2008 Purdue Football Preview
by Nick Weldon
July 25th, 2008
In head coach Joe Tiller’s 12th and final season with the Purdue Boilermakers, the man who preaches “basketball on grass” will be bringing a new philosophy to his program this season - two heads are better than one. Following the example led by the basketball team in bringing in heir apparent Matt Painter to Gene Keady’s bench in the legendary coach’s final year, Tiller and Purdue decided to announce his own successor, Danny Hope, as an Associate Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach. Hope, who will take over the reins of Tiller’s offensive juggernaut next year, comes to the program after five years as the head coach at Eastern Kentucky and prior to that as an assistant to Tiller at both Purdue and Wyoming. Hope comes in with experience coaching Tiller’s shotgun offense at EKU, and has also had the advantage of doing more hands-on recruiting for the Boilermakers without being hampered by the Big Ten’s restrictions on head coach contact during the recruiting process. Fans in West Lafayette hope that having both the master and successor on board this season will help escalate an offense known to tear apart non-conference foes up to one that can hang with the true contenders at the top of the Big Ten Conference.
OFFENSE
The Boilermakers are hoping their offense can pick up where it left off in its explosive 51-48 victory over Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl. And in order for that to happen, Tiller’s point man, fifth-year senior quarterback Curtis Painter will have to adjust to a receiving corps that lost 4 of its top 5 performers from last season. Most notable of those losses were Dorien Bryant, who graduated as the number 2 career receiver in school history, and TE Dustin Keller, who was the first round draft choice of the New York Jets. Painter is coming off of a stellar 2007 season when he led all Big Ten passers in both yards (3,846) and touchdowns (29), and cut his interceptions down from 17 to 11. His new top target will be senior WR Greg Orton, who posted 67 receptions for 752 yards and 3 TD last season, but has been battling injuries since winter conditioning this year. Also expect an increased role for senior WR Desmond Tardy in the offense. The former Indiana Mr. Football was a star quarterback in high school, and his freakish athleticism not only fits perfectly into Tiller’s system, but should help ease the special teams’ loss of Bryant as one of the top returners in the nation.
And while Tiller has always been a pass-first coach, if he wants his offense to succeed in 2008 he needs his experienced running backs be the motors and lead with a very green receiving corps. Senior Kory Sheets and junior Jaycen Taylor are expected to share the duties, and the tandem combined for 1,419 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2007. Both looked solid in the spring and even more importantly have remained injury-free thus far.
The offensive line is loaded with experience - fifth-year LT Sean Sester is starting for the fourth season in a row, senior RT Zach Jones is also a returning starter, fifth-year center Cory Benton will take over the starting role from Robbie Powell, senior Zack Reckman returns at guard, and senior guard Eric Hedstrom, junior guard Justin Pierce, senior tackle Garret Miller, and converted senior D-lineman Jared Zwilling will all compete for starting roles in the unit. The issue facing this group is injuries. Reckman, Sester, and Jones all missed spring practice, and Miller is coming off of knee surgery. With virtually a second head coach in Hope in charge of the unit, Purdue needs the inherent leadership in this group to help it overcome its troubling swell of ailments.
DEFENSE
Purdue’s defense welcomes back six starters from last season, including senior tackles Ryan Baker (who won the team’s Pit Bull Award this spring for the second year in a row) and Alex Magee, who has attracted attention from pro scouts. Another key returning starter is senior Anthony Heygood at linebacker who was second on the team in tackles last season with 81.
The defense’s biggest losses will be in the pass rush, a unit that ranked 41st in the nation in sacks (30) last season. Linemen Cliff Avril (6.5) and Eugene Bright (five), as well as star middle linebacker Dan Bick (four) have all moved on, leaving junior end Keyon Brown as the top returning starter in the pass rush. Look for sophomore Ryan Kerrigan, who had 18 tackles a year ago, to replace Avril, and junior Mike Neal and senior Jermaine Guynn to step up and provide depth on the line.
Replacing Bick in the middle of the defense will present the most trouble for Defensive Coordinator Brock Spack. Sophomore Kevin Green earned the spot this spring, and expect Heygood and junior Jason Werner to make strides this season into more prominent roles at his sides.
The most intact defensive unit from last season will be the backs, with junior Brandon King shifting from starting at free safety last year to corner this season, across from returning starting cornerback David Pender. Senior Torri Williams and sophomore Josh McKinley will be the starting safeties, and junior Royce Adams should be a solid backup DB.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Purdue’s special teams should be very strong from both sides. Returning kicker Chris Summers, a junior, was second in the conference with 110 points, and will expand his duties to include punting this year. The punt coverage team finished 35th in the nation last season, and showed that working across from one of the top returners in the nation pays off.
Replacing Bryant, who racked up 1,007 return yards with two touchdowns last year, will be the biggest challenge for this unit. However, Tardy might just be athletic enough to step in and be an admirable replacement for Bryant - he has highlight-reel agility and is dangerous in the open field, going back to his days as a scrambling quarterback back at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis.
BOTTOM LINE
While Purdue may have led the Big Ten in overall points scored last season at 446 (34.3 per game), when you remove non-conference games they ranked only fifth in the category. And despite Painter’s undeniably strong stats, his numbers have suffered against the conference’s best defenses - likewise the team has struggled to overcome the Big Ten’s top tier in recent years. Fortunately the Boilermakers will miss Wisconsin and Illinois - two top contenders for the conference title - in this year’s schedule rotation.
Purdue’s toughest matchup will be their trip to Columbus on October 11th, but it will be the month of November that defines their season. On the heels of the Big Ten putting out a record 10 bowl-eligible teams in 2007, the Boilermakers will close out the season with Michigan at home, on the road against Michigan State and Iowa, and back home for the Old Oaken Bucket game against Indiana - four teams who will be hungry for a bowl bid again this year. Expect the game against Indiana to be the biggest this storied rivalry has seen in years - pitting arguably the Big Ten’s top two quarterbacks in Painter and Kellen Lewis against each other in a finale that will most certainly have bowl season implications.
Working to Purdue’s advantage is a strong pedigree in senior quarterbacks - both Kyle Orton and Drew Brees had stellar senior seasons under Tiller. Don’t be surprised to see Painter step it up down the stretch and put Purdue in bowl contention, and possibly be a dark horse contender for the Davey O’Brien Award. Despite the losses at receiver, I anticipate the Purdue offense to be right back at the top of the Big Ten under Painter’s leadership. But the fact that they surrendered 48 points to Central Michigan in their final game last year should be a warning sign that if they don’t get it together on the defensive side of the ball, it will be difficult for the Boilermakers to emerge from the middle of the conference once again.
PREDICTION: 8-4 (4-4)
