Media day for B1G football was this week...you all know that. Here are a few things that stood out to me:
Shavers in BG Game
-Hope and his teammates like Akeem Shavers a lot...I hope he's as good as they've observed. He need to be, in my opinion. Even if Bolden is healthy all year, he's not the biggest back and a change up who is a legitimate threat is imperative for moving the chains.
-Hope is fully expecting Robert Marve to be 100% when camp starts...that's very different from how things looked just a month ago. Kevin Pamphile is also seems to be finally improving after battling a nagging foot injury.
-Hope said about the QB situation, "For the first time since I've been the head coach at Purdue, we went into the spring game with a quarterback who had played in a college football game." That's simply not the case- Elliott played in three games as a Junior, four as a Soph and three as a Freshman. Granted, he didn't play a ton (if any) serious snaps...but he played. Plus, Marve started over half the season at Miami and threw for over 1,200 yards for the 'Canes.
-Purdue will use a two QB system as Hope sees both Marve and Henry as starter-caliber players. Plus, he likes TerBush's potential. Hopefully Robinson will be able to redshirt as it would help the depth chart quite a bit in coming seasons.
It was asked on Twitter if we could think of any teams that were good with two QBs that played regularly. I believe Carr, while at Michigan, used Drew Henson & Tom Brady, then Drew Henson & John Navarre and averaged around 9 wins/season during that period. Also, Texas used both Major Applewhite and Chris Simms under center during the same season. Sure, UM and UT had tremendous depth at nearly every position and was loaded to the gills with talent...so it's not exactly the same situation. But, it can and has worked.
At the same time, I can think of a ton of examples when it failed miserably...but it doesn't always.
-And speaking of quarterbacks who used to be part of a two-QB system, Kirk Cousins delivered a great speech at the luncheon. In it, he mentioned Purdue specifically as a place he would have liked to play...and after watching the speech (and of course watching him play), I can honestly say I wish he was wearing gold and black right now.
-IU HC, Wilson, says he hasn't watched one minute of tape from last season because he's only looking forward. On one hand, I appreciate the idea of looking to the future...probably a good idea for IU. But, as a guy who thinks attention to detail is important, watching a few hours of what happened last season might behoove the first year former OU OC.
-Joe Paterno isn't getting any younger...and while the man is simply a marvel simply because he's as active as he is at age 84, it's amazing to me how many laughs the man gets every time he speaks to the media. I guess to the 46 year veteran goes the spoils.
Quick Peek at Recruiting
-Austin Appleby still seems solid with Purdue after being named an Elite 11 QB. In spite of receiving high marks at the camp and outshining a lot of talented guys like Gunner Kiel, his rating remains at a respectable, but not noteworthy, three-stars. As he gets healthier during the season, I fully expect Appleby to do big things...and get run on by a few big programs. Danny Hope and the program really needs him to not pull a Bellomy before signing day.
-Verbals are slowly, but surely, rolling in for Hope's 3.5th recruiting class at Purdue. Along with Appleby, Hope's got a couple of solid players who have verballed, but not anybody that's highly-ranked. There is still a gaping hole the offensive line recruiting...and Hope needs to go get a few gigantic, ugly fellows in the very near future.
In the League
-Keith Smith is camping with the Lions, Kyle Adams & Dan Dierking with the Bears and Keith Carlos with the Eagles. Hopefully one or more make it to the regular season.
Of course, Kerrigan is signed with the Redskins. He got a bit dinged up yesterday, but should be healthy in the next week to ten days.
11 comments:
Dan Dierking is also camping with Da Bears. Kerrigan broke it first on Twitter - to my knowledge.
Good catch...I'll add him in- I knew there was one more.
Thanks.
I might be misremembering, but I thought Coach Hope's comment about the QB situation going into the spring game was about quarterbacks who had played in a college football game specifically at Purdue, which would exclude Marve. Still doesn't explain Elliott though, so it's kind of a moot point.
After it's all said and done though, I am just ready for football season to begin. All the talk and hype is exciting and everything, but I just want to see some football (read: results)! Looking forward to this year. Hopefully it is easier to stomach than last year.
I suppose BoilerPaulie is right about Elliott...but none of those minutes before 2009 were significant besides the NW game (where he got hurt). You could argue that technically TerBush has game minutes with that logic when in reality he played a garbage 4th quarter drive at wisky when we were already losing in a blowout.
Marve had sat out a year in 2009, so it is entirely understandable that Hope uses this argument. His game was rusty and sadly he started to figure it out right before his next ACL.
I agree though...its time for results. Enough talk.
Kirk Cousins is awesome.
On an unrelated note, did you guys pick up some new sponsor money/advertisements? Noticed the subtle links on the side.
@Bloomington.Boiler No joke. How did we not get him if he came to our camps? Who missed that one?
No clue, but I'm definitely rooting for the guy until he plays us!
I really hope that Hope does not use the 2 QB system. I think it is the rare occasion when it works. It may work if run/option plays stick with Henry and throw plays stick with Marve, but even that is iffy because the defenses can key in on that. It just disrupts the flow of things.
Leak and Tebow would be the most recent example of the 2QB system working.
True, Jimmy...I think it'd be pretty hard to have the pass-first guy come in every now and again...the inverse was true in FL and it worked well. I think that model is what Hope wanted to emulate last season.
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