Ja'Whaun Bentley did not like the view.
Even if he'd gotten accustomed to it last season.
At Illinois two weeks ago, Bentley was prowling the sidelines with a limp, partly encumbered by the walking boot he had on his injured left ankle, and last week against Iowa on Homecoming, he may have been boot-free but nonetheless anxious and pacing. Because Bentley's sprain didn't heal quickly enough for him to be on the field with his teammates for the last two games, and that was a tough pill to swallow.
Especially for a guy who said, if it were his choice, he would have been on the field, jacked-up ankle and all.
"You want to be out there, but it’s what’s best for the team," Bentley said Wednesday.
It can be a fine line for players — when to play and when not to play if their bodies don't seem to be cooperating. Some fib to athletic trainers, who typically are the deciding factor on whether players play, and don't tell the full story on the level of pain so they're able to practice and play. Even if that could mean they're participating at less than 100-percent health. Some think it's best for them to be smart and follow athletic trainers' advice, thinking it's not worth causing further damage to perhaps ultimately mean more lost game snaps.
It's another week that those calls are important for Purdue.
The Boilermakers enters Saturday's game at No. 8 Nebraska potentially down key players. Interim coach Gerad Parker doesn't talk about injuries, but the Boilermakers were without both of their defensive captains (Jake Replogle and Bentley) last week against the Hawkeyes, and starting left tackle Cameron Cermin left the game with an apparent right ankle injury. Starting running back Markell Jones, too, re-aggravated his left shoulder injury against Iowa — he'd skipped the Illinois game to try to give it time to rest — but did come back in after that. Starting defensive end Evan Panfil has been playing through a similar injury as Jones, a sprained AC joint, and starting guard Jordan Roos has been playing despite a back injury.
Players say it's just part of the game — making the distinction between hurt and injured, figuring out their pain tolerance and measuring their toughness.
"It’s one of the toughest decisions. You don’t want to (not play). We just want to be out there," Panfil said last week. "I think we all realize we have a good thing going and we’d obviously like to be a part of that and contribute to that. These opportunities are so limited and you don’t want to miss one. It’s just tough to sit out.
"I have to play. That’s me. I just need to be out there. You get very few of these opportunities. I get the medicine I need to go out there and play, and I feel fine when I’m out there. I’ve got to. I just go out there and try to do the best I can."
Roos has made 32 consecutive starts, and when he's asked about a game he missed in 2013, he shook his head, and said, "I was a young guy."
"Especially when your juices get flowing and you’re out there in the middle of the game, it’s pretty easy to let something that’s hurting you to slip away and just worry about the game and your team," Roos said last week.
Bentley hopes he's in position to return to the field at Nebraska, but he wouldn't offer much insight into that likelihood Wednesday. He said he felt "really good," but players aren't always straight-forward when it comes to health. The week before Jones didn't travel to Illinois, he talked about being "100 percent." So there's certainly room for interpretation.
Replogle apparently missed the Iowa game with a concussion — at least then-Coach Darrell Hazell referenced Replogle having a headache early last week — and Parker wouldn't bite when asked if Replogle would play Saturday.
"I sure hope so," he said, laughing.
• Parker said he's liked the energy of the team and his coaching staff the first two days of practice under his guidance.
He spent Tuesday and Wednesday with the receivers during individual periods — he's still coaching that position — but then watched the offense as a whole with a closer eye later in practice.
"It's been fun and different," Parker said.
The hope is to connect with the entire team the way he's been able to impact the receiving corps and, before that, the tight ends.
"I think if you have a sincere approach to guys, you push them to be great and you love on them while you’re doing it — I think people want to be pushed and have discipline — you play at a higher level," Parker said. "I think these guys are dying to be winners. They are."
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