Purdue Boilermakers (West Division)
Location: West Lafayette, IN
Stadium: Ross-Ade Stadium (62,500)
Coach: Darrell Hazell (3rd year): 4-20 at Purdue/20-30 overall, 1-15
v B1G
2014 Purdue Boilermakers (3-9)(1-7) 2015
Purdue Boilermakers
43 Western Michigan 34 S6 at Marshall
17 Central Michigan 38 S12 Indiana State
14 Notre Dame 30 S19 Virginia Tech
35 Southern Illinois 13 S26 Bowling Green
10 Iowa 24 O3 at Michigan State
38 at Illinois 27 O10 Minnesota
31 Michigan State 45 O17 at Wisconsin
38 at Minnesota 39 O31 Nebraska
14 at Nebraska 35 N7 Illinois
16 Wisconsin 34 N14 at Northwestern
14 Northwestern 38 N21 at Iowa
16 at Indiana 23 N28 Indiana
Purdue was
0-8 in B1G play in 2013 and was outgained by almost 250 yards per game in those
contests. Last year, even though they
were 1-7 in league play, they were more competitive in those games, being
outgained by only 93 yards per game.
This year, with 15 returning starters, the Boilermakers will look to
escape the B1G basement.
The battle
for the QB position appears to be wide open with Austin Appleby and Danny
Etling, both of whom played last year, back.
They will be competing with redshirt freshman David Blough. Appleby played in 10 games in 2014, throwing
for almost 1500 yards and ten scores, although he suffered 11 interceptions
taking over the starting role mid-year from Etling, who threw for 800 yards and
six scores against five picks. However,
Blough has shown his ability as an elusive runner and a strong arm, and he may
get the nod to start in the season opener.
Last year, Purdue featured speedy Raheen Mostert and Akeem Hunt at
RB. With both of them departed, the
Boilers should go from speed to more physical power RBs. As of now, sophomore DJ Knox is penciled in
as the starter, but look for contributions from sophomores Keyante Green and
David Yancy and true freshman Markell Jones, who set single-season Indiana high
school rushing records last year. Also
figuring into the mix could be freshmen Keith Byars II (son of OSU’s Keith
Byars) and Richard Worship. The Boilers
return two experienced receivers to the lineup with junior DeAngelo Yancy and
senior Danny Anthrop. Yancy had twelve
catches for 147 yards and three scores last year, while Anthrop was the
second-leading receiver with 38 receptions for 293 yards and two
touchdowns. Sophomore Anthony Mahoungou
looked impressive in spring drills and is slated to take over the third WR
spot, while sophomore Jordan Jurasevich should take over at TE. This group has lost some experience, but
should be able to put up better numbers thanks to an offensive line that
returns all five starters from a year ago and should be able to give Blough
time to throw. Led by senior center Robert
Kugler, the Purdue offensive line looks to be the strongest area of this
team. Kugler’s not alone on this line,
with guards Martreese Patterson (so) and Jason King (jr) on either side. The tackles will be senior David Hedelin and
junior Jordan Roos. This line, providing
they can avoid injuries, can only continue to improve and thus the Boilers will
be more of an offensive threat.
Last year,
the Purdue defensive line improved over 2013 from giving up over 235 yards per
game on the ground to under 200, with more sacks. This year, however, they will have to replace
two experienced DEs in Ryan Russell and Jalani Phillips, but they return experienced
DEs in junior Evan Panfil and sophomore Gelen Robinson. Panfil had nine tackles and Robinson 20
playing as backups. The good news for
the Boilers is they return senior Ryan Watson at NG and junior Jake Replogle at
DT. Watson played in nine games a year
ago and started six and Replogle returns after garnering 10.5 tackles for loss
and three sacks from 2014. The coaches
are also excited about junior Ra’Zahn Howard, who can play either end or a down
lineman position. Last year, he contributed
20 tackles and a sack. Purdue returns
more experience at linebacker than they have the past few seasons, with
sophomore MLB Ja’Whaun Bentley leading the way.
The second-leading tackler in 2014, Bentley garnered 76 tackles, 3.5
tackles for loss and also contributed an interception and three fumble
recoveries. Junior Jimmy Herman also had
a good year at the strong-side position, with 56 tackles and also broke up
three passes. Sophomore Danny Ezechukwu
played in all twelve games and started the last six and chipped in 43 tackles,
three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Purdue will have new starters at both safety positions, but the good
news is, they return two very good corners in seniors Anthony Brown and Frank
Williams. Williams was third on the team
in tackles in 2014 with 74 while contributing three interceptions, while Brown
was fifth with 54 tackles. He also
showed his quickness at getting into opposing backfields, picking up 5.5
tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, while breaking up 10 passes. Juniors Leroy Clark and Robert Gregory were
backups last year and figure to get the nod as starters at SS and FS
respectively. Clark (25 tackles) and
Gregory (2 tackles and a fumble recovery) played well in limited playing time a
year ago.
Purdue returns
experienced specialists in senior kicker Paul Griggs and senior punter Thomas
Meadows. Griggs has come a long way as a
field goal kicker; last year he hit on 16 of 20 with a long of 53. Meadows averaged only 39.8 yards per punt,
but he had a long of 57 and had 15 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard
line. They will have to find a
replacement for Mostart at KR, however, Frank Williams is back returning
punts. He averaged over 17 yards per
punt return and looks to improve on that number this year.
With the
return of 15 starters, Purdue figures to be more competitive this year and
could be favored in at least four games, so if they can take care of business
in those games and get a couple of upsets, they could stand a good chance of
making it to a bowl game. Of course, the
teams ahead of them in the division figure to be better as well, so Purdue will
need those upsets to escape the division basement.
2015 Projection: 5-7 (3-5) 7th
in West Division
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