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Brohm, Purdue ready for first road trip with Moore's status TBA

Will Rondale Moore make his debut this Saturday at Illinois? Stay tuned.

Purdue coach Jeff Brohm offered no definitive word on if the dynamic Boilermaker sophomore wideout will play vs. the Fighting Illini (0-1) when the game kicks off on BTN at noon ET in Champaign.

"I think we'll know more tomorrow on a handful of guys," Brohm said after practice on Thursday. "And hopefully have a decision by then."

Another player whose status for Saturday remains unknown is sophomore running back King Doerue, who missed the 24-20 opener vs. Iowa due to a hamstring injury. He led the team in rushing in 2019.

"I'll let you guys know more tomorrow on some of those guys," said Brohm. "You know, we have a handful of guys that will be game-time decisions ... But Cam Craig will definitely be out for a while."

With Craig out, fellow redshirt freshman Spencer Holstege will start at left guard. True freshman Gus Hartwig and junior Mark Stickford will rotate in, per Brohm.

Zander Horvath was the only running back to get a carry vs. Iowa. And the junior excelled, running 21 times for 129 yards. Redshirt freshman Da'Joun Hewitt also is available. Brohm said true freshman running back Tirek Murphy would be disciplined internally after the Purdue Exponent reported last week he was arrested by Purdue police on preliminary charges of possession of marijuana Saturday morning before the Boilermakers' opening game.

"He's going to be disciplined internally," said Brohm. "It's unfortunate. He's a good young kid and I know he'll learn from this big mistake and we'll make sure they learn from it."

Brohm also confirmed that safety/linebacker Tyler Coyle will remain out. The UConn grad transfer has yet to make his Purdue debut.

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Great to be back

Brohm was back in the office on Wednesday after isolating for 10 days following a positive COVID-19 test that caused him to miss the opening game.

"It feels great to be back," said Brohm. "Seems like I was gone forever, so it's good to be around the guys, coaches, the team, get back to football and competing every week. So, I'm looking forward to it."

Purdue also has special teams coach Marty Biagi back after he also had a positive COVID test and isolated for 10 days.

Wisconsin COVID woes

Wisconsin announced earlier this week that it was pausing its program for seven days due to a COVID-19 outbreak that saw head coach Paul Chryst among the positive tests.

As a result, Wisconsin's game at Nebraska this Saturday was called off and ruled a "no contest," per Big Ten rules, and won't be made up. The Big Ten has no open weekends to accommodate make-up games, as it attempts to play nine games in nine weeks.

The Badger boss joins Brohm as the only two Big Ten coaches to be infected. Has Brohm reached out to Chryst?

"You know what, no I haven't," said Brohm. "From what I read, it looked like he didn't have any symptoms, so that good for him. And every case is different. I'm not sure what exactly is going on there. I know they've been hit a little bit with it and they've had to pause, but I'm sure they'll be able to regroup here soon."

Purdue is scheduled to play at Wisconsin on Nov. 7. The status of that game would seemingly be murky.

"Well, you never know really how things are gonna play out," said Brohm. "You know, just from an outside perspective, I feel like when Wisconsin is ready to play, they'll play. And I have full confidence in that. I know their state's being hit hard and they got a little outbreak among the team and staff.

"We're doing the daily testing in our conference, compared to others. Hopefully, everyone's using the mask and spacing things out as much as you can. You just hope that some of your guy don't get it. I think the unfortunate part is what they do away from the facility and how contagious this is, is what can get you. I know first-hand, with the fact that my family was infected and I tried to do everything I could to stay away. And, unfortunately, it didn't work for me. So, I didn't do a good enough job."

Have buses, will travel

This will be Purdue's first road trip of the season. And, it will include some different procedures because of the pandemic.

"We're gonna take, really, the normal amount of people that we would that'll help us win a football game," said Brohm. "We try to keep numbers down on that. But at the same time, we have to take who we need. So, we're going to be under the allotment ... that you can carry.

"Yes, we will definitely have a few more buses than we normally do. We're having some meetings here before we leave that we would normally have at the hotel, due to restrictions in the state of Illinois of not having a group bigger than 50 people in a room. So, there are some things when it comes to meals and meetings that we were having to adjust."

The testing also will be different. When will Purdue take its last COVID test before playing the Fighting Illini?

"With a normal afternoon or evening game, it's the day of the game, we'll have the last test," said Brohm. "I think since our game is 11 a.m. local, we are going to get tested the night before. But, in a normal situation, it would be the day of the game."

Where is Marvin Grant?

The Purdue defense rotated players liberally on Saturday. But redshirt freshman safety Marvin Grant didn't play a snap.

"Well, he's healthy and ready to play," said Brohm. "He's right on the edge of getting in there. He's made good strides. I could see over the course of the next few weeks, we're getting to putting him in and rotating him in. But, of course, our guys got to earn their stripes. But, he's definitely made improvements and we're looking forward to sooner than later getting him on the field."

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