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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (GoldandBlack.com) - Charlton County High School alum Justin Williams caught a touchdown pass for the No. 1-ranked Florida Gators in their season-opening win on Saturday.

And in Folkston, Ga., the current Charlton County Indians team rallied from a three-touchdown deficit in its game on Friday.

Still, all the talk, in and around the Southern Georgia community, centered around a different event - Ralph Bolden's 234-yard rushing performance against Toledo.

"No one is talking about (Williams)," Charlton County coach Rich McWhorter said. "Everyone is talking about Ralph.

"Not just players, everybody in the community is talking about Ralph. In church, people said, 'Did you see Ralph?' It's a big deal down here."

Bolden's breakout performance in Purdue's 52-31 season-opening win has drawn plenty of attention to the quiet sophomore.

Rushing 21 times for 234 yards and two touchdowns will have that effect.

He was named co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. The Sporting News highlighted him in a weekly segment on breakout collegiate players. ESPN gave Bolden a "helmet sticker" during its coverage on Saturday.

While some players would welcome the media attention, Bolden doesn't fall into that category.

"I'd rather you guys not bother me," Bolden said, laughing, while surrounded by reporters after Purdue's Tuesday practice. "I don't like the attention that much, but I guess it comes with it.

"I feel like anybody on the team could have done that with the way the line was blocking."

Such a response doesn't surprise McWhorter.

"Ralph would say all running backs look alike without blockers," he said. "He would always make comments about his offensive line blocking well. He'll take it with a grain of salt, say he was just a beneficiary of the yards."

Bolden shrugs off the attention and said he doesn't take it too seriously.

"I try not to buy into all of that stuff and just play my own game," Bolden said, "because you never know what the next week is going to bring."

McWhorter said his staff had a coaches' meeting on Saturday evening. During the gathering, an assistant coach sent a congratulatory text message to Bolden.

"Ralph texted back, 'We've got to get ready for Oregon,'" McWhorter said. "This was still Saturday and he sent that. He knows and understands that humility is just a week away."

Getting ready for Oregon means, first, looking back at Toledo.

"I was watching the film and I saw a few plays I could've done better, or perfect my blocking," Bolden said.

Still, Bolden admits his first career start played out better than any of his pre-game hopes.

"I thought it would be nice to get in and execute my plays without any mistakes," Bolden said. "Not 230 (yards). It was like a whirlwind. Even when they told me, I was like, 'For real?' I didn't even notice.

"I was just doing what I was supposed to do. I guess that's what happens when you do what the coaches tell you to do."

Bolden's performance didn't surprise Coach Danny Hope. He's been watching Bolden run well all of training camp.

"Many, many times in practice he took it the full length of the field," Hope said. "You see a guy doing that over and over again, and pretty soon you realize this guy's got some speed that can make a difference to the football team."

Defensive end Ryan Kerrigan saw some of those practice performances close up.

"The thing that separates him is his great balance," Kerrigan said. "That's how he's able to shake a lot of people off.

"It surprises a lot of people, but not me. I've had the unfortunate experience of trying to tackle him and he stays on his feet and shakes me off."

Hope said Bolden's speed was the deciding factor in a fierce competition at running back during the preseason. But there's more to Bolden than just speed, Hope said.

"I think Ralph's a complete player," he said. "There are some backs that do a great job carrying the ball. But they're not good receivers out of the backfield. That's not the case with Ralph. He's a great receiver out of the backfield.

"And some backs do a great job carrying the football, but they're not physical blockers. Ralph's a physical blocker. He did all those things. "