After a week that saw the Boilers lose a very winnable game at ND and then QB Robert Marve for at least some amount of time (though he's evidently actually talking about coming back by the Marshall game), I know that I'm not the only one ready to get back to football. And what better medicine for this program in its current state than the Eastern Michigan Eagles?
EMU is 0-2 and now faces Purdue and Michigan State in consecutive weeks. So maybe they'll be looking ahead to their in-state, same-color rival?
Eastern Michigan used to have a native American mascot but decided in 1991 to stop offending Native Americans and switched to "Swoop," pictured here, who interestingly is also the Philadelphia Eagles mascot. So apparently Swoop really likes green. And lousy football.
And away we go.
Boilerdowd sez:
EMU
hasn't played any world beaters thus far, but still has dropped two games (Ball
State and Illinois State). The Eagle team that went 6-6 last season and beat common Purdue
opponent, WMU in a close, low-scoring game, returns a lot of last year's squad,
especially on offense.
Vegas
likes the Boilers a lot, in the wake of whipping the spread in South Bend...and
so do I.
The
TerBush/Henry led offense should score early and often...and Shavers, Holmes
and emerging inside target, Macarthy should get fat off of the respect given to
Purdue's speed.
Hope's
team beats a MAC team it's supposed to...going away as the defense remains rock
solid and Shavers goes for over 100.
Purdue
42
Directional
Michigan MAC squad 10
J sez:
Not much to say here -- Purdue will roll and has zero excuse not to. EMU actually lost at home against Illinois State last weekend, and it wasn't even close. Illinois St. is in the MVC and I don't know this for certain, but I imagine people in the MAC look down on the MVC to some degree, so this probably hurt a bit and probably suggests that EMU really is as bad as we think.
I want to pick a score like 52-7 Boilers, but without Marve chucking it around, I don't think they'll roll it up quite so high. I do think it's going to be nice for Caleb TerBush to get to run the offense at home and against a far less talented team than ND -- we'll then be able to assess how he's progressing, as he'll have one start against a good team and one against a bad one.
Regardless, Danny Hope will have his goofy smile on all day, as Eastern Michigan puts up not nearly the same fight as Western Michigan last December.
The stars aligned pretty well for me today- I'm awaiting a design review with a client this afternoon and just finished another project...so I had a few hours this morning with little responsibility. Coincidentally, it's signing day!!!
If you visit this site regularly, you probably know how little we like recruiting. And even more, we hate the grimy soap opera that surrounds verbal commitments, defections, bags of cash, car keys and promises of kids not having to take a class that will make them think too hard. But signing day is another story.
When the signatures are on the dotted line, they are no longer recruits, no longer prospects, but they're Boilermakers...and this year's class is exemplary in a lot of ways.
First off, like most of Hope's classes, these kids seem to really want to come to Purdue and play for him. Many sold the idea to fellow recruits via Twitter and FB and others spoke glowingly to the media about where they were preparing to play in college. A few years ago, Rob Henry started this trend by talking up the Boilers...this year nearly half of the class loved talking up West LaFiesta to their Twitter pals.
Rivals places this class at #35...you might notice that's a slight drop, but that's not because of anyone being lost at the last minute. But instead it was the commitments from the highly-touted drama queens players who waited until the last possible minute to announce their choice just for EsPNU, earlier this morning. In the conference, Purdue is fourth; an unfamiliarly-high place.
Here's our look at this large class:
OL
The biggest need coming into this season, by far, was offensive line. As skill and speed started rolling in early, I was reluctant to call this class a success as the need up front on offense was glaring. But as bigger and uglier beauties began giving their verbals, the class became better and better, in my opinion.
The foursome out of HS AVERAGES 6'5" 292 pounds...they're just mammoth. I think Hope will have the ability to redshirt them and give them a year to develop and get in shape...BUT, if Hope is around in five years, these guys might be one of the main reasons.
Jordan Roos was probably the most-ready to play as a Freshman before he blew out his knee in October. His recovery is going very well.
Cameron Cermin probably isn't too far behind Roos in development. Both Jason King and James "JJ" Prince will probably work into the rotation no later than their Sophomore seasons. Prince is 6'6" and looks to have the longest arms in the class...and King is a guy that I just like due to interactions on Twitter. King played a lot of his HS career out of a two-point stance and has great feet and loves to pancake ends.
