Since graduating from Purdue in 2001, Drew Brees has lived almost a story-book playing career and life, whether it be his Hall of Fame-caliber playing career or the role he played in helping his adopted city through Hurricane Katrina or whatever else.

But though a decade-and-a-half has passed, most of the faces and connections have turned over and bigger things have come his way, Brees remains a strong advocate for his alma mater and its football program, when it needs him most.

Take this weekend, for example.

Last summer, Brees hosted Purdue's football "summit" in San Diego in hopes of helping the program find solutions toward a turnaround. He's given ample gifts toward the athletic department's academic services center that bears his name and now the football training center for which ground was broken on Friday.

During a media session prior to that ground-breaking, the former Heisman Trophy candidate was asked why his advocacy for Purdue has been so strong after all these years and all that's come his way.

"Purdue has meant so much to me and my wife," Brees said. I look back at everything I've had the good fortune to accomplish or be part of throughout my life and it all started here.

"Who ever would have thought a Texas kid would come up to Purdue University, and I've told the story before, but when I was getting recruited by Purdue, I thought it was Ivy League. I couldn't have told you where Purdue was. But it was the best decision of my life."

That was then, back in 1997, when Brees rebounded from a major injury to sign out of Westlake High School in Austin to be part of Joe Tiller's first signing class as the Boilermakers' coach. He chose Purdue over Kentucky, with few other opportunities, which could only be laughed about as Brees became a star in Tiller's spread offense, breaking all sorts of records and twice traveling to New York City for Heisman ceremonies.

Today, he's a Super Bowl-winning, record-breaking football icon, one of the most recognizable names and faces in the sports world.

He's hoping to wield some measure of that influence to continue to impact Purdue for the better long after he played his final college game, in the Rose Bowl, and took home his degree.

Brees voiced strong support for Coach Darrell Hazell, but acknowledged winning has to come next, and spoke highly of outgoing athletic director Morgan Burke.

But Brees isn't just trying to help Purdue now and he's not just trying to help football.

"I want to see Purdue football succeed, for obvious reasons, but the greater vision, and I think this is what our big fund-raising campaign is about, too, with the performance center and Ross-Ade," Brees said. "A winning football program does so much for the rest of the university. It increases our applicant pool, it brings in more talent, not just on the football side but with academics.

"We're trying to create the next generation for 20 years from now when all of a sudden there's another big fund-raising project. It's the young men and women we're influencing right now through this campaign and the people involved in the leadership circle now, we're creating that next generation that will be doing the same thing we are. You want to attract the best and the brightest in every aspect of the university."

GoldandBlack.com will have much more to come from Brees. All of his comments from his media session can be heard in the video embedded above.