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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 4 61 ers' most productive receiver by his junior season. That interest from Purdue, as well as Danny's urging to look closely at football, turned the tide for Jackson. "Really, I don't know how I felt about football until Danny came through — because most of my brothers just played basketball and baseball," Jackson Anthrop said. "He really opened my eyes to the game of football and said I could do something. "Having Danny going to Purdue and what he did, that definitely helped because they could see, 'A kid just like Danny, he can play just as well.' Over the summer and these junior and senior football seasons, we had pretty good teams, pretty good years, that kind of started to change things. When I started getting information from Purdue, that's when I started to realize, 'I can do this.' " "This" in the sense of the next level — he already knew where he stood at the high school level. Anthrop was a three-time all-state football player. At three positions — defensive back, running back and receiver. As a running back at Central Catholic as a junior and senior, Anthrop essentially had back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons. But it's his one-season stint at receiver as a sopho- more that could be more intriguing, considering that's the position he'll play at Purdue. He caught 72 passes that year. He did it by having a knack for getting open, using a "feel," O'Shea said, understanding where to find holes in a zone or how to get free against man cov- erage. And when the ball hit his hands, he almost al- ways caught it. That was what Hazell and Parker saw during a work- out last summer between sessions at a Purdue camp. They, of course, put him through agility and speed drills, testing his change of direction and movement skills, but it was critical to evaluate Anthrop's ball skills, too. They punted to him — that could be the best chance for Anthrop to play as a freshman, instead of redshirting — but also had him run routes. "It was a chance for him to impress us, and I think he knew that," Parker said. "To see a guy perform under the pressure of knowing what it was — it was pretty im- pressive in itself. It was good. He's got great feet, great change of direction, great ball skills. I know he didn't drop a ball the entire workout." Anthrop's potential future quarterback can vouch for his hands. David Blough, who started eight games last season for the Boilermakers, joined Danny Anthrop in prepar- ing Jackson for his workout with Parker and Hazell. And, though Blough already knew Jackson, he left the pre-workout session just as impressed as Purdue's coaches later would be. "He's not as fast as Danny is, which is obvious, or maybe as big. But he's as good, if not better, of a football player, meaning he's smooth," Blough said. "His routes are smooth. His hands are smooth. Everybody says Dan- ny has good hands, but I think Jackson might have bet- ter hands than Danny. When he's fielding a punt — I was punting some to him — he tracks the ball so ef- fortlessly. It might come from (playing) baseball. Just the way he catches the punts, you're like, 'He's smooth.' He comes out of the backfield, runs a nice little route, catches, tucks it all in one motion. He's a fluid guy. "He's a good kid, too. He's got his head on straight. I know without a doubt he'll sacrifice whatever it takes." That's one thing about that small-school perception: It can harden a player. Parker and Hazell talked about Anthrop having a "chip." Anthrop admits it, too, and that, combined with an internal confidence, fuels him daily. He truly believes he'll be able to compete at the Big Ten level, and he's intent on making sure he's as ready as he can be for the challenge. He's set on adding at least 10 pounds before training camp in August, push- ing him to about 190, so he can even better handle the pounding that naturally comes playing in the slot. Because even though he's already accomplished much as a football player, Anthrop is not satisfied. There's too much at stake for that. "You're representing small schools. You're represent- ing your friends and your family. You're representing all the schools around here, Harrison, West Side, Mc- Cutcheon, all those guys, people who might not get the chance," Anthrop said. "You have the chance and the opportunity to show you can play, you can play here. "Sometimes (it's pressure), but you've just got to put in the work. That's the stuff that reminds you every sin- gle day when you wake up." j