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When Cornel Jones stepped onto the field for Purdue's opening kickoff against Ohio last week, he knew Hurricane Irma was about to unleash its power on his hometown of Miami.

But conversations with his mother and other family members helped ease any chance of distraction, and Jones' focus was solely on the moment.

In a sense, he'd arrived.

He was on the field — not just the sidelines like in the season opener in Lucas Oil — donning a Purdue uniform. It was where he'd wanted to be, on this kind of football stage, for so long.

To Jones, football is "everything."