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Drew Brees,Purdue football’s tireless defender, reminded everyone that what some schools consider a rarity, his does on the regular.
Three Boilermaker quarterbacks have combined to win four Super Bowls, including his Super Bowl XLIV victory with the New Orleans Saints. Two alums have walked on the moon among several Purdue alums who have left the earth’s atmosphere.
“If you want to be a quarterback or an astronaut, go to Purdue,” Brees said during interviews in Canton, Ohio, Thursday ahead of Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
Thursday emerged as a big day for Purdue football’s fledgling future and one of the all-time greats of its stories past.
At 8:15 a.m., Barry Odom's second preseason camp officially kicked off. At 11:00 a.m., Purdue introduced Tommy McClelland, the new athletic director tasked with ramping up support as Odom attempts to turn the program around.
And around 2:30 p.m., Brees took another opportunity to tell the world how instrumental Purdue was to his rise to the pro football Hall of Fame. How he chose the school due to its academic reputation and Big Ten competition. How he joined a Cradle of Quarterbacks lineage, naming off several of the other players so designated.
The last Purdue astronaut to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan, did so in 1972. As those endeavors faded from the public consciousness, pro football’s cultural impact only intensified.
No athlete in the era since served as a better ambassador and walking, talking billboard for Purdue than Brees. Yet at this juncture in the program's history, he can be something else.
He is a reminder of the heights Purdue football can reach, and the standard for which it continues to strive.
Brees always assumed he would leave Texas to become a college baseball player. Joe Tiller went to Purdue, started recruiting the Lone Star State again, and found the player who would define a generation of Boilermaker football.
“One of the best decisions I ever made was coming up to West Lafayette, Indiana,” Brees said. “Not only did I get an incredible education, but some of my best friends in the world are my college roommates and guys I played with. I met my wife, Brittany.
“Just the Purdue family – everywhere I go, I meet Purdue people. Not only do I meet them, but they are so proud to be Purdue alumni.”
Purdue set Brees’ football foundation, too. Tiller’s prolific passing offense provided Brees more chances to read and process defenses while putting a premium on efficiency. It also put the ball in his hands as a runner on options and RPOs.
The Boilermakers faced 13 top-15 opponents over the course of Brees’ four seasons. They beat two of them, No. 6 Michigan and No. 12 Ohio State, en route to the Rose Bowl in 2000.
“You just look at the level of competition, No. 1, and you were playing against the best of the best,” Brees said. “Week in and week, in many cases, we were the underdog. So you were always having to punch above your fighting weight. You were having to scratch and claw and just play with this giant chip on your shoulder.
“That alone was what helped mold and train a lot of us. We always felt we had something to prove. We always had an opportunity to be David in a David and Goliath story.”
Brees is in exclusive company as a Boilermaker with a bust in Canton. Len Dawson and Bob Griese, the other Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, beat him there. So did Hank Stram, most known for coaching championships with the Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. The most recent inductee, cornerback Rod Woodson, was enshrined in 2009.
All of them enjoyed their peak achievement after Neal Armstrong walked on the moon. (His small step/big leap preceded Dawson and Stram’s Super Bowl IV victory by less than six months.)
Brees arrived at Purdue in the same manner as many of the program’s other greats – overlooked and underestimated. The program currently labors in one of its periodic valleys, winless in the Big Ten for two full seasons.
With his speech Saturday in Canton, Brees will almost certainly explain where he came from, and the influence Purdue had on leading him to that stage. He’ll also stand as a living example of the heights possible for a program which can use an injection of inspiration.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Boilermaker blueprint: How Purdue molded Drew Brees into a Hall of Fame quarterback
Continue reading...
Three Boilermaker quarterbacks have combined to win four Super Bowls, including his Super Bowl XLIV victory with the New Orleans Saints. Two alums have walked on the moon among several Purdue alums who have left the earth’s atmosphere.
“If you want to be a quarterback or an astronaut, go to Purdue,” Brees said during interviews in Canton, Ohio, Thursday ahead of Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.
Thursday emerged as a big day for Purdue football’s fledgling future and one of the all-time greats of its stories past.
At 8:15 a.m., Barry Odom's second preseason camp officially kicked off. At 11:00 a.m., Purdue introduced Tommy McClelland, the new athletic director tasked with ramping up support as Odom attempts to turn the program around.
And around 2:30 p.m., Brees took another opportunity to tell the world how instrumental Purdue was to his rise to the pro football Hall of Fame. How he chose the school due to its academic reputation and Big Ten competition. How he joined a Cradle of Quarterbacks lineage, naming off several of the other players so designated.
The last Purdue astronaut to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan, did so in 1972. As those endeavors faded from the public consciousness, pro football’s cultural impact only intensified.
No athlete in the era since served as a better ambassador and walking, talking billboard for Purdue than Brees. Yet at this juncture in the program's history, he can be something else.
He is a reminder of the heights Purdue football can reach, and the standard for which it continues to strive.
How Purdue helped make Drew Brees a Pro Football Hall of Famer
Brees always assumed he would leave Texas to become a college baseball player. Joe Tiller went to Purdue, started recruiting the Lone Star State again, and found the player who would define a generation of Boilermaker football.
“One of the best decisions I ever made was coming up to West Lafayette, Indiana,” Brees said. “Not only did I get an incredible education, but some of my best friends in the world are my college roommates and guys I played with. I met my wife, Brittany.
“Just the Purdue family – everywhere I go, I meet Purdue people. Not only do I meet them, but they are so proud to be Purdue alumni.”
Purdue set Brees’ football foundation, too. Tiller’s prolific passing offense provided Brees more chances to read and process defenses while putting a premium on efficiency. It also put the ball in his hands as a runner on options and RPOs.
The Boilermakers faced 13 top-15 opponents over the course of Brees’ four seasons. They beat two of them, No. 6 Michigan and No. 12 Ohio State, en route to the Rose Bowl in 2000.
“You just look at the level of competition, No. 1, and you were playing against the best of the best,” Brees said. “Week in and week, in many cases, we were the underdog. So you were always having to punch above your fighting weight. You were having to scratch and claw and just play with this giant chip on your shoulder.
“That alone was what helped mold and train a lot of us. We always felt we had something to prove. We always had an opportunity to be David in a David and Goliath story.”
Drew Brees remains staunch advocate for, and inspiration to, Purdue
Brees is in exclusive company as a Boilermaker with a bust in Canton. Len Dawson and Bob Griese, the other Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, beat him there. So did Hank Stram, most known for coaching championships with the Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs. The most recent inductee, cornerback Rod Woodson, was enshrined in 2009.
All of them enjoyed their peak achievement after Neal Armstrong walked on the moon. (His small step/big leap preceded Dawson and Stram’s Super Bowl IV victory by less than six months.)
Brees arrived at Purdue in the same manner as many of the program’s other greats – overlooked and underestimated. The program currently labors in one of its periodic valleys, winless in the Big Ten for two full seasons.
With his speech Saturday in Canton, Brees will almost certainly explain where he came from, and the influence Purdue had on leading him to that stage. He’ll also stand as a living example of the heights possible for a program which can use an injection of inspiration.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Boilermaker blueprint: How Purdue molded Drew Brees into a Hall of Fame quarterback
Continue reading...
