Competition breeds best of Purdue's backs as one tries to emerge as No. 1

More from Day 9: Quick Count | Fuller trying to stay on top

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Chris Barclay reminds his running backs constantly that “evaluations continue.”

With five players vying for game snaps, Barclay doesn’t only value production, doesn’t only value work, doesn’t only value certain skill sets.

His process of determining which of Purdue’s backs will get reps on Saturdays out of a group that includes a returning starter (Markell Jones), the second-leading returner rusher (Brian Lankford-Johnson), the key leader returning from an ACL (D.J. Knox), a rising sophomore (Tario Fuller) and a physical specimen (Richie Worship) is much deeper than any one easily identifiable trait.

So Barclay is taking note of how soon players show up for meetings. How much attention to detail is paid in those meetings. How things learned in meetings translate to the field. How well players carry out assignments. How well they sell a play-action fake. Among many other things.

Every element is considered.

And, through nine training camp practices, such evaluation has produced this depth chart: Fuller No. 1, Jones No. 2 and No. 3 is an “anomaly.”

“Three is ‘or,’ ‘or,’ ‘or,’ in my opinion. It just depends on the game plan,” Barclay said Monday. “I think right now, from what I’ve seen, (it’s) Tario, Markell and then depends on the game plan. But I like all three of those kids.

“In a utopian world, I’d like to play all five. But I told those guys, realistically, it depends on the game plan, the type of opponent we’re playing, but I see 2-3 guys playing consistently each game.”

And the players have known since the new coaching staff, including Barclay, arrived in the spring that they’d be fighting for snaps.

So when a couple of them weren’t healthy throughout the spring, that was a ding. Or when a couple of them had incredible summers, drawing praise from the strength coaches, that was a plus. And the attitude they had entering camp mattered, too, and, so far, that’s been good across the board, Barclay said.

Players said the competition has made each day better, has made them better.

“It’s a little stressful, because you know that the reps you have are very short, so you better make the best of them,” Worship said. “But it’s also strengthens the rest of us, like a brotherhood, we know we’re coming out here every day competing. There’s no lollygagging. There’s nothing lazy. We’ve got to come out here and execute, do our jobs, because it’s very noticeable when you’re not going your job because we have so many guys. You’d just fall down to the bottom of the list.”

Jones said he thinks every player in the mix has shown glimpses this camp of why he could be the top back.

Worship has the fewest missed assignments, Jones said, and that's while cross-training as a running back and a fullback. Lankford-Johnson and Fuller have had "explosive plays" so far in camp, showcasing their speed off the edges, Jones said. Knox has been a between-the-tackles bully, Jones said, and Jones has been happy with his ability to be versatile between the tackles as well as at receiver.

"Everyone has stepped up really big, and that’s going to be huge because we’ve seen how it works in the past when we have one or two guys and then we get kind of beat up, so having five guys who can play, it’s going to be huge for us," Jones said.

Barclay said he'll use the final week of camp for more evaluating, of course, and he's hoping to have a firmer grasp on the depth chart heading into the first week of school, which likely will include more Louisville game-planning.

So it'll be imperative for Purdue to have its full complement of backs actually in practice this week. Monday, the team went without pads coming off Saturday's scrimmage that included as many as 150 plays, Coach Jeff Brohm said then, but it's likely practices will amp back up heading into another scrimmage this Saturday.

Jones and Knox missed last Saturday's scrimmage, but they participated on Monday, they said. Brohm had indicated both were out because of injury, but Jones said he missed Saturday because he had to "take care of a class." Knox said he was held out for precautionary reasons and said he's fine.

They better be. Barclay needs to see it.

"The whole group has really embraced the competition aspect, and they’re pushing each other, and I think the level of our play has really risen as a result of that," he said.

"I tell them all the time, 'If you’re not out here, it’s hard to evaluate you.' I don’t live in the world of pretend. This isn’t Disney World. At the same time, they understand what their strengths are and what their weaknesses are, we’ve communicated that to them. But they’ve got to come out here and grind every day and work with their teammates, which they’ve done a good job of. So hopefully by the end of this week, I’ll have a better grasp of the depth chart."

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