Blough 'blessed' to be back in Ross-Ade so soon; spring game Purdue notes

More: Brohm after the game

Parts of Saturday felt the same for David Blough.

The senior quarterback was on the Ross-Ade Stadium field again, running around in a game for the first time since Nov. 4, when he broke his right ankle in a game vs. Illinois. A quick recovery in the five months since, probably faster than anyone —minus himself — thought possible, had him back on the field as a starter for the spring game.

And Blough completed six of his 15 passes for 109 yards, helping the offense beat the defense 42-36 in a modified scoring system.

“It was awesome and a blessing," Blough said afterward. "I’m kind of reminded how thankful I am because last time I wore gray with black and black socks, this exact uniform, is when I broke my ankle. It was cool to be back out there with the guys. It was a blessing. I praise God that I was able to go through the spring fully healthy.”

Blough worked to get back on the field, knowing he wanted to as soon as possible to get over his own mental hurdle — his injury vs. the Illini wasn't pleasant, sliding near the goal line but having his ankle dislocated and broken — but also wanting to compete.

Purdue has a deep quarterback room, with Blough and injured fellow starter Elijah Sindelar, plus freshmen Nick Sipe and Jack Plummer. The latter two completed 29 of 46 passes Saturday for 337 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, and at times looking more experienced and poised than their years would suggest.

“If you’re not out there, you do get forgotten about quickly,” Blough said. “So I needed to compete with Plummer and Sipe and the guys and show what I can do, and Coach (Jeff) Brohm to see my skill set and when he makes his evaluation, whatever decision he’ll make, I need to have my name in that conversation. It’s why we’re all here. I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity on that, that’s for sure.”

Now, Blough will continue to rehab and get stronger — earlier in camp, he had estimated being around 90-percent healthy — with the thoughts of being the opening-night start. He'll have to compete with Sindelar to do so, one would think, but until then he can help lead, he says.

"I can lead this summer with our team," Blough said. "Being able to be out here, it’s the most important thing for me. Especially for these guys to see the hard work, you reap what you sow, so being able to do this was special.”

As expected, Purdue had a number of players out with injury.

On offense, linemen Grant Hermanns, Shane Evans and Kirk Barron; running backs D.J. Knox, Tario Fuller and Richie Worship; tight ends Cole Herdman and Brycen Hopkins; wide receivers Jared Sparks and Jarrett Burgess; and Sindelar, a QB, didn't play.

The defense wasn't as banged up, but had a few out: Safety Jacob Thieneman, cornerback Kamal Hardy and defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal.

And linebacker Markus Bailey, Purdue's best defender, played only one series of thud (non-tackling) tempo, not because of injury but of precaution.

“We’ve had multiple people out, every position,” Brohm said. “Guys who have been out all spring, guys who sat out the spring game, all those guys will be back Aug. 1, every single one of them. That will make us a better team. They’re very good football players, they’ve played a lot.

"The guys who have been out here are very young, haven’t been in live bullets yet, but it was good to get them ample opportunities, but we’ve got to make sure these guys get fully healthy and ready to go for the season.”

Opportunities keep opening for Zander Horvath.

The Mishawaka, Ind., native was set to go to Indiana as a preferred walk-on before he got a late invite to Purdue, a better fit considering he is studying engineering and wanted to play running back rather than linebacker.

And in his second season in West Lafayette, with injuries piling up to his position-mates, he became a valued commodity. One of only two healthy running backs this spring, with Markell Jones, Horvath got a ton of spring repetitions, and that continued Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder had 14 carries for 75 yards, plus five more receptions for 65 yards. By comparison, Jones had only two carries, as Purdue limited the veteran's snaps.

“Zander has done a very good job,” Brohm said. “He’s gotten a ton of repetitions. We’ve tried to protect some of the backs we have healthy and given him an opportunity to get better. He’s definitely proven to us that he’s a physical player, loves the game of football, he’s going to compete, he’s going to block and run hard. He can catch the football. We like what we’ve seen.”

Likely that will translate to a special teams' role in the spring. Horvath is on nearly every one of them right now, excluding the FG block unit. But he hopes he's carved out a bit more, maybe a chance on offense.

“I feel like after these two scrimmages, I’ve done some work to show to the coaches," Horvath said, referring back to the March 30 scrimmage, as well, when he had 68 repetitions, "so hopefully I can stay in the rotation and get back on the field.”

Knox, Fuller and Worship will return soon, however, adding to Jones in a deep backfield. But Horvath gives the Boilermakers a physical presence, maybe as an H-back or full back option.

He reminds in style, although not in productivity of another No. 40, Mike Alstott, who was at Ross-Ade Stadium to watch his son, Griffin, play.

“You can see in the way he looks that he cares about Purdue football," Blough said of Horvath. "He’s a strong guy. He probably reminds some, wearing No. 40, a big strong guy out there, probably it’s a familiar sight to some of these fans.”

On Purdue's third offensive series, it lined up in victory formation.

At its own 30-yard line.

With around eight minutes to go in the first quarter.

It was a bizarre move, to say the least.

On the snap, Blough turned and throw the ball back to safety man Jackson Anthrop, with the wide receiver rolling left and throwing the ball away. But a non-quarterback can't do that, so officially called him for intentionally grounding.

“I don’t know what he was doing," Blough joked. "Does he not know the rules of football?”

Probably not enough prep time.

The Boilermakers ran nine trick plays Saturday, from a double-reverse, to reverse flea flickers to a pass thrown out of a kneel-down formation. And all of them were installed on Saturday morning. Otherwise, Purdue's offense was fairly straight forward.

“Today was about as vanilla as it could be," Brohm said, "aside from some trick plays that we drew up for the heck of it."

Purdue had a little fun to start the second half, when Blough threw back to strength and conditioning coach Justin Lovett, who had stepped onto the field, who then passed downfield to former Boilermaker Vinny Sutherland for a "touchdown."

“It might have been the only trick play that worked,” Brohm laughed. “We finally have a good receiver and got a good throw on it. But it was good to see the alumni come back, a lot of players who have given a lot to the program. We just wanted to have a little fun with it.”

Being an early enrollee, Jeff Marks set low expectations.

Very low.

“I didn’t see myself playing at all, didn’t see myself contributing," the defensive end said. "I just wanted to come here and get better every day. The result of that is that good things have happened.”

Indeed.

The 6-3, 265-pounder ended a solid spring with a good game, finishing with a sack and a couple tackles, although he might have also combined with Robert McWilliams for another half takedown of a quarterback.

“He’s a big strong physical guy. He’s tough. And he knows his ball," Blough said. "I’m excited about what Jeff can do, whether it’s this year or whether it’s years to come as he matures a little bit, I think Jeff can be a good player.”

Purdue needs players on its defensive line, where it's rebuilding after losing the bulk of its production to graduation and early departure. Marks could be a piece. This spring, he backed up redshirt freshman Giovanni Revieve at D-end, and he's taken in all the coaching.

“When I came here, they helped me develop it even more,” Marks said. “Getting better every day, that’s all we do.”

Now, Marks' expectations should be raised, to the point where he could be an impact player in the fall.

“It’d mean everything,” he said. “A prominent role on the team, good grades in the classroom. The sun is shining beautifully. That’s what we all want. It’d be perfect. It’d fall in line, I’m just trying to stack the chips.”

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