8/9/2018 football Edit

Brohm redefining trick plays in Purdue's culture

Matt Stevens • BoilerUpload

Staff

At most schools, a trick play would normally defined as something done outside of the norm to deceive an opponent.

The addition of Jeff Brohm's mind and willingness to make certain calls in a game has forced everyone around the Purdue program to reassess how they react to a flea flicker pass, double reverse, hook-and-ladder pass or a throwback to the quarterback. In a sense, what is a trick and what is simply a normal part of Purdue's playbook?

And of course, Brohm and his staff have researched the professional, college and even high school game to see how to add wrinkles to established plays and formations.

"You have your base offense, base plays and those are all great. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but any time we did something a little different over the course of the last four years, 80 percent of the time they work," Brohm said.

Purdue's second-year head coach sees the same percentage of positive results from razzle dazzle action as dentists who recommend sugarless gum to their patients. When pressed at Big Ten media days last month, Brohm set the over/under on trick plays by his program in 2018 at 50 - or three to four a game. When given the opportunity a few weeks later at Purdue's media day session on Aug. 3, Brohm doubled down on his prediction.

"Someone asked and it was like, 'OK, how many games do we play? Yeah, we should run four a game so if you run four a game then that should get you close to 50'," Brohm said.

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Brohm has also showcased a humility in being open to anybody who wants to suggest a trick play or wrinkle in a formation. Whether it's a current player, high school coach or a Purdue fan, Brohm's saying is he's "open to suggestions".

"Sometimes we'll get video on a (high school) player we're recruiting and there's a lot of different high school coaches out there that do things that are interesting," Brohm said. "We're not too proud to utilize it and not ask questions (of them)."

Brohm said on Aug. 3 that the fake double reverse flea flicker against Ohio last season that resulted in a 62-yard touchdown pass from David Blough to Cole Herdman was the result of text messages from Blough to his head coach.

"(Blough) is very active and I know for a fact that (Blough) has texted me things at least three or four times after we win," Brohm said. "Our trick play against Ohio was one where every time he'd see a team run it before we did, he'd text me that they didn't run it as well as we do. I said, 'Well, that's a good thing'."

Blough, who already sounds much like a coach now at 23 years old, said at Big Ten football media days that he'll text his coach late at night some formations or plays he's seen or would like the program to try. In fact, he said he jokingly said he was going to go over some formational looks with Brohm while they attending a game at Wrigley Field that evening.

Brohm begs the question to why his daring play-calling style is still unique in a sport where coaches sometimes get conservative and afraid to look foolish.

"We take pride in (trick plays)," Brohm said. "It's hard to score against good defenses and it's up to us to figure out how to score points and (trick plays) have helped us going back to last year."

The only problem now is the secret is out that Purdue isn't likely to ever be traditional under Brohm.

"I do know people know now and they're not quite as aggressive," Brohm said. "But if people are going to continue to be aggressive against us, it's important for us to have trick plays to keep people honest."

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