Danny Hope has offered nearly 150 players for next year's class...already. About seven of those players are quarterbacks as Hope's staff is still smarting from Bellamy's departure from last year's class, and offensive linemen are also a high priority as the need will be great in the coming years (as we've been saying for two).
Hope thinks that Purdue's team is sound, for the most part, academically, and doesn't expect much, if any, attrition due to grades in the next few weeks. Every interview I've read from Hope has him mentioning that this team has the parts to contend for a championship (I'm not sure which one) and his optimism, as always is bubbling over. Like we've always said, it's tough not to like a guy that's eternally optimistic, but my eyes disagree with his assessment. I hope I'm wrong and Purdue's third-year coach is on the mark.
Another noteworthy point that Hope has talked about is that Bolden is 100% following his second ACL recovery but Marve isn't quite there, at least at this point. Let's keep in mind that Henry was a unanimous captain choice for this team...as a RS Soph, so it's his job to lose in the fall. That said, when you pass as infrequently and ineffectively as 15 did at times last season, it's tough to stay healthy...so Marve needs to be ready as we saw in '10. TerBush, of course, will also be back.
On the basketball side, two of Purdue's recruits, Derek Willis and Kendall Stephens are both receiving invites to events put on specifically for the nation's elite and seem to be catching everyone's eye. Stephens has been battling a few nagging injuries during the early summer AAU circuit and Willis has had a rise like no player I've seen Purdue recruit in the last decade. I have no reason to believe this other than a hunch, but with two slimy coaches very near by, I'm concerned that Willis won't stay committed. This is precisely why we don't like talking about verbals and why it's always smart for coaches to continue recruiting until signing day. That said, I like both the '12 and '13 classes with the verbals that are in the group quite a bit and think a ton of these guys really understand Purdue's philosophy.
Sprintin' Shane
Purdue football signee, Shane Mikesky added to his already decorated track career by winning another 110 hurdles crown and helped Zionsville to third in the state in the 4x100. Mikesky is a wildcard for the Boilers and reminds me a bit of John Standeford or UND (jackface) Jeff Samardzija.
There's an old phrase that track speed isn't football speed, and I tend to agree, but athleticism is athleticism...and this kid's got plenty of that...and a 6'4" frame isn't horrible either at WR.
Here's an indoor race from God's country that Mikesky won back in '10:
PSU moves on from the DeChellis Era
Ed DeChellis decided it was time for him to part ways (a few weeks ago) with the Lions by making the step up to the big time with Navy, in doing so, he left PSU in a bit of a lurch, but they've now found their guy. They didn't look inside the PSU family, instead they went to basketball powerhouse, Boston University to find their guy. Meet Patrick Chambers.
Chambers is a 40 year old coach who led BU to the NCAA tournament and isn't lacking in enthusiasm or optimism. In fact, he seems a bit like Danny Hope in that category. He called PSU a program in better position than was Villanova a few seasons ago (I'm positive he's ignoring the past successes of the Wildcats), is impressed with PSU's newfound commitment to win championships, and thinks of the Lions as a sleeping giant awaiting to angrily rise from its slumber. If you're friends with Mr. Chambers don't tell him that he wasn't hired as their football coach...it'll ruin his summer.
8 comments:
Mikesky is legit. I covered a few of his football games last fall and he pretty much was the Zionsville passing game. They ran the ball most of the time except for their "Send Mikesky deep" play and he had probably two thirds of their receiving yards at least. This was in a conference that produced the 5A champion and Zionsville was one of the better teams in it.
I think Mikesky is someone to watch out for...and so is Charles Torwudzo. Both of those guys are people I'm excited to see in the fall.
Bdowd, I think you're a little hard on Henry. When has a freshman QB EVER been good consistently? I think when it comes to Rob, he looked quite a bit better towards the end of the season...specifically the game at MSU (i.e. better passing and pocket presence). My point is that the wait-and-see game...and even more-so with the full team...is the right way to go. I think a healthy team will be competitive.
Torwudzo is on my watch list this fall. And I was stoked about getting Mikesky this year too. Now we just need to get them open and have the ball thrown in their general vicinity........
I like Henry, as a leader and a runner, but his passing was pretty awful, both before and after his injury. I think comparing his numbers to Scheelhaase is pretty fair:
Henry was -20 in QB rating, -5.6 comp. %, -900 yds, and had 9 fewer TDs...on the positive, Henry was intercepted once less and sacked 19 times less. He has his work cut out for him not to be called a consistent quarterback, but simply to be called a passing QB.
Plus, all I said was he was an ineffective passer, which he was. Not only does he need improvement, but so does the receiving/tight end corp as do the running backs when catching the ball. There's work to be done all-around, no doubt.
Not only can Henry get better, but he simply must do so as a passer for Purdue to have a winning record this season.
(Additional note: Painter was +7 in comp. % v. Henry as a frosh in an offense that passed quite often)
And how many of the best players on the team were hurt in Painter's freshman year? It bothers me when you and J refuse to acknowledge last seasons' injuries.
We've acknowledged the injuries many, many times. I think what bothers you is that we refuse to blame everything that happened last season on injuries.
The team was ill-prepared a number of times, regardless of who was on the field. And that's -- unfortunately -- a disturbing trend over Hope's two years.
Believe me when I tell you, we want to see them succeed and if Danny Hope turns into 1997 Joe Tiller, we'll be thrilled to admit we're wrong about him.
Let's remember, UND had the #64 passing defense in the land, and a healthy Purdue offense only mustered 1 TD, 220 yds passing and 2 picks. If you wanna chalk that up to road/first game jitters, fine, I'll give it to you...let's check the next game.
Versus Western Illinois (106 Sagarin) @ Ross Ade, the game was close and Purdue only scored 31 points. Youngstown St. & Illinois St. scored more on the Leathernecks. Plus, Purdue was dead-even in yardage on the day and allowed nearly 300 yards passing. Purdue's healthy passing attack had a whopping 175 yards passing and one TD.
Against Ball State (160 Sagarin), Purdue was held scoreless for two quarters, passed for just 200 yards. At the same time, the defense allowed over 4yds/carry.
I won't talk about much after that as the injuries began to pile up other than the fact that Purdue allowed one of the worst offenses in the land to score 31 points at Ross-Ade.
Before Marve went down, before Smith went down, before Henry mangled his finger, things were looking pretty poor for our Alma Mater last season...we can't erase that.
I want these guys, Hope, Marve, Henry and the rest to be very successful...but there's really no logical reason to think that it'll happen. Here's to this team defying logic and doing very big things.
Another super fanboy opinion.
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