GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 26, ISSUE 6 41
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draft time, that this time next year we're going to see DeAn-
gelo, money in his pockets, playing for an NFL team some-
where.
"It's because he's worked hard. He's had good people
around him to help with that, but ultimately it's a decision
he made himself. You see in him somebody climbing that
rope who is getting ready to ring the bell at the top, and I
think it's all going to pay off this year."
Seemingly everyone associated with Purdue's program
shares that feeling.
They see how Yancey has worked. They see how his
attitude has shifted. They see how he's trimmed that 40
time to around 4.5 from 4.8 coming off that sophomore
year or hear how he's calling himself "pound for pound"
the strongest he's ever been or see him lift more than he
ever has. His goals over the summer? To out-bench Posey,
generally heralded as the position group's strongest player,
or out-power clean receiver Bilal Marshall.
"It's been fun to watch him grow since he first got
here," Posey said. "He's a totally different person now.
He still was a good player back then but just immature,
didn't know how to use his body and be physical. But
he's totally different now. He understands that. I think
he took a lot of things for granted back then, but now he
understands what he needs to do if he wants to go play
at the next level, which is good for him and good for the
offense. He will be very important to our offense.
"He's one of our faster, stronger guys. He needs to be
able to stretch the field and win those one-on-one battles
because we will isolate him and put him in those positions,
so it'll be his job to go win those. We all expect a big season
from him. Everyone does — the team does, the coaches
do — so not to put any pressure on him, but we need him
to have a big year and we expect a lot from him."
The good thing about Yancey now, though?
He doesn't just expect it from himself, but he can handle
it now.
That's not a subtle difference, Parker said.
"He's the guy," Parker said. "It ain't like we're talking
about expectation now. There's a full expectation that he
puts on himself, we know what it is, for him to be a leader
of the room. Go be a guy that is going to be a big-time factor
in changing games for us.
"Now, he's an empowered person. He's got confidence.
He knows what he wants. He's going to work toward it.
He's going to make mistakes still, but he's also not lacking
confidence and he's not unsure of himself. He knows he's
going to have a hell of a year. I know that. I believe that with
all my heart."
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