On those warm, fall Northern California Friday nights, Nate Sudfeld would whip passes around the field for Modesto Christian High School in front of a captive, albeit small, audience. One of the top prep quarterbacks in the country, Sudfeld attended a private school that fielded only 23 football players his senior year, and he never played in front of more than roughly 1,500 people.
So when Sudfeld arrived at Indiana in 2012, he understood the magnitude of his new surroundings. Despite his immense talent, he still had much to prove.
"Growing up in high school, football was a big deal to us, but it was a small community," Sudfeld told ESPN.