Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, June 11, 2015
Quarterback play has been an issue for Purdue for a few seasons. Who is the best option in 2015? Austin Appleby? Danny Etling? David Blough? Elijah Sindelar? Would Darrell Hazell consider a rotation?
?No,? said Hazell. ?No. Absolutely not.?
Appleby figures to be the guy, but he may be little more than ?pedestrian.? Ditto Etling. Would the staff have the guts to turn over the reins to a greenhorn like redshirt freshman Blough or true freshman Sindelar? I have my doubts, seeing as how this is a critical season for Hazell who needs to produce more in his third season after notching just one Big Ten triumph in two seasons.
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Nice feature on Ohio State RB Ezekiel Elliott from Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com. Is the Buckeye junior the Heisman front-runner? He just may be. I wonder if he can push past the 2,000-yard rushing barrier this season. If he does-and OSU has a great season–the Heisman may belong to Elliott.
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Fun story from Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com, who looks at eight ways Ohio State football and the Cleveland Cavaliers are alike.
No. 1: The leaders of each team returned from Florida-LeBron from the Miami and Meyer from Gainesville. It is a great time to be a resident of the Buckeye State.
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Time for your daily Jim Harbaugh satellite camp note: Mark your calendars, Khaki Jim already is planning a camp for Virginia in 2016.
Per a report from The Virginian-Pilot, Harbaugh and Michigan will visit a satellite camp on the campus of Old Dominion next summer. Old Dominion is located in Norfolk, Virginia. If there's a connection between Harbaugh and Old Dominion, it's ODU athletic director Wood Selig. Selig was the AD at Western Kentucky during the latter portion of Jack Harbaugh's (Jim's father) run in the early 2000s, a stint that wrapped with a 1-AA national title in 2002.
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The great Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com says the addition of 5-star big man Caleb Swanigan (think Charles Barkley) makes Purdue a national power. Hmmm.
Kravitz says make no mistake: Swanigan, a national top 15 recruit, is a game changer, or at least he's a game-changer for however long he remains in West Lafayette. How long will he stay? One and done will be great. If it's two years or even longer, that's fine.
"When I'm ready (for the NBA), I'm ready," Swanigan said. Imagine Swanigan playing beside A.J. Hammons, a seven-footer who hopes to play himself into the top half of the first round during his senior season. Pretty nice. Now, are the Boilermaker guards good enough?
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Rick Brown of HawkCentral.com takes a look at the brothers Daniels at Iowa: LeShun, a junior running back, and James, a true freshman offensive lineman.
"My brother is adjusting to everything so well right now," LeShun said. "He's got a handle on his classes. The football stuff, the workouts. And me being here is definitely helping him a lot."
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The Penn State d-line has just two stars in tackles Anthony Zettel and Austin Johnson. But line coach Sean Spencer says it?s the deepest group he has coached. Impressive.
"Parker Cothren and Tarow Barney can start on many teams in the country," Spencer told PennLive.com. "I think those guys can start on a lot of teams in the country.
"The ends right now, I can put any four of those guys in and they can do more. I'm very confident in putting any of those guys in at any time."
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Indiana has a new strength coach.
Lyonel Anderson, who comes to IU from Houston and spent two years working with the Hoosiers' football program from 2012-13, has been named head strength and conditioning coach for the men's basketball program. The appointment was announced in a press release.
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IndyStar.com has a nice Q&A with former Indiana star Eric Gordon.
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Cleveland.com continues its countdown of the Top 50 players in the Big Ten. Get caught up here. No. 39 is Rutgers DT Darius Hamilton. Love that guy.
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| About Tom Dienhart | BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section. |
