D.J. Knox was leaving a team meal the week of the Illinois game last fall when he got the call. It knocked the wind out of him and changed his life.
"It was my mom," Knox says. "She was telling me my father had suffered a stroke. I didn't know what to do."
Knox's mind raced. How did this happen? Is he going to be OK? What should I do? He felt powerless being so far away from his Georgia home.
"When you hear news like that, you always think the worst," Knox says. "I didn't know much about a stroke or how things work, the recovery process or anything like that. My mom was thinking the worst things, and it was tearing me apart.
"My mother and grandfather were trying to keep me calm and telling me everything was going to be all right. They knew how family-oriented I am. It was bothering me, but I had to fight and push through."
Knox is good at persevering. Such is life for a 5-foot-7 running back in the Big Ten Conference. Despite his short stature, the Fairburn, Georgia, native has been one of the Boilermakers' top running backs since arriving on campus in 2014. And he is a big part of a Purdue offense that should be among the best in the Big Ten this season.
More good news: Knox's father (D.J., Sr.) is doing fine. In fact, he was at the season-opening game against Northwestern. The entire episode reinforced to Knox the importance of family and how fragile life can be.
"You need to have perspective," Knox says. "We are all relieved that he's fine. It was just another bit of adversity I have had to fight through."
Knox knows how to fight. He draws his inspiration from other running backs of similar build, guys like Maurice Jones-Drew and Darren Sproles. Just check out Knox's physique. He is a chiseled mass who has muscles in places where other people don't have places.
"I am a quick, powerful guy," Knox says. "I move fast through the hole, I am full speed through the hole. I get up on the linebackers so quick; at that point, I am full momentum, I am lowering my shoulder and I am low to the ground. Some defenders are too tall or off-balance, and they try to hit me. I win that battle. I am more like a bowling ball."
Knox looked like a bowling bowl on a spectacular 33-yard touchdown run last year against Illinois, when he bounced off hapless Fighting Illini defenders, spun and jetted to pay dirt.
"That has been my favorite run," Knox says.
The diminutive powerhouse also has carved a niche in helping head coach Jeff Brohm pull of the gimmick plays he loves. It was Knox who ran the fake pitch-back to quarterback Elijah Sindelar at Rutgers for a 41-yard gain. And it was Knox who did the fake kneel down for a 30-yard gain against Arizona in the Foster Farms Bowl.
"Coach Brohm puts me in those situations to be successful," says Knox, one of eight team captains. "Those are things the average running back doesn't get to do and have those type of plays. It's a huge honor."
But even to be in that position, Knox had to fight through more adversity. During the spring of 2016, he hurt an ACL, forcing him to miss the season.
"When I tore my ACL my sophomore year, it was tough," says Knox, a fifth-year senior. "The whole rehab process was rough, trying to be the player I was before. That was hard for me because it was the first time I faced a major injury."
Knox rebounded nicely, returning to the field in 2017 to rank second on the team with 561 rushing yards, averaging 6.2 yards per carry with two touchdowns. Knox also caught 15 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who only had scholarship offers from the likes of Gardner-Webb, Georgia State, Mercer and Southern Miss coming out of Creekside High School.
"Purdue called me one day in class and offered me a scholarship," Knox says. "It was coach (Darrell) Hazell and coach (Jafar) Williams. To hear someone have that confidence in me was great. That won me over, and I felt Purdue was the right choice for me even though I hadn't been there or met the coaches yet."
Brohm is happy to have Knox in West Lafayette as part of one of the deeper corps of running backs in the Big Ten.
"He's a good young man," Brohm says. "We can always count on D.J. He isn't the biggest back, but he's tough and brings a different dimension to the position for us."
And Knox is grateful for what he has been through. He knows it's not what happens to you that matters. Rather, it's how you respond to what happens to you that counts.
"I've always been a fiery and wiry guy, and I have used a competitive edge to my advantage," says Knox, who rushed for a career-high 152 yards against Eastern Michigan on Sept. 8. "I always have believed in myself. There have been times when things got challenging and I faced some adversity at this level. But I never felt like I couldn't play in the Big Ten. That never crossed my mind.
"I want to leave the program better than when I came here. And I want to help the team win. I feel like if I do my job individually, then the individual accolades will come. I don't really have any individual goals. Again, I just want to help the team win and do my job."