Purdue Boilermakers Coach Darrell Hazell was asked at Big Ten Media Day who the three fastest guys on his team were. He mentioned senior wide receiver Danny Anthrop and senior cornerback Anthony Brown without hesitation. Hazell then paused for awhile and said maybe freshman Evyn Cooper.
Hazell hasn’t tested his team in the 40 yet, so by fastest we don’t mean quicket off the line. It was a gasser conditioning test.
“That has nothing to do with pure speed, that has to do with pacing yourself, training and conditioning yourself,” Hazell said.
“That has nothing to do with pure speed.”
Hazell said that his current Purdue Boilermakers team is way better conditioned than last year’s Purdue Boilermakers at this point last season. So that’s a very promising fact.
“If last year’s team had a 60 percent grade, than this year’s has a 90 percent grade. It’s that drastic,” Hazell said.
It’s refreshing to hear something definitive and quantitative on Big Ten Media Day, in lieu of worthless platitudes like “we need to stay focused” and “if this team stays healthy….” or “he brings it every play, and he plays through the whistle.” If Hazell is factually accurate, and not just blustering, then it really says something superlative about Danny Anthrop being the best conditioned player on a well conditioned team. Because really that’s topic A, B and C with Anthrop right now- what condition is he in? How is his health?
“The rehab has been just the longest process, but I’m glad to be pretty much done with it,” Anthrop said during our exclusive with him at Big Ten Media Day.
“It’s something I’m going to continue to do, probably for a year, and that’s just preventative stuff, correcting any imbalance you have, it’s something I should have been doing before you got hurt.”
Anthrop is recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that he suffered while returning a punt versus Nebraska. During his college football career he’s also had wrist and ankle injuries. Then there’s the medial collateral ligament in his left knee, which he tore in 2013 training camp. In other words Anthrop has been down this road before, and he’s always bounced back.
“I’m going to be at nine months (of turnaround/recovery time) right before the first game, and I’m feeling great right not,” Anthrop proclaimed.
What’s most amazing about Danny Anthrop is that despite all those injuries, two of which are quite serious, he’s only missed five out of a possible 36 games during his college career. Purdue Boilermakers fans should feel very confident that he’ll bounce back from this setback too.
“Just going through camp, getting through this is going to be a big step, and then playing will be a breeze after camp.”
Big things are expected of Anthrop. He should be this team’s best receiver. Fun fact: when your phone auto corrects Danny Anthrop to “Danny Anthrax.”
Also, be sure to check out our Purdue Boilermakers Never Too Early Season Preview, as well as the following video preview of Purdue’s season from Campus Insiders below:
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country.
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