The lone JuCo signee of this OLine class is Devin Smith. He's 6'5" 290...so Hope's class is consistent, if nothing else.
One interesting note is that three of these guys chose Purdue over playing for genius Coach Charlie Weis...even without UND as his employer, he's still pretty tough to like.
TE Jonathan Curry is a guy I like a lot. He's a good blocker, has good size at 6'2" 225 (probably will benefit from a red shirt year as he'll need to be around 250 to hold his ground). He had one of the best offer sheets of this class, choosing Purdue over Arkansas, Nebraska, Stanford and others.
Carlos Carvajal, a tall, lean, athletic TE recruit comes by way of Milford Academy. His lack of weight might make it tough for him to block in the B1G...but since he's a mid-year enrollee, he'll have a leg up on some of his teammates. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll land at DE as his long arms, speed and athleticism would make him a great speed rusher.
Ryan Morris chose to play for Purdue over UCF, South Carolina, IU and others. He's 6'5" and 241 and reminds me a bit of Charles Davis. He's sure-handed, a decent blocker and is tough to bring down once he's turned the corner.
QB Austin Appleby, Bilal Marshall and Aloyis Gray are the three QB recruits in this class (with a fourth perhaps coming soon). I love the way the ball fires out of Appleby's hands- he's got a great throwing motion, good size and a good head on his shoulders. He's already blown out his ACL, so that's out of the way...and that might be part of the reason he ended up at Purdue. His last season in High School was quiet on the field as his team struggled to find wins.
Bilal Marshal had offers from Northwestern, GaTech, Baylor and others...before choosing to play for Hope. I could see him running the wildcat in Siller's stead almost immediately as he reads defensive ends well and has great quickness and long strides when he's out in the field. I think he could also follow Siller in that he seems destined to me to become a slot receiver.
Aloyis Gray isn't quite as fast as Marshall, and only played quarterback for a season. I think he'll end up at safety after a redshirt year.
Erich Berzinskas is a walk-on and has already enrolled at Purdue.
WR
Hope did the right thing offering Danny Anthrop a scholarship...but this won't look like a charity case for long. He's lightning-quick and has been a dominant force just down the road from Purdue at Lafayette CC. His brother Dru plays for Matty...but he reminds me of another Purdue legacy (a few years ago), Jake Standeford (because of his motor and attitude) with Vinny Sutherland's legs.
The next guy doesn't just have Sutherland's legs, he looks like a clone. BJ Knauf is a lot more compact than Anthrop...the most noteworthy thing I find about Knauf is that he's got a pretty great sense of humor. He should be a good locker room guy right away. Unlike Sutherland, I don't think he'll play his first year on campus.
Cameron Posey has solid size (6'2"), very good hands, runs sneaky-precise routes and is deceptively fast. He reminds me of Drew Brees' favorite target, Chris Daniels.
Jordan Woods is a bit of a mystery man- I've never seen a video of him, he's got good size (6'3"), and not many offers.
DL Ryan Watson was one of the last guys to verbal to Hope...and his verbal seemed pretty soft when it happened. But, surprisingly to me, it stuck and he'll be coming to Purdue. He is listed at DE, but reminds me a bit of Kawaan Short when he came in...and will probably play inside after a red shirt year next to Gaston. Purdue beat out Illinois, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska, Michigan, MSU, Wisconsin, Tennessee and others for Watson's services.
Kingsley Ike has my favorite name of the class. He reminds me a bit of Anthony Spencer as he is very quick on the end and has a swim move that made his foes whiff time and again as he swallowed up their QB. He plays with an attitude, mean-ness and swagger that I like quite a bit...in that way he's a bit like Shawn Phillips.
Greg Latta is a JuCo transfer who is already on campus and will play DE. At 6'6" and 265, he's physically ready to play right now.
LB Andy Garcia is a tightly-packed 6'0" player who is a sure tackler with good quickness and a pitbull mentality. I'd like to see him get a look at FB as well.
Jimmy Herman plays well in space and has solid closing speed...he'll benefit from an RS year.
