Under first year head coach Jeff Brohm, the Boilermakers had their most successful season since 2012, and their first bowl win since 2011. It seems as though the train is back on track for the Boilers.
Prestige Ranking: 2*
Purdue has lacked any sustained success in this decade and they don’t have a lot of history to boast about. In the programs 127 year lifespan, they’ve only been to four of what we would now consider big name bowl games, having gone .500 in those games.
Last Year’s Record: 7-6 (4-5)
Projected Returning Starters:
Offense: 8
QB Elijah Sindelar, QB David Blough, WR Jackson Anthrop, LT Grant Hermanns, LT Eric Swingler, LG Shane Evans, C Kirk Barron, RT Matt McCann, TE Cole Herdman
If last year’s bowl game wasn’t entertaining enough, I can’t wait to see what the electric offensive mind of Jeff Brohm can draw up this year. Wideout Jackson Anthrop will be a huge target this year for Purdue as he was the team leader in receptions last year, and second in touchdowns.
Defense: 4
DT Lorenzo Neal, MLB Markus Bailey, SS Jacob Thienemen, FS Navon Mosley
The defensive side of the ball will be a huge mark to see how real this team is. Their defensive line, and their linebacking corps will have some holes to fill as they only return one player in both positions. The secondary will have a lot of new faces to work with as well, but in the B1G, that’s not the biggest concern.
Special Teams: 3
PR Jackson Anthrop, KR D.J. Knox, K Spencer Evans
After splitting reps with JD Dellinger last year, Spencer Evans will look to be the kicker all season. After going 16/17 on PATS and 8/11 on field goals, Evans will look to be a huge scoring asset for the Boilers. On returns we’ll see just how effective Anthrop’s speed will be (I played against him in high school, the dude has WHEELS.)
Tyroil Smoochie-Wallace All Name Team: Bearooz Yacoobi
Key Losses: Linebacking Core
It’s not going to be any surprise to see Purdue struggle on containing the run, and it also won’t be a shock to see the Boilers allow a decent chunk of points as they will try to run a score-for-score type of playing style early on in the season.
Five Year Recruiting Rank (Bill Connelly): 69 (#nice)
Brohm is doing his best to bring in his types of playmakers. A couple of big recruits that are in his own backyard are the brother tandem George and Yanni Karlaftis. George who is committed to play at Purdue is a 5* defensive end with offers from the likes of Alabama, Clemson, USC, and Ohio State just to name a few. Yanni is an outside linebacker who has offers from Michigan, Michigan St, and Indiana, as he starts to shine more on the field, I guarantee he gets some bigger offers.
Outlook:
Though it’ll be harder to repeat last years success, I think Purdue will have 5-6 wins going into the Oaken Bucket battle with Indiana. Regardless, I think they’re making back-to-back bowl game appearances for the first time since 2011 and 2012.
Alcohol Prediction for Fans by Seasons End: Jagermeister
Boilermakers everywhere will be celebrating HARD with the recent turnaround in the program, and they are very thankful that they can start celebrating bowl wins instead of just one win a season.
