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f r o m e d i t o r b r i a n n e u b e r t groundwork there���s one Ifrell at Purduething DarHazell���s first signing class revealed about his systematic intent as the Boilermakers��� coach, it was that he���s Ohio State through and through. ���You have to be able to able to run the ball in this conference,��� Hazell said after signing four running backs as part of his debut recruiting haul. ���You can���t have enough good running backs. ���This is a very physical conference and you���re going to need good players throughout the course of the season. If you have three or four good tailbacks in this league, you���re going to be pretty successful.��� One of Hazell���s first mandates for the program he���s taking over has been absolute toughness, in all its forms. The offense he seems to be leaning toward running ��� and it���s difficult to say anything for certain before he���s even coached his current players ��� would seem to be more of the traditional Big Ten model than the aerial circus Purdue used to return to prominence. That said, Purdue is looking for balance. ���We want to be a physical team and run the ball and have a great play-action passing game and be able to throw the ball deep ... and really be high-percentage with our completions as well,��� said new offensive coordinator John Shoop, he of a dozen years worth of NFL experience. ���We���ll end up doing what our quarterback does best. We���ll be flexible enough as coaches and flexible enough in our system to do what that guy does best. Here in the coming months, we���ve got to figure out who that guy is. I���ve said to all of them, ���Coaches don���t make decisions. Players make decisions about who plays.��� We have to give all these guys an opportunity.��� Purdue will have options at quarterback. At running back, it���ll have even more. Hazell inherited commitments from running backs David Yancey and Keyante Green from Danny Hope���s ousted staff. But it spoke volumes of Hazell���s commitment to the running game that he added two more backs, Dalyn Dawkins and Keith Byars II, in the bottom of the ninth before signing day. Those players will factor heavily into the direction of Purdue���s offense moving forward. But the most important young players in the program right now are ones Hazell didn���t recruit at all. As Hazell assembled his staff, the most important hire he had to make might have been for offensive line coach, since it���s imperative Purdue gets better at the line of scrimmage. Now, position coach Jim Bollman is sitting on the program���s greatest natural resource right now: The five freshmen offensive linemen Hope signed last season. If Purdue is going to be morph into a team that can play the sort of tough, physical style Hazell will demand, there���s no way around most of those five guys ��� Jordan Roos, J.J. Prince, Joey Warburg, Cameron Cermin and Jason King ��� panning out. The toughening-up of football teams in situations like Purdue���s doesn���t necessarily have to start from the line of scrimmage out, but it���s an essential piece of the puzzle. Hazell is an offensive-minded coach, and though he probably won���t adhere totally to mentor Jim Tressel���s reputation of winning football games by not losing them on offense, there is certainly some oldschool thinking in his approach. For the better part of the past two decades, Purdue has sought to pass to win. Now, it might be the opposite. That approach might not be terribly sexy, but it���s worked for Wisconsin all these years, and if there���s a program in the Big Ten 13 20 ril 13, Ap register online that should be Purdue���s model, that���s it. First things first: Purdue needs an identity. Toughness is a pretty good way to go, if you ask me. j Neubert can be contacted at BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com k n/wal 5K ru E THE C LLENG HA tm support cancer research at Purdue www.thepurduechallenge.com All proceeds beneet the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research GoldanDBlack express ��� volume 23, express 21��� ������ 7