Tight End Stratton Keeps Brees, Boilermakers Loose

From the first day of freshman camp, when Drew Brees threw his first pass to Tim Stratton, the quarterback and the tight end have had a unique bond.

Their personalities could hardly be more different--Brees is polite, restrained and disciplined, while Stratton is the self-described “carefree spirit on this team,” not above hanging off the goal post after Purdue upset Michigan Oct. 6 and losing his helmet as he body-surfed through the jubilant crowd.

“That ticked off Coach [Joe] Tiller,” said Stratton, who has been warned by officials to break his habit of pointing toward the field like a referee when he makes a catch for a first down. “I did it for shock value. But I’ve got to clean up my image. I’m going to be a senior next year and I have to be serious.”

His knack for knowing when to be serious may be why he and Brees get along well on the field and off. Stratton’s antics relieve the pressure on Brees, while Brees recognizes the talent behind Stratton’s clowning and helped put Stratton in position to win the John Mackey Award as the country’s best tight end.

“He’s a real fun guy to be around,” Brees said Saturday. “There are some things he does that I sit back and think, ‘Why did he just do that?’ But we have this mind thing going. He knows where he’s going to get the ball and I know I can count on him.”

The 14th-ranked Boilermakers can count on Stratton for a laugh, certainly. “There are guys that get sick before games, they take it so seriously,” said Stratton, who caught 56 passes for 579 yards and two touchdowns this season. “I’m sitting there dancing, listening to music. I love watching fans too. In between plays, I’ll be in the huddle watching the crowd to see if there’s anybody I know or if there are any cute girls.

“My way of focusing is different, but it works. People that get too uptight perform at a lower level.”

But the Boilermakers can also count on Stratton to produce when it matters. “I don’t know what it is about him, but when he gets on the field, he’s different,” Brees said. “He’s kind of gotten a reputation as a goofball and he likes to have a good time, but on the field, he works harder than anybody out there. The guy gets exhausted running so many routes. And he’s always doing the small things.”

Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney acknowledged Stratton has gotten under the coaches’ skin more than once, but Stratton’s assets outweigh his drawbacks.

“There’s things about the young boy I love, and there are things that drive me nuts,” Chaney said, smiling. “He’s a fun-loving kid that loves the game of football and has played his butt off for Purdue. . . .

“He’s pretty fun to be around. He wakes me up. There’s never a dull moment with him around.”

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Tiller said the team went through practice quickly and without many repetitions. “That tells us we’re into this thing mentally,” he said. Asked if anyone looked especially sharp, he pointed toward Brees. “This guy’s gotten better as the week has gone on, which we like to see,” Tiller said. “The start of the game will be critical, and you always wonder about that as far as the passing game.” . . . The only injury is strained shoulder tendons suffered by Leroy Keyes, a halfback on the Boilermakers’ 1967 Rose Bowl team. Now an assistant director of the John Purdue club--an organization for university benefactors--he was hurt while lifting a helium tank to be used for inflating balloons at Saturday’s alumni pep rally.