'Twig' snaps into defense

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Antwaun Rogers has accepted his demeaning nickname and the starting right cornerback position.

Because his legs "look like twigs off the tree branch," the tall, slender redshirt freshman has earned the moniker "Twig" from teammates.

"It's a name and I've adapted to it, so it's cool," Rogers said. "It's all fun and games now, but they treat me like I'm a part of the group so they can call me whatever they want."

Rogers is the only new face on a defense that returns 10 of 11 starters from last year, so respect is all he wants. And his teammates have given it to him.

"He's a great player," said starting left cornerback Ashante Woodyard. "He's really been coming along. Everybody knocks him about his size, but it doesn't matter. He doesn't weigh but like 170, but he brings all 170 when he comes."

For the record, "Twig" is 6-foot-2, 166 pounds. He hopes to get bigger this summer.

"I at least want to be 182, because 185 is kind of hard to get to right now," he said. "Strength-wise, I've gotten a lot stronger. When I came in I was really weak, but now I can kind of hold my own with the big boys on the field."

Rogers got accustomed to hitting the bigger players as a redshirt freshman last fall. He practiced with the scout team and watched starter Chris Clopton, who was a fifth-year senior at the time.

The Middletown (Ohio) High School product didn't get down about sitting out.

"It drove me every bit more to step up and try to do what I can do," he said. "Now, with the first team defense, I'm playing faster. On scout team you tend to lag or whatever, but I'm playing faster and I'm getting more physical. And at 166 pounds I'm going to have to be physical."

Rogers worked diligently on his speed and strength during winter conditioning and impressed the coaching staff enough to beat out Jacques Reeves, who appeared in 11 of Purdue's 12 games last season as a reserve and a special teams player.

Reeves is a speedster who earned honors as the Big Ten freshman of the year for the 2001 indoor track season after finishing second in the 60- and 200-meter dashes at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. Therefore, many thought he would be Clopton's replacement.

Deaunte Ferrell, who was effective as a fifth defensive back on passing downs as a freshman last season, is another candidate to start at right corner.

"We'll see how these guys go," coach Joe Tiller said about competition for the position.

But for now Tiller is leaving Rogers as the starter.

"In the secondary, the guy that we needed to improve was Rogers and he has done it," he said. "As a matter of fact, he has probably exceeded our expectations."

All of the candidates for the spot are young, which is one of the few concerns for defensive coordinator Brock Spack this spring. In past years, Spack has had mostly upperclassmen at cornerback.

"It's a tough spot to put a young guy in because sometimes they lose confidence," Spack said. "So you've got to be pretty thick-skinned and tough mentally back there because you're gonna make mistakes and sometimes the ball is gonna go over your head.

"You've got to be able to bounce back and keep playing."

When Rogers gets beat for a touchdown in practice, he gets flak from teammates. But he hopes the verbal abuse from teammates will start and end with his nickname next fall.

"I've been skinny all my life," he said. "So it doesn’t matter what they call me as long as I can play with them."

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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