How former college golfer Ben Farrell ended up starting for Purdue football
WEST LAFAYETTE — It was exactly one year between starts for Ben Farrell, but the circumstances couldn't have been more different.
The 2022 version: Farrell started at offensive tackle for NAIA's Indiana Wesleyan at Lawrence Tech.
What transpired on Oct. 14, 2023, was beyond imagination.
With Purdue football's offensive line depth chart diminished, Farrell was summoned to start against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
"That wasn't even on my radar (a year ago) to even think about doing something like that," Farrell said.
More: Purdue football's Ryan Walters grew up hating Nebraska, now coaching against Cornhuskers
It was the latest in perhaps one of the most unorthodox athletic career paths.
Farrell's collegiate career didn't begin on a football field, but on a golf course for tiny Cornerstone University, where his father Jim was the head softball coach.
"It's a crazy story, isn't it," Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "It's probably not the path that most take."
But coming out of NorthPointe Christian High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Farrell didn't exactly have a lot of options.
"I never really got recruited out of high school," Farrell said. "My dad was a softball coach at a small school in Grand Rapids. ... I got free tuition because my dad worked there. Might as well go play some golf."
Farrell maintained a respectable 18-hole average of 85 for Cornerstone, but something was missing.
That something was football.
So Farrell found his way to Marion, Indiana, playing for the startup Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats program.
Farrell would become a two-time All-Mid States Football Association Mideast first-team selection. With a year of eligibility remaining, he reached out to Purdue, a pipe dream considering four years earlier he was a college golfer and the fact it was a tremendous step up in competition level from NAIA into the Big Ten Conference.
"Thank God we got him, right," Purdue football coach Ryan Walters said Monday. "He's big and athletic and he's really bought into the culture and has progressed throughout the course of the season."
Farrell, the 6-foot-4, 310-pound now only casual golfer, played in Purdue's first six games before starting versus the Buckeyes.
He's again listed at the top of the depth chart at right tackle, alongside Daniel Johnson, for Saturday's game at Nebraska.
"Last week was his first where he played a ton and he's playing against Ohio State, right out of the gate," Harrell said. "Probably not how you draw it up, but a cool first game to go get pretty much the whole game and now he's going to Nebraska to do the same thing."
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: How a former college golfer ended up starting for Purdue football
