Wednesday, August 12, 2009

New Names, New Faces


Not a ton to report from the multiple sources I read this evening...Press day revealed that the Boilers will don names on the back of the jerseys. I'm not a big fan of it- the first thing I think of, when it comes to Purdue and names on the jerseys are some pretty dark days in Ross Ade- days when J Money had healthy knees, Tim shot the basketball incessantly at the Co-Rec, I had hair and was thin, all three of us were students at Purdue, and the football team was awful. Granted, the names had nothing to do with the lack of success for our Boilers, but I'm a traditionalist when it comes to uniforms. That's about the only change I can notice on the unis this season.

One thing I've heard a lot from Coach Hope in the interviews is that he's doing a lot by committee- Running back by committee (makes a lot of sense with the depth at the position), a ton of receivers will get looks (again, I like this because we need to see who can make an impact) and Elliott and TerBush will both play a lot of downs during the season (this one I don't like).

Dan Dierking (one of the many RBs in the stable) looks like a throwback to the 60s...but not many guys from that era had pipes like 25

The reason I'm bothered by the last of the three is because that sounds to me like he's not completely convinced that Elliott is the guy. Hopefully one of them proves to be a clear-cut, successful leader in the huddle and behind the center, or it could be a long season for this offense. I've never been much of a proponent of two-quarterback systems.

According to Hope, today was a bit more crisp...that's a very good thing. One thing I still haven't heard a lot about is how tough this secondary is to throw against so far in practice- hopefully, very. If not, once again, this could be a long season for Purdue faithful.

Monroe Brooks was moved from DT to the offensive line...and Trevor Foy probably will be next to do the same. I think that will spell redshirt for Foy...but, I think he'll be a very good offensive lineman in the coming seasons. I also look for Kevin Pamphile to make the same move and be get a redshirt as well...Granted, I have nothing concrete as info on this subject, just a hunch.

9 comments:

Purdue Matt said...

I am with you on the jersey thing. You play for the name on the front, not the back. I hate how we tinker with jerseys so much.

It's too bad Dierking isn't 4 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier. I bet he would make a helluva LB.

Anonymous said...

I think the names on the back of the jerseys should be like on NCAA Football, TE#88, FB#36, QB#9. That would make me happy. MWH

Plang said...

Is it actually QB by committee, or is Hope just trying to sort out who the QB will be? I agree with you that 2 QBs sharing snaps during the season is not the best way to do things. I'm sure one of them has to separate himself from the other enough to get the position full time.

boilerdowd said...

Paul, that's not what Hope's saying- he said TerBush will take snaps, not just in garbage time throughout the season...and Mark, I think your suggestion is a happy medium.

I haven't seen Dierking play LB...but his size seems lot like some good players, at least on paper. His arms seem a bit shorter than the small LB...I wonder if he could play SS?

J Money said...

The names work for the basketball team, so I'm just going to keep telling myself that.

(I don't like it for football, either.)

dozer8589 said...

Enough about the jerseys! Does anyone seriously think that it makes any difference? Are they suddenly going to forget how to play football because their name is on their jersey?

If you think identifying players solely by number promotes the "team" concept, ask Chad Ocho Cinco what he thinks.

dozer8589 said...

And further more, the more I see and hear about Coach Hope, the more I'm convinced that he is a BAD ASS.

I think his attitude is going to inspire this football team. Something tells me the Boilers are going to punish people this year. I can't wait to see them take the field and knock someone OUT!

boilerdowd said...

I think Hope's a bad dude...it's the assistants that I'm worried about at this point.

J Money said...

Well-said, Anonymous. Konichiwa.