Through the scattered rain and chilly weather in West Lafayette, Purdue football took the next step in it's process under new head coach Barry Odom, checking the first spring practice off the to-do list. The Boilermakers did so with a high energy, fast-paced practice on Tuesday morning.
This spring practice slate marks an unofficial start to year 26 for Barry Odom in the coaching ranks, who is bringing energy to his new home in West Lafayette, which trickles down to the rest of the coaching staff and then to the players on the field.
"The most enjoyable part of the day is the two hours and some change you get on the field with your team or in meetings. We're teachers, and you know the urgency that we need to move with to move this program forward. We don't have any time to waste. So our guys understand, coaching wise, where we've got to be, how we need to teach, and then the loudest we should be is celebrating our success," Odom said. "I think this is year 26 for me, I believe and I'm more excited today than I was, whatever, 26 years ago. This is going to be a fun team to coach."
Odom was pleased with what he saw on Tuesday morning, particularly with how the players took what they had been learning in meetings and translating it to the field. Purdue began the day with a focus on special teams work before doing team run 11-on-11, followed by more 11-on-11 situations and capping off the day with a two-minute drill.
"We've got a long ways to go in a lot of areas, but we're making great progress, and certainly excited about some of the things we saw today on the first day of practice. On Thursday we'll look a heck of a lot better than we did today in every area, from the head coach all the way down. Everybody's got a job and a huge role. Not a lot of standing around at practice. The guys, they understand it'll flow a little bit more so smoothly on Thursday, but I thought our kids did a great job retaining information from the meetings and then going and applying it in the situations that we went throughout the day," Odom said.
"Saw some great plays, and saw some that looked like really bad ball. So, you know, the goal is to take this body of work today, make corrections, point out the good and the things that we need to get fixed, and then go to work. The responsibility that we have to go get better every single opportunity that we get, now, the race is on," Odom said. "There'll be great teach tape off of what we did today."
A handful of expected key Boilermakers were absent during the team's first official practice. Memphis transfer defensive back Tahj Ra-El, returning defensive lineman Mo Omonode, and incoming running back transfer Malachi Thomas, chief among them, as well as wide receiver Luke Jones, freshman linebacker Parker Meese and freshman tight end Jon Grimmett.
Odom did not have the injury report to provide updates on the absentees, but did reveal that he expects every player to participate, at least in some capacity, throughout the spring.
"I think there'll be some guys that miss significant time this spring. I would anticipate, in some form of activity, we'll get them all back at some point this spring to be able to either do individual or limited throughout practice. Right now, I don't think we've got anybody that won't be able to do any activity at all," Odom said.
Purdue will look to welcome back those players moving forward as it also aims to take a step forward from a productive day one on the practice field. Odom shared that the Boilermakers will hold position meetings and have a team lift tomorrow before getting back to practice on Thursday morning.
"Tomorrow, as a team, we'll have position meetings, we'll be in the weight room for another lift, and then we'll correct the things that we did good today or make additions to that, and then we'll correct the mistakes. So, excited to have a chance to get this started and and we'll look a heck of a lot better on April 12th than we do today, but I'm not diminishing what our team did today," Odom said.
The first day is never clean or flawless, but the beginning of the process of improvement is what Odom is excited to see materialize in West Lafayette over the next month and a half and beyond.
"We've got a long ways to go, but that's the beauty of it, you come in every day, and our job is to make sure that we make Purdue football better than we were yesterday. Then today, at the end of the day, hopefully it's better today than it was when we started. And if you do that consistently, back-to-back-to-back days and there's a process of how we go about our work, and if we hold true to that, and we can get all 100% of the entire building, the entire organization, in line and with that vision, then we'll be where we need to be," Odom said.
"I think there's an excitement level and that's great to see, it should be. And now tomorrow morning, you know, will we have 100% at breakfast? You know, will we academically today, do the things you're supposed to? Tomorrow when we wake up, when your feet hit the ground, you don't hit the snooze button, you go to work. And then can you consistently get every single person doing that? That's when you start to make great progress," Odom said.
