Big week with a Big Man

Sporting News, The, Nov 6, 2000 by John Rawlings

THE SPORTING NEWS wanted to find out what it's like to be a Big Man on Campus. And this year, there are few college players as big as Purdue quarterback Drew Brees. Not only is Brees in the Heisman hunt, he and his fellow Boilermakers are shooting for a major bowl.

Staff writer Tom Dienhart spent a week with Brees in West Lafayette, Ind., as Purdue prepared for its Big Ten showdown against Ohio State. He delivers a very revealing picture, which begins on page 58. "Brees is everything I thought he would be," Tom says. "On several occasions, he asked me if I was happy with the way things were going. There he was, in the midst of preparing for the biggest game of his life, going to classes, dealing with the media, pleasing fans and just living life, and he wanted to make sure I was OK."

During the week, Tom went to class with Brees, walked around campus with him, went to practice with him, lifted weights with him, went to media sessions with him. In short, Tom had an all-access pass to Brees the week leading to the biggest game of the season in the Big Ten.

Tom's goal was to capture the experience of being Drew Brees for a week and show you what it's like to be a BMOC.

Tom tells you about the whispers, the stares and the finger-pointing that go along with being a big star in a small galaxy like West Lafayette.

Tom had a pretty good notion about the campus, inasmuch as he is a Purdue grad. He knows all too well it's a football-starved school, which only intensifies the interest and obsession with all things Drew.

E-mail John Rawlings at jrawlings@sportingnews.com