Competition, friendship driving rookie Purdue defensive linemen

More from media day: Colmery's goal: Return to football | Jones calls knee injury a 'blessing' | Rookie corners learning, pushing veterans ($) | Hazell hopes newcomer can help return game

Since they committed to Purdue earlier this year, Houston area natives Lorenzo Neal and Anthony Watts have become close friends and roommates.

And intense competitors.

It’s that back-and-forth that’s helping each improve early in training camp, to where it’s not unreasonable to think each could help Purdue in 2016.

But whose been better through the first three practices?

“It’s definitely me,” said Neal, drawing a response from the nearby Watts. “Being the competitor I am, I can’t give him credit. Watts has had a great three days, but every once in a while, the freshman makes a mistake.”

All do. Not that defensive line coach Randy Melvin is very understanding. The veteran assistant has high expectations for all his players, regardless of their age; the same goes for rookies. On the first day of training camp last week, the freshmen — Neal, Watts and Alex Criddle — struggled to execute a basic drill, drawing a shake of the head from Melvin and shouts from teammates.

But Neal says Melvin’s standards are good.

“I appreciate the fact that he doesn’t really treat us as freshmen,” Neal said. “Some people would say ‘Ah, it’s not cool that I don’t get to make those freshman mistakes and all that,’ but I appreciate that he puts the motivation in us, he pushes us to be more than a freshman. He doesn’t want us to make the normal freshmen mistakes. It comes in the classroom, to out of the classroom, to maybe not being as early to a meeting as you should have to missing a block. That’s stuff that freshmen are expected to do, but he doesn’t. It makes you work that much harder, to be better than you’re expected to be. That’s big, coming in to play immediately like you want to.”

Purdue likely needs them early, because the interior of its defensive line has very little experience. Tackle Jake Replogle enters his third full season as a starter, but otherwise only sophomore nose Eddy Wilson has played before, and not much. Sophomore Keiwan Jones, who is competing with Wilson at the nose, hasn’t played, redshirting then missing 2015 with a knee injury.

On Day 1 of training camp, Neal (nose) and Watts (three technique) were with the 2s, immediately in the two deep as Purdue looks to see if they can play.

“It is motivating when you have a chance to come in and make an impact,” Neal said. “But I think a lot of it is that you look at Jake and Eddy and Keiwan who have been there for three and four years, you have to watch the way they go about their day to day and they way they go about drills and things like that. They’re making it and playing, so they know what they’re doing, so you’ve got to pay attention.”

A reason they could play early is their size. The 6-foot-2 Neal came to Purdue at 345, but is down to about 333 with the goal to be at 325 to 330 for the season. Watts, at 6-4, weighs about 294, while the 6-4 Criddle, who is getting some third-team reps, is at about 309.

“They’re all big guys,” said Replogle, who played as a freshman. “That’s different. Guys like me and Evan (Panfil) came in at like 250 and we had to put on weight. They came in big and have to come down a little bit. But they’re working hard and are strong guys. You can tell they’re going to help us this year.”

Watts doesn’t like to think of himself as a freshman.

“I like to think of myself as a player who comes in and does my job,” he said. “It’s not about age, because if you’re good, you’re going to play. If I want to play with the big guys, I have to work like the big guys and have the mindset of the bigger guys. It’s about the mindset right now, and my mindset is in the right place.”

Part of that mindset is Watts’ ongoing competition with Neal. The two roomed in the summer and likely will again in the fall. They’ll keep jabbering.

“After practice, if one of us messes up, we get on each other and push each other really hard,” Neal said. “We both want to play. Even though we play the same position (as interior D-linemen), we don’t necessarily play the exact same position. It definitely a competitive edge. If I mess up, I know he is going to be the first one to call me out on it. If he messes up, I’m going to be right on him from the get-go.”

Membership Information: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2016. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.