In a year in which there have been many struggles on the field for the Purdue Boilermakers there have also been great surprises. The contributions of Dillon Thieneman may be chief among them. The third Thieneman brother has already earned a reputation as perhaps the best of the three and for good reason. He’s been Purdue’s hard hitting, and sure tackling, safety since the day he stepped onto campus. Coming in to make an impact in your first season is not easy. It’s a difficult thing for a freshman to do. Thieneman though has excelled. In the most recent game against Minnesota he led the team in tackles with nine and while you don’t always want your safeties leading you in tackles, it doesn’t look great for the defense, it provides no such tarnish of Thieneman himself who is doing everything he can back there.