Apaches News
Wed, Dec 28, 2011 - [Football]
DETROIT -- Akeem Shavers and Reggie Pegram roomed together on every Purdue football road trip this season.
 
The running back duo enjoyed hanging out in the Motor City over the weekend, then enjoyed breakout performances Tuesday night in Purdue's 37-32 victory over Western Michigan in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field.
 

Nearly doubling his previous career high, Shavers rushed for 149 yards on 22 carries and was named the game's most valuable player. Pegram totaled 44 yards of offense but scored his first two career touchdowns.

 
With leading rusher Ralph Bolden sidelined by injury, Purdue piled up 265 yards on 56 carries.
 
"Me and him, before the game we were listening to music, and we said wouldn't it be funny if me and him both had a great game, and that's what happened," Pegram said.
 
Of Shavers' 370 rushing yards coming in, just over half came in the Boilermakers' first three games of the season. He did not rush for more than 54 in any Big Ten Conference game and, in part because he suffered a concussion against Iowa, totaled 74 rushing yards over Purdue's previous six games.
 
But when Bolden tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the regular season finale against Indiana, Shavers became the go-to back. Before Tuesday, the junior hadn't carried the ball more than 13 times in any game.
 
"In practice, I took a lot of mental reps and watched more film than we'd been doing," Shavers said. "But (Bolden) was never gone. He was still at practice every day. We watched film together, and we'd both pick out things that we would do and what we needed to do in certain situations."
 

Pegram had carried 17 times for 85 yards all season, with 38 yards of that total coming in the blowout of Southeast Missouri State. He scored Purdue's first touchdown on Tuesday on a 1-yard reception from Robert Marve, and his 1-yard touchdown plunge with 4:57 left in the first half put the Boilermakers up 24-15.

 

Link to Original Article:  http://www.jconline.com/article/20111228/SPORTS020101/112280305/Shavers-Pegram-carry-load-Boilers