Building chemistry at the top of Purdue's to-do list in training camp

As the calendar turns to August, the 2023 college football season draws closer, and with it comes a brand new era, with Ryan Walters running the show in West Lafayette. Purdue took one step closer to the season opener on Wednesday, conducting the first of 18 fall training camp practices in preparation for the regular season.

The Boilermakers' new leader was pleased with how his team performed at the Bimel Practice Complex this morning.

"Liked the energy, liked the communication," Walters said. "A lot of really good recall from springtime, a lot of new faces, so it's good to see everybody out there at the same time."

It has been a long off-season of roster turnover and wholesale changes to the Purdue football program, but some of the growing pains may have been negated due to the players' willingness to put in the work this summer.

"We got a lot of good work in the spring, and they did a really good job this summer together and having some player-run practices. So we were able to just dive right into football," Walters said. "Really proud of the way [Kiero Small] and those guys got these fellas in shape. And really the players are taking ownership over the scheme."

The last time we saw the Boilermakers on the practice field, they were wrapping up spring practice but looked vastly different than the unit on Wednesday. Along with returning several players from injury, the program welcomed nearly 40 players to the roster since the end of spring practice, including transfers, true freshmen, and JUCO additions.

Now that Walters has his group for the season, the next month will be dedicated to getting the Boilermakers to build cohesion on the field. That starts with getting back to the basics of honing in on the ins and outs of new schemes on both sides of the ball.

"Get assignment sound, especially with communication. Like I said, we got a lot of guys that are here now that weren't here in the spring. So just getting people on the same page. That's what we're trying to get accomplished," Walters said.

Another aspect of the fall training session is the Purdue coaches finding the right pieces to plug into the lineup. With dozens of new faces hitting the turf for the first time this week, there will be no shortage of competition and challenges, which Walters believes will help him and his staff moving forward.

"Competition and embracing the challenges. You know, that's the one unknown right now. It's just how we'll handle adversity when it hits. We got some veteran guys, got some experienced guys, we don't have veteran and experience together," Walters said. "It's just trying to put them in situations where they can get that chemistry going and react to adversity the proper way."

While he has the majority of his difference makers on the field, Walters is still awaiting the returns of several other impact players. Three key contributors, tight end Garrett Miller, center Gus Hartwig and tackle Daniel Johnson, went through warm-ups to start the practice period before exiting the field and emerging without pads.

All three are working their way back from season-ending ailments from 2022, and while they aren't back to full speed, there are no worries about their availability to start the season in a month.

"Not long-term concerns. They're just right where they should be in the rehab process. Our training room and strength conditioning have done a good job of getting those guys up to speed. Those guys taking ownership over getting their bodies, and so I'm happy with where they're at," Walters said of the Boilermakers on the mend.

Walters has sensed a close-knit bond between his players that has only gotten stronger as the season creeps closer and closer. That chemistry and discipline up and down the roster gives Purdue's head coach optimism for what could be on the horizon for the program.

"They're always pushing each other, holding each other accountable. It feels like they want the same things, and you know right now we don't really have any egos, and so from my perspective, that is a good place to be on day one of training camp," Walters said.

Purdue is coming off its first-ever Big Ten Championship Game appearance in 2022, but the vision isn't limited to just getting back to Indianapolis. The players and coaches want more.

"Higher. More than that," redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Marcus Mbow said. "Day one since Coach Walters stepped in, the dream's been bigger than that. So, we've been working towards that every single day. No hiding it."

While Purdue has high hopes for its 2023 campaign, some are not as optimistic about their ceiling as a group. The media voted Purdue to finish sixth in the Big Ten West in last week's Big Ten Preseason Football Poll. Senior safety Cam Allen shared that his teammates saw the predictions and had a big smile on his face with this response.

"We love it. That's all I'm gonna say; we love it," Allen said. "The mindset here is straight work; that's all we want to do is work."

Months and months of recruiting went into Walters and Purdue putting what they believe are the right pieces in place, and now the objective will shift to getting the Boilermakers ready for battle against Fresno State on September 2nd.