreams? Help me get bigger, stronger, faster?" Ultimately, he was convinced that would be the case, and that along with liking the campus, the set-up of the program and the coaches, Hawthorne was in. And he's eager to be all-in. After playing center as a freshman, Hawthorne moved outside as an upperclassman, playing left tackle as a junior and right tackle as a senior. He saw a drastic improvement over his final two seasons, he said, and he thinks the atti- tude with which he played as a senior attracted the Boiler- makers. "Junior year was more uncertainty about what to do, how to do it. Senior year was more (about) it's just me and the guy in front of me and I'm going to win, no mat- ter what. I'm going to do everything in my power to win. I know what to do. I want to be consistent," Hawthorne said. "So I'm a lot more aggressive than I was. I was too nice of a kid playing my freshman to junior year. But my senior year, I definitely brought more intensity out." Neal, the junior college transfer, had to cultivate that ag- gressive mindset, too, over the last two seasons. Or at least learn how to transfer it from the defensive side to offense. Neal said he had Division I offers as a defensive line- man coming out of high school, but he didn't qualify ac- ademically, so he took the junior college route. He stayed at D-line his first season at JUCO but redshirted, he said. Then when there was a need at offensive line, he was moved as a redshirt freshman and was in the rotation. By his sophomore year, he was a starter and played every snap at left tackle, he said. His second-year performance drew interest and, ulti- mately, an offer from San Diego State, and Neal said he committed to play there as a mid-year enrollee in Decem- ber. But, soon, the situation changed and he signed with Purdue mid-year before meeting a coach in person or vis- iting campus. "Something had happened where (San Diego State) over-offered, and I just didn't want to risk anything because I don't have a redshirt. They had a bunch of tackles coming in. So either I risk losing two years and something happens to me or someone comes in and they just see they're better. Or I go the safer route and go with Purdue," Neal said. "It's not like I'm down on Purdue. The coaching staff is amaz- ing. I love the coaching staff. I love the players. "When I went on my visit (in January), it was like these kids are really hungry and are ready to change the pro- gram. That's what really got me, talking to them, going to see them." With only two years left of eligibility, Neal is eager to make an impact. He feels like his length — he's 6-8 — gives him an ad- vantage at tackle because he's able to get his hands on de- fenders in pass-blocking before they can reach inside his chest. But he also thinks his work ethic will help, too. He takes pride in having a strong lower body, cherishing leg work- outs to have a solid base. He likes to use that power in run blocking. "I'm way more aggressive when I'm run-blocking than I am pass blocking," he said. "Pass blocking, I feel what my edge player is like. If he's soft, then I'm hard. If he's hard, I'm soft. But when it comes to run blocking, it's straight aggressive, all the time, head-to-head, drive-blocking, pan- cakes. "I just like being that dog on the (line), all that dirty work, basically. I like doing all the mean stuff, the stuff people don't see very often. Even when I watch NFL games, I'm not watching the skinny guys. I'm watching the O-line, D-line going against each other. That's what I would say (coaches) see: They see my versatility, my aggression, my non-stop hard work and my passion overall and what I'm doing." Purdue hopes to get the same approach from Her- manns, who's 6-7 but only about 265 pounds. Hermanns, too, is a late-bloomer on the O-line, spending only his final two high school seasons playing there after moving from defensive end. He was an Iowa State commit until a coaching change there and had several other offers before Purdue called on Jan. 20, soon after he'd returned from a visit to Hawaii. He committed Jan. 24 on an official visit. "I think it might be a chance to play early because they might be short on offensive linemen," Hermanns said soon after. "I might get to play three or four years in the Big Ten. Purdue's really a great opportunity for anyone." j