DB Anthony Brown reminds me a bit of Josh Johnson, and will probably see the field no later than his Soph. year. I got to see Warren Central's Jordan Shine play in person a few times. He's a ball hawking safety who hits very hard, but isn't the biggest guy, yet. I think he'll remind you a bit of a healthy Albert Evans.
K
With Carson Wiggs looking to play later in the weekend in 2012, Hope knew it'd be tough to fill his void...so he signed not one, but two kickers. Paul Griggs and Thomas Meadows are those guys. Griggs will probably be the starter as he has a huge leg; similar to Wiggs in his ability to kick long field goals and was one of the top-rated kickers in the nation.
Will either grow into the title of "Most Exciting Kicker in America"? Who knows...but like Wiggs, one of them will be the starter from day 1.
One hole in this class, obviously is RB...but Purdue's situation at the position looks to be very strong for '12, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hope gets a big-time guy to buy into the program early next fall to take the place of Bolden/Shavers.
My Picks
This is wild speculation, but here are a few opinions of the class.
Instant Impact:
With Purdue especially weak at Safety, I think Jordan Shine will see the field early. I think the same of Kingsley Ike at DE...as that position is in even more need of immediate help.
Paul Griggs should come in and kick with accuracy and consistency right away; he's highly-touted for a reason.
Best in 4 years:
By the time he has left Purdue, I think Austin Appleby will have started and won a lot of games. After a redshirt year, my hope is he'll push Rob Henry and earn some snaps as his skills are completely different than Henry's. Maybe I'm connecting dots that don't connect, but I think his ACL situation is similar to Brees' in the simple fact that without that injury, I think he'd be someplace else...probably aOSU.
Biggest Surprise:
Danny Anthrop's quickness and ability to make plays on special teams will make him tough to keep off the field as a true Freshman.
Addendum:
A late addition of Joey Warburg Olineman from Kentucky, makes this class one of the broadest I can remember- they come from 13 different states. I think this is a testament to Hope and his staff leaving no stone unturned this year.
I've been trumpeting a composite computer ranking as a relatively-fair and level-headed way of looking at rankings. BUT, has anyone checked out the RPI recently? I know that it's unbiased, which is good, but in my opinion, the formula doesn't, nor has ever really matched reality. It's a good tool at the end of the year, along with other factors, to try to figure out if a team is a top-68 team, but, it shouldn't be given the stand-alone respect it receives.
For instance:
-Duke, which to me seems to be the best team in America, currently stands at 10th. aOSU, the clear second-best team in the land at this point, is 15th.
-4-loss G'Town is third, 3-loss Kentucky is eighth, 4-loss St. John's is 11th, 4-loss WVU is 13th and 3-loss Florida is 14th. My eyes simply don't agree with with the formula...but it should come out in the wash in the next few weeks.
-The Forces of Good dropped after their 23-point drubbing of Iowa, to 12th.
Purdue's current CCR is 7th.
Eerie Parallel?
As you all know, my first and foremost passion in football is our Boilers. Of course my alma mater is my priority, plus, I just like the college game more than the pro game. But, I root for the Colts, albeit more casually, but I like to see the team I grew up on win.
But, for many seasons my Boilers and the horse have had some pretty unusual similarities. Years ago, Manning and Painter (when he was a Boiler) were torching their competition, until they reached the elite...then they would kinda wet the bed. Both teams had prolific offenses and no defense to speak of. It's not a coincidence that they both lost big games, mind you.
Recently, I've watched the Colts flounder as injuries plagued them to the point that they were almost unrecognizable. Granted, Manning was still playing and Purdue no longer has a sure-fire signal caller, even before injuries, but stick with me.
Special teams were a problem for both teams all season, specifically kickoff returns. Also, both teams had big problems with stupid penalties at bad times. Atop that, Danny Hope was prone to calling asinine timeouts this season.
All three of the problems killed the Colts on Saturday. From a dumb running into the kicker penalty, to a massive 47-yard kickoff return at the end of the game by the Jets, to an unbelievable timeout called by Caldwell in the Jets final possession. It was probably a combination of these factors and the injuries that killed the Colts. And like the Boilers, the margin for error was just too slim for the Colts for them to overcome fundamental errors.
