Marve getting 1 last chance to prove himself

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- At 23, Robert Marve feels like one of college football's oldest guys.

The Purdue quarterback is back for his sixth, and final, college season.

It hasn't been the career Marve envisioned. He tore the torn anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee twice. He missed one game at Miami after a brush with the law, another for academic woes. He missed the 2007 season after being injured in a car crash. He won the starting job at two different quarterback-rich schools only to lose it both times.

Marve insists all the obstacles have made him a better person. He says he's grown up, that he's matured, and he enjoys the quarterback battle to start Sept. 1 against Eastern Kentucky -- even if he's the underdog.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)