Blough will start spring as Purdue's No. 1 QB; injury update, more

Spring preview series ($): Position battles | Breakout players, defense | Breakout players, offense | Biggest questions

David Blough was right.

Just over one month ago, Purdue's senior quarterback said he'd be ready to participate in spring practice, even if that'd mean he'd had an incredibly quick recovery from surgery to repair a dislocated ankle. Blough seemed to have little doubt, though.

Jeff Brohm, on the other hand, was planning on rotating redshirt freshman Nick Sipe and freshman Jack Plummer at the spot, figuring Blough wouldn't be on track to return.

On Friday, though, Brohm admitted Blough not only will participate, but he'll be the No. 1 QB when practice opens Monday.

And Brohm is surprised to be able to say that.

"It’s one thing to be ahead of the game in rehab, but he’s way ahead of the game," said Brohm, actually laughing. "I think I’m over (at the practice facility) a lot, but he’s over here almost as much. Every time I’m in the building or going in a room, he’s there doing work, he’s there by himself, he’s there at night, he’s there in the morning. Without question, being the competitor and the type of person he is, he’s done everything in his power to get back fast, and he is way ahead of schedule.

"As of right now, I don’t anticipate maybe him doing every single thing we do (in spring). We’ve got to make sure we protect him to a certain degree, especially in 11-on-11 settings. But that remains to be seen. We’ll see how the first week goes, if we can progress on that. But he will participate starting Day 1."

Blough was Purdue's starting quarterback when he injured the ankle against Illinois. Elijah Sindelar took over the role after that and finished the season, even playing the last three-plus games on a torn ACL. Offseason surgery on that knee injury means Sindelar will miss the spring, but at least Purdue's offense will not have a mature, experienced leader with Blough able to go. That could take some pressure off Sipe and Plummer, though both will get plenty of reps.

"Without question, it’s always important to get quarterbacks ready to play, and they are two young quarterbacks that are healthy, fully healthy, at this point," Brohm said. "We want to make sure we push the envelope there and put some pressure on them to perform and give them ample opportunity to learn on the field and utilize every practice we have to make sure they progress their development."

Blough's quick recovery is impressive, but Purdue still will be without a significant amount of other key players this spring.

All of the players who had ACL surgeries either during or after the season are out — that includes Richie Worship and Grant Hermanns. Running back Tario Fuller, who had foot surgery, is out. Wide receivers Jared Sparks (ankle) and Jarrett Burgess (ankle) are out. Starting guard Shane Evans will be out "quite a bit" of the spring after having "some work done to him," per Brohm. Starting tight end Cole Herdman (toe) is out.

Projected starting defensive end Kai Higgins didn't have surgery, but he tweaked an ankle in workouts and will miss at least the start of the spring.

"While we want to improve on the spring, I’m always on the conservative side as far as making sure those guys are ready to go come Aug. 1," Brohm said. "So we will progress (the rehabbing players), hold some out the entire spring, but we’re hopeful some will get back in the summer."

Even without the injuries, Purdue was thin on scholarship bodies this spring to fill the two-deep, but there will be significantly more opportunities now for little-used players to prove their worth.

The defense, especially, will be interesting to watch this spring, for sheer personnel decisions alone.

Gone are starters Danny Ezechukwu, Gelen Robinson, Da'Wan Hunte, Ja'Whaun Bentley, T.J. McCollum, Josh Okonye and Austin Larkin.

"Our guys have been working hard the last couple months, but there’s a lot of progress to be made with a lot of new people, a lot of new faces," Brohm said. "We have to make sure we utilize every practice, every day that we have with them, get all these young guys schooled up and guys who maybe haven’t played a whole lot schooled up so that come summer, we can continue upon that improvement. But there’s just a lot of guys who haven’t played a whole lot and we have to make sure every one of them is getting every opportunity they can to improve.

"I know it’s a concern. It’s more concerning than some other points throughout the process of where I’ve been, that we’ve got a lot of work to do. While we finished strong and some good things happened (in the season), a lot of those seniors that were leaders and really good players are gone. So we’ve got to find guys to replace them. In our opinion, they’re not there yet and they have a long ways to go. But there has been some improvement. We just have to make sure we push as hard as we can this spring to make sure that they’re getting ample opportunity and ample repetitions to improve their play because we’re going to need every bit of it."

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.