Ahead of the spring football game Saturday, Purdue offensive coordinator Graham Harrell feels pretty good about what he has seen and what the future could hold for the Boilermakers.
The reasons?
Well, for starters, everyone has a year under their belt in the system. According to Harrell that is a “huge difference.”
“Having a year of experience makes a huge difference. We do have a lot of new faces, but having experience around them helps them get up to speed faster. It’s been fun and it’s a fun team to coach right now. We have to continue and just try to improve,” Harrell said.
Another reason is the depth and new faces Purdue football has at wide receiver and offensive line this spring. Up front, the Boilermakers added Corey Stewart, DJ Wingfield, Joey Tanona, Rod Green, Jaekwon Bouldin and Joshua Sales. At receiver, Purdue football added former UCLA standout Kam Brown, as well as former Georgia wide receivers De’Nylon Morrissette and C.J. Smith.
Harrell said the two rooms have seen quite a bit of competition this spring.
“At the receiver position and O-line position, we added the most people from last fall. They were small and needed depth and we have quite a few new faces in those rooms. We brought in some talented dudes and created some competition. Ton of improvement. Competition makes everyone better and it’s been good for us as a team,” Harrell said.
The new offensive linemen have allowed Purdue to do quite a bit more than it was able to do last season, according to Harrell.
“Toward the end of last year, we had to basically had to do walkthroughs because we hardly had five offensive linemen who could practice. No matter how good you are, reps and seeing things goes a long way. Internal competition has been awesome. Having that kind of depth, practice and get quality reps If you are pretty good up front, you have a chance on offense,” Harrell said.
Furthermore, Purdue football brings back a talented quarterback in Hudson Card, who played well in the last two games against Minnesota and Indiana. Harrell said the biggest thing this year compared to last is Card “understands it.”
“It looks like he’s had a million reps. Year two in the system. I think he understands everything we are trying to do and he has a great grasp of it. I think we can throw anything out there and he will be fine. Having Hudson is definitely a luxury, especially in his second year. He did some really special things last year against Minnesota and Indiana and got us out of trouble. Hopefully, that’s his standard of play now. If he plays to that standard, we have a chance to be a good football team,” Harrell said.
Spring game gives opportunity to see what offense truly can do
With the spring football game tomorrow, Harrell is excited to see what Purdue football can do offensively against a tough defense.
“I hope we go there and execute. One theme we have talked about throughout the entire spring is limit negatives. Third and 15, Third and 20, we don’t give ourselves a chance to continue to move the sticks. The most important thing and what I hope we see on Saturday is move the football and 11 guys doing their job. If we can move the sticks or not get behind the sticks, then we can continue to get first downs,” Harrell said.
And, he admits the atmosphere and environment will give himself and the coaching staff an opportunity to see how players perform under the lights in front of a crowd, especially the new players and backup quarterbacks.
“It’s new, and a little bit of nerves in there and, hopefully, they go out and execute It will be a great experience for them. Put some people in the crowd, and it will be awesome to see how they respond to that. It’s not the same pressure as a game, but you have to perform in front of an audience in a pretty awesome venue, it will be good to see guys respond to that,” Harrell said.
The Boilermakers open the season Aug. 31 against Indiana State.
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