WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Big Ten Conference announced seniors Danny Anthrop, Robert Kugler and Frankie Williams will accompany head coach Darrell Hazell to its annual media day in Chicago on July 31.
Anthrop, a wide receiver from West Lafayette, Ind., enters his final season as one of the Boilermakers' top big-play threats. Appearing in nine games last season, he caught 38 passes for a team-high 616 yards and four touchdowns. Purdue's 2014 offense took a large hit after Anthrop injured his knee at Nebraska, seeing its total yardage drop from 360.2 yards per game to 297.3 yards and its scoring average fall from 26.7 points per game to 15.3 over the final three games of the season.
Kugler, a center from Pittsburgh, Pa., begins the 2015 season as one of Purdue's unquestioned team leaders. Voted a captain by his teammates as junior, he has continued to lead the way during the winter, spring and summer workouts. A 2015 Rimington Trophy watch list member, he has started 31 consecutive games for the Boilermakers. Kugler graduated last May with a double major in political science and history.
Williams, a cornerback from Tampa, Fla., will be the Boilermakers' defensive representative in Chicago. A three-year starter for Purdue, he enters the 2015 season tied for 18th on the career interceptions list with seven. As a junior, Williams finished third on the team with 74 tackles, including 51 solo stops, three interceptions, including one returned for a touchdown against Iowa and seven PBUs. He was named second team All-Big Ten by the conference's coaches at the end of the season.