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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4 37 Brohm said on signing day. "You want to add competi- tion. You want to add some guys with experience, like the two junior college receivers we had. That was very important to us." Though it's certainly possible, based on Purdue's lack of experience and production at the position, that Cat- lett, Edwards or Hamilton could play as rookies in 2017, Zico and Wright are no-doubters. Those two JUCOs each ranked among the NJCAA's top 16 in receptions, receiv- ing yards and touchdowns this season. They'll be counted on to contribute, perhaps as start- ers, from Day 1. And if they rise to those expectations by Week 1 when Purdue opens the season against Louisville in Lucas Oil Stadium, it'll be quite the moment for both guys. After not qualifying academically out of high school, they were forced to go the junior college route — or as they call it, the "JUCO grind." They had some struggles in Year 1 at their respective schools but, in both cases, they had a mentor rise to challenge them — and they responded with breakout sophomore seasons. Zico caught only 14 passes in 10 games as a freshman, though he did score touchdowns on five of them, and he contributed as a kickoff returner. But he knew he hadn't quite played as well as he could have. In the spring after his freshman year, he was chal- lenged by Georgia Military College receivers coach Lee Coleman. "My coach gave me a list of expectations and asked me, 'Where do you want to be?'" Zico said. "I told him, 'I want to be known in the nation. I want to be top in the nation, known to other coaches at other schools. I just want to get a lot of exposure.' He gave me a list of expec- tations, told me what to do, and I was like, 'If I buy in, I get to where I want to be.' "So I just bought into the program, and it got me where I wanted to be." The list included football specifics — getting a better grasp on coverages, working on not getting jammed at the line, learning the playbook, as examples — as well as fostering better off-field habits like not letting grades slip and staying "dedicated" and "disciplined." "He saw a lot of potential," Zico said of Coleman. "I was just like, 'You're right. I'm better than what I put up, so I just need to get better and figure out stuff.' " Did he ever. As a sophomore in 2016, Zico emerged as the ultimate playmaker, turning 46 catches into 938 yards and 14 touchdowns from his outside receiver spot. Those touch- downs were second-most in the NJCAA and the receiving yards ranked sixth. In his final game, he had a nine-catch, 216-yard, two- TD effort against Lackawanna. He was able to rack up that 20.4 yards-per-catch aver- age not exclusively on beating guys deep, which he also did, but by often using an elusiveness that had him stick a foot in the ground and make the first defender miss. But he considers himself a complete receiver, saying he can high-point balls well, catch well, has agility, has speed, runs routes well. "Anything you can think of (for) a standout receiver," he said. Wright's two-year junior college transformation was similar. With older receivers ahead of him on the depth chart, Wright spent his freshman season at Coffeyville Com- munity College in Kansas largely as a catalyst on special teams, namely in the kick return game where he says he was an NJCAA All-American. He said he'd play on offense, usually in the slot, sometimes in the backfield, but didn't get an opportunity to make many plays there. He insists it didn't frustrate him because he could see what was ahead if he developed. So he, finally, took Marcus Mitchell's advice. "I went from playing scared and not trying to get hit to wanting contact and just making people miss and scoring touchdowns," Wright said. "My God daddy (Mitchell), he tells us every day, you've got to go out there every day and just say, 'Forget it.' Because then you can go out there and do whatever you want to do. You can make people miss. You can run people over. You can just do anything you want to if you put your mind to it. "He started training me my junior year (of high school). He really was telling me what to do, but I really was sort of hard-headed back then, and I really wasn't listening. I was trying to do it my way, not the best way. Once I started listening and once I started training harder, it just told me, I'm really one of the best receivers at this game." Wright was intent to prove it. Even under less-than-ideal circumstances.