After practice lots of news came out of Hazell's interview.

We asked for it...we've got it

After the NIU trainwreck, I (and many others) thought aloud that Rob Henry should be on the field...as a Safety. Today, Hazell and Henry moved to Rob's next chapter as a Purdue football player. Coach Haze called Rob one of the least selfish players he's ever been around in the wake of the change.  During practice, Henry got rid of the bright yellow-gold #15 jersey that he'd worn at practice the past few seasons, and donned a white #22 jersey, on the other side of the ball. Between drills, Henry talked to the Landon Feichter about technique at the safety spot as Feichter continues to heal from dual broken hands and a broken leg.

Hazell also said that there's a chance we'll see #22 on offense...especially if he doesn't pick up playing in the defensive backfield quickly. That corps is extremely thin...I'm hoping he can have some positive impact over there.

(Thanks to Gold & Black.com for the screen cap of Henry in the new duds)

Depth Chart

The two-deeps at QB now have a true Freshman as the starter (Etling) and a RS Frosh (Appleby) as his back-up. I think anyone would think that's a precarious place for a football team to be in...but it's absolutely the right place for this team right now as they begin to look to the future. I'm not expecting Etling to be a magic bullet that will heal all that ails Purdue's offense...but I think the experience this season might prove to be paramont in '14.

The offensive line also had a few positional changes as Hazell and Shoop look to "create" depth. Nothing too earth-shattering there really.

Knauf apologizes

Hazell said Knauf would be suspended for two games and Woods is suspended indefinitely in the wake of their stupidity this week at Kohl's. Hazell said Woods had other disciplinary issues earlier that he had already been warned about...so he got the harsher punishment. But I think many, within the Purdue family and outside of it, might yell foul here. I really doesn't matter if that's the truth or not, perception will be that it looks like the starter got off easy. Regardless of what Woods' punishment was, I'd think that two games, community service and extra conditioning during practice isn't sufficient for breaking this law...but as I said, I'm old-fashioned. I've never bought that 'boys will be boys' crap that many pedal.  You don't accidentally try to shoplift. He made a dumb decision and was arrested for it.

The one thing I really liked about the way Hazell handled it was he made Knauf the first Purdue player available to the media for a statement of apology. He said,

"I just wanna say how ashamed and sorry I am for how I represented this community and university...the receiving corps...the team...anybody involved in Purdue University...anybody who supported me here and at home. I'm very sorry for my actions and the way I conducted myself."

He continued, "I've taken steps already, and will continue to do so...to better my image and come back to rebuild my image."

He seemed contrite; I'm glad for that. I hope he learns from it.