Painter's Heisman campaign begins

Of the 44 tables set up for three players and the coach from each of the 11 Big Ten teams Friday, Purdue's Curtis Painter definitely stood out.

Sitting on the table in front of the Boilermakers' senior quarterback were dozens of Curtis Painter DVDs and Curtis Painter calendars - aptly dubbed "Painting a Masterpiece."

Flipping through the calendar turns into Curtis Painter trivia, with questions such as "Did you know Painter ranks among the Purdue top 10 career lists in eight categories?" or "Did you know Painter has recorded three 400-yard passing performances?"

The Heisman hype machine is under way.

"It's been the most asked question for sure," said Painter, who with another season like 2007 will supplant former Boilermaker Drew Brees as the Big Ten's career passing yardage leader.

"I'm not that affected by it at all," Painter said. "I think it is a great thing. It certainly brings attention to myself, but it really gets people excited about Purdue football as well. Somebody picks up a calendar and they might never have thought of watching a Purdue game before; now they might turn it on to see what we are about."

New number: When Carmel product Jack Simmons suits up for his senior year at Minnesota, the tight end will have a new number.

Simmons switched from No. 80 to No. 15, the same number his father, Terry, wore at Minnesota. The elder Simmons lettered from 1977-79.

After battling a toe injury last year and having off-season surgery, Jack is healthy and poised to improve on his 20 catches for 202 yards in 2007.

"It's going to be really exciting for our football team to have a healthy Jack Simmons," said Minnesota coach Tim Brewster. "He's an outstanding player and it was really unfortunate last year at no time was he healthy. He takes a tremendous amount of pride in being a Golden Gopher."

Injury news: Dace Richardson arrived at Iowa as a five-star recruit and a seeming lock to play in the NFL. In fact, if you scour certain NFL draft Web sites, the 6-foot-6, 300-pound offensive tackle's name is listed as a likely second-day pick next April.

But the 2005 Wheaton Warrenville South graduate's football days appear to be over.

After missing most of the last two years due to knee miseries, Richardson suffered another setback this summer, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz doesn't expect him to return.

"It's really unfortunate," Ferentz said. "Dace did start and played a lot as a true freshman. We thought he had an outstanding future.

"More importantly, he's a tremendous young man. You always feel terrible when someone's career is ended prematurely."

Funny Rich-Rod: With no experience at quarterback on which to rely, but a reputation for trying tricky gimmicks, new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez suggested there might be several Wolverines who'll take a snap this fall. Care to offer a ballpark figure for us, Coach?

"Over-under of 20, place your bets," he said. "No, you can't gamble. NCAA. It's going to be fun. We've got to be creative, moreso now maybe than in the future."