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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 105 really quick," Lyon said, laughing. "I'm just going to keep listening and hopefully that gets me where I want to go. ... As soon as Coach tells me what I don't know, then I can start thinking about it. But a lot of the time, I don't know what I don't know." Filius brought home a USA Wrestling Junior Folkstyle national championship in April and hopes to crack the lineup as a true freshman. "Coach Ersland lets us know that we're young, but he also really preaches that we don't need to take a back seat to anybody. He really lets us know that we can be better than we think we can be," Filius said. Winning national titles at Purdue hasn't been easy. The list of NCAA national champion Boilermakers in- cludes Arnold Plaza (1948, 1949), Joe Patacsil (1950) and Charles Jones (1992). Not a single person on the current roster was born the last time it happened. Ersland uses that as a crucial part of his recruiting pitch to the stars of tomorrow: Come do something spe- cial at a place where it hasn't really happened consistent- ly before. It's a pitch his guys have bought into. "When Ersland came in, it changed things," Welch said. "People were excited to wrestle again. It's like when you were a little kid — 'Mom, Dad, I can't wait to go to wrestling practice.' He's gotten the energy back for us. He reminds us, what are our goals? Not just (as a) Big Ten wrestler — (though) not many people can say that — but what do you want to be? You want to be an All-Amer- ican? You want to be a national champion? We're going to go do that. "It doesn't matter how old you are. The time is now." Ersland said he wants to be a trailblazer, not a "band- wagon guy," and he's found it's worked to challenge his athletes. Then he pushes them to work like they can win at the highest level. "Why not instead of going to Penn State and being the next (four-time Big Ten champion and two-time national champion) David Taylor be the next Griffin Parriott? Be that guy and blaze your own trail and accomplish firsts," he said. That message, to "be a pioneer," resonated with Par- riott especially, and he thinks a single standout perfor- mance at nationals next March may be all it takes for the floodgates to open. "If we get one All-American, we can expect more to win at the nationals and kind of get the monkey off our back a little bit," Parriott said. There should be no surprises for Purdue at the NCAA tournament after another season competing in the most difficult league in the country. At one point last season, the Big Ten had 10 programs ranked, including Purdue at No. 25. Ersland sees that type of competition as a pos- itive. "The best kids want to be challenged," he said. Look for the Boilermakers to climb over quite a few teams in the conference standings this season, which would be yet another sign of progress on the way to the postseason. If last year's theme was patience — thanks to redshirting every freshman except Christian Brunner, who went on to be an NCAA qualifier — then this year, that strategy should pay off handsomely as the rookie performers mature and improve. And Ersland knows it. "The ability to be a very young team in a very tough league is there," said Ersland, who is 9-18 in conference dual meets at Purdue. "But my excitement for this group is as high as it's ever been because the talent is very good." j