Jeff Brohm is likely to handle the quarterback situation the same as he has the first two weeks: He'll make decision on a starter, but not announce it.
And in the first two games, that process led to Elijah Sindelar starting and David Blough relieving in the second quarter. But after Blough’s solid performance, 235 yards on 11-of-13 passing with three touchdowns, in Friday's win over Ohio, could the junior get the nod at Missouri?
“We'll wait till Saturday to (announce) that with you guys,” Brohm said at his Monday press conference. “But I know David did a very good job. He stepped in. He was very efficient, took care of the ball, produced points, got us into the end zone.
“Unfortunately for Elijah, we had some drops when he was in there, but I thought he played very well also. Just happened to be little bit of the luck of bounce of the ball, so to speak, and David taking advantage of the opportunity when he got in there.”
Sindelar was 5-of-11 for 60 yards and a TD vs. the Bobcats through the first quarter-plus — he finished the drive that ended the first — but as Brohm referenced, the QB was hurt by drops, four of them in total.
But Brohm says both Blough and Sindelar are improving.
“I do believe they understand in order to succeed, we need our quarterback position to play well,” Brohm said. “They've done everything we've asked. I think the competition has brought out the best in them. It pushes those guys to do the small things and work hard to get better. Hopefully it pays dividends for us in the long-term.”
Injury notes
• Markell Jones wasn’t listed among the bevy of running backs on Purdue’s official depth chart, perhaps meaning the junior will not be available at Missouri.
Jones missed the Ohio game after suffering a right knee injury the week before vs. Louisville. Brohm said Jones is progressing but a determination of whether he can go will likely come after evaluating Tuesday's or Wednesday’s practices.
“I think he's getting better,” Brohm said. “Do I anticipate him playing? I don't know for sure yet.
“… I saw him out there rehabbing while we practiced (Sunday). He looked like he had made a lot of progress. I'm not for sure exactly where that is.”
• Brohm is hoping that safety T.J. Jallow can work more in defensively after he played only a handful or so snaps Friday night.
But for the safety to take on more responsibility at Missouri, he’ll have to practice during the week.
“If he wants to play this week, he's going to have to practice,” Brohm said. “He's a young football player that is going to have to practice in order to play. We're going to work with him. I think last week he wasn't able to practice much. I think it affected how much we played him. I think it's important that he gets as much practice times a he can.”
In Jallow’s place, Navon Mosley started vs. the Bobcats and had a couple tackles.
Wilson on bench
Keiwan Jones got his first career start against the Bobcats.
But it’s probably more noteworthy that it came in place of Eddy Wilson, one of Purdue’s most talented defensive players.
Brohm explained Wilson’s status — he entered the game soon after not starting — as “some internal things we were dealing with.”
"I think Eddy did a very good job when he was in there,” Brohm said. “When he's locked in, he can be as good as he wants to be. I want him and all our players to know we're going to support them and push them to be their best. I think he came in, did a very good job."
Meanwhile, Jones was solid in his start, making a couple tackles and being active in the line of scrimmage. Not bad for a 280-pound junior who had practiced mainly as a D-end during training camp.
“He gave us another guy that we got a little more confidence in now, that we can rotate in there. Lorenzo (Neal) had to sit out the first half,” Brohm said, referencing Neal’s situation following the targeting call vs. Louisville. “Had to make sure we had at least one more guy in the rotation. Keiwan came ready to play. He can play multiple positions for us. He's worked hard in camp ever since we had him. He's had a good attitude. I was happy to see him do well.”
More pressure
Purdue has only a sack through two games, although there were instances vs. the Bobcats that the Boilermakers created backfield chaos only to miss the opportunity.
But Brohm said Purdue would like to start getting more than only Danny Ezechukwu’s one.
“I think any time you can hit the quarterback, put pressure on him with a sack, a hurry, a knockdown, on a quarterback it affects him,” Brohm said. “I want to make sure we're getting enough pressure.
“I think up front they've done a good job. Sometimes we got to get off blocks a little bit better. Sometimes maybe we're dropping multiple guys in coverage and we don't have enough guys up there rushing. It's got to be the perfect mix.
“But I'd like to find a way to get a little bit better pass-rush and get after the quarterback. I think anybody you play, you have to do that.”
New, better returns?
Purdue could change its personnel in the return game, Brohm said, after it’s not been very productive in the first two games.
On eight kick return attempts, the Boilermakers are averaging only 13.5 yards, ranking 108th (out of 127) in the country.
Freshman KeyRon Catlett, who has been the primary return man since Jones’ injury, has twice dropped the ball, including once vs. Ohio, although he hasn’t turned it over.
“We may adjust some things a little bit, change it up slightly. But you know what, we'll get better,” Brohm said. “I think our special teams overall was better than the second game. There's still plenty of room to improve.”
Brohm said Purdue could try others, maybe receives or running backs, although he wouldn’t specify who.
“You always want to make sure you have runners, but also guys that can catch it and are consistent catching it,” he said. “We're going to look at some more this week and we'll determine that at the end of the week who will be the guy.”
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