WEST LAFAYETTE — It's Friday before the first Purdue football game of the season, and Arhmad Branch is lying in bed thinking of his path from small-town Festus, Missouri, to his upcoming first start as a Big Ten wide receiver.

Branch is on the phone with his mom, who is equally emotional.

"She said go out there and give it your all," Branch recalled after last Saturday's 31-0 victory over Ball State . "To have a great fan base not only in Ross-Ade but in the household, it makes me want to go out there and leave everything."

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