Today on GBI.com, there's a story about Joey Elliott and how he's preparing for his first career start this coming Saturday. Many are excited to see the new-look Boilers and what Coach Hope and Coach Nord will have in store for the offense. But we all know that how Joey Elliott goes, so go these Boilers.

I don't think anybody's expecting Joey to pull a Dicken and be All-Big Ten...not saying it's not possible, but it's definitely not-expected. But, for Elliott to make his mark on the team this year and on the greater program for years to come, he needs to become his own man.

Elliott and Painter were always together on the sidelines during the past few seasons. Their demeanor, at least from a far seemed similar. And, according to the story I referenced above, that was by design...Elliott was just following in the footsteps of the even-keel Painter...Joe Tiller liked that type of game preparation.

But Painter's gone and so is Tiller...perhaps it's time for the high-energy Elliott to show a bit of his personality to his teammates before each contest.

Painter was obviously a pretty-good quarterback as he holds a bunch of records and is playing ball at the next level...but, his even-keel nature may be part of what contributed to the fact that his game seemed stagnate, at least in the last few seasons of his career at Purdue. Elliott doesn't have the luxury of time to figure out what's going to work over the next four years...he's got 12 or 13 games- he needs to do his own thing now.