Like Hope, I think Caldwell deserves a season of healthy players before he can be evaluated. But both have a ton of self-induced scrutiny on them after this season.
Perhaps I'm being overly-analytical and the comparison between the black and gold and the Colts isn't warranted...but I'm already looking forward to Spring ball...especially with Brees no longer in the playoffs.
Good Get
Danny Hope looks like he's done it again. Purdue has gotten a solid verbal, late in the recruiting season from a defensive player that a ton of good programs really wanted. Just as Bruce Gaston was a highly-sought after player who decided to commit to playing to hope late last year, Armstead Williams chose Purdue over a lot of very good offers.
Williams, from Pennsylvania, had offers from Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and others. He might see the field right away, especially on special teams, depending on what type of shape he's in when he arrives on campus...but at linebacker there will be competition as four former starters return and a ton of young talent is already on campus.
I like Hope's class quite a bit- a lot of solid players with good offers from other schools. With the defections of Reese and Melton after the first semester, Hope has one or two more spots available...so this class could be as big as 16 signees. I'd like to see a non-JuCo safety or a true offensive lineman, if I had a vote.
The jewels of this class (along with Williams of course), in my opinion are:
-RB Marcus Caffey (offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, WVU, others)
-QB Russell Bellomy (offers from Boise State, Minnesota, South Florida, others)
-WR A.J. King (offers from Iowa, Ole Miss, WVU, others)
A few guys that are a bit off the beaten path that I like are:
-WR Shane Mikesky
-CB Taylor Richards
The biggest question mark is definitely DE Randy Gregory. With the off-the-field issue, academic concerns, he might not make it on campus...but, if you've seen him play football or basketball, you know he has a ton of athleticism...Hopefully he can get his head and heart into what he's doing.
We've been saying that Danny Hope deserves a season in which his team is mostly-healthy...I think he'll get that next year. And his team will be loaded with speed and depth almost everywhere.
Danny Hope's defensive line got another strong part with the commitment of Rashad Frazier late this weekend. Frazier chose God's country over MSU, WVU, Wisconsin and others...Perhaps Hope and Co. have figured out how to leverage J Money's sweet affection as a bargaining chip with these 18 & 19 year olds, or maybe it's the new facilities and the excellent education...Regardless of what the tactic might be, something's working and slowly but surely, it seems that Hope's staff is turning the recruiting tide.
The football recruiting class is coming together...it's official.
Another noteworthy recruit verballed this morning; and get this- he's from Florida! Surprising, I know. A solid three star athlete, according to Rivals & Scout, Higgs is listed at LB, but could move to a down lineman position, as he's already 245.
Momentum is building, friends...Hope, Williams and Co. are starting to make waves. I look for at least one more commit this week...hopefully on the OL or a WR.
Danny Hope just got the first big time recruit of his coaching career. This is very good news as McBurse should be able to step in as a Frosh and back up Taylor. This is also significant as he is a mid-year grad. Nothing's done until the letter's signed, but this one sounds pretty solid.
Purdue beat out Nebraska, G Tech and others for this Rivals 4-star prospect.
In case you haven't watched game film from Saturday, here's a chance to witness some details, at least on the offensive side of the ball. I didn't make this video, but I'm glad this guy did. The music isn't so great, but the video is just as effective with the sound down.
A few thoughts on what I see: -Ken Plue was impressive in person and was as well on this video -Dennis Kelly (Freshman lineman, #68) who just burned his redshirt last week was impressive, especially as plays broke down -Siller made a wide array of throws...seems to have more touch than Painter, but his balls are a little more wobbly than Curt's (he should see a doctor about that...). In all seriousness, he made some very good decisions too and didn't force or panic, as 12 seems to have done much of this season. -I knew Greg Orton played well...he played really well; and he knew it too. He was in the face of the hapless UM DBs on a lot of occasions late in the game. He was probably sick of them holding him...didn't matter though, even while cheating, they couldn't guard him. -There's no way Painter should play next week. -Michigan is awful, so that needs to be taken into account, but they blitzed and Siller handled the blitzes and different looks very well.
Addendum: Justin Siller was just named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week. His reward will be Painter starting next week?
