Countdown to Camp: Purdue quarterbacks

Leading into August’s training camp, GoldandBlack.com is breaking down Purdue position by position. Here’s the first installment of our series, previewing the team’s quarterbacks.

After a crushing loss at second-ranked Michigan State last season, quarterback David Blough got “hollered at” in the locker room.

It wasn’t necessarily because he and D.J. Knox mishandled an exchange. It wasn’t necessarily because of a second-quarter interception.

One of the coaches told him, “You don’t understand how good you can be.”

Blough doesn’t want to wait any longer to fulfill his potential.

He’s eager to firmly grasp the reins starting Aug. 3, knowing Coach Darrell Hazell enters another camp without having named a starter at the team’s most important position for the fourth consecutive year.

Seems like a formality, though. Players talk about Blough as the starter, as do some coaches. And, though Blough says the right things about how he’s ready to prove he’s the guy in the “quarterback competition” with Elijah Sindelar, it seems as if Blough even knows he’s earned the spot for Week 1 against Eastern Kentucky.

“In every situation growing up or every time I’ve needed to be counted on in my life, I pull through for it,” Blough said in June. “The team has bought in. I think it comes from hard work and proving that I’ll be there for (them) whenever it matters. The work (is) genuine work — not working so people will see it but working where people will see the improvement of it. And then making it happen. Going out and proving it in fall camp … going out and proving that I deserve to be the guy. Then when the lights come on, just winning. Making it happen.”

Blough, of course, will need to prove just that. That he can produce.

In his first year as a starter last season, Blough completed 58 percent of his passes for 1,574 yards, 10 TDs and eight interceptions after taking over for Austin Appleby. Purdue won only once in Blough’s eight starts, and that included missing late-game opportunities against the Spartans — the Boilermakers had the ball with three minutes left, down three — and, depending on one’s point of view, Bowling Green, Wisconsin and Northwestern.

But those experiences didn’t mar Blough’s expectations for Year 2 as potential starter. They strengthened his resolve to be better.

Knowing all the circumstances circulating around the program — the new athletic director on the way, the team’s inability to win consistently over the last three seasons, the new facility being built — Blough said, simply, “bring it.”

“I know I’m the guy — I touch the ball every single play of the game — so I could really screw something up. But, flip side, I could really make it something great,” he said.

“Bring that responsibility on. Please. Please let me be the one with the chance, to have the ball with two minutes left. I can take it.”

Purdue soon will find out.

Blough got the bulk of the first-team snaps in the spring, so it’ll likely start that way in camp, too. And it’s likely he’ll be a more mature player after a summer’s worth of studying Terry Malone’s new offense — on top of what was learned in the spring — and working with first-year QB coach Tim Lester. (Whom Blough said has the quarterbacks “vastly improved” in a short period of time.)

It’s likely Blough will showcase even better poise in the pocket, even better knowledge of opposing defenses, even better accuracy and even better leadership.

It’s all part of a young player’s progression.

“You think about him playing a lot, but he’s still just a young guy. So I think his arc is still heading up,” Malone said. “It's important for us as a coaching staff to put him in a position to be able to make plays for us, and if we do that, I think he will.”

Of course, Sindelar has the same tutelage and is making similar strides, just so happens he’s a year younger and lacks the game experience. But he’s made an impression since he first stepped on campus with his big body, big arm and big potential.

If Blough falters, Sindelar will be waiting in the wings, ready to display those things.

“Elijah has terrific poise for a young guy,” Malone said. “It doesn’t take you long to appreciate his arm strength. He’s got a big-time arm. I think, in most cases, he’s accurate. It’s a good combination to have. He’s a big kid who’s got great talent, and he’s very smart. The poise is what really stands out to me. He steps out there and he performs and it’s not a huge task for him.

“That’s somebody I think has an extremely bright future and is going to win a lot of games here.”

Purdue adds freshman Jared Sparks to the mix this fall, too. He’ll likely spend camp learning the offense, developing a rapport with receivers and adjusting to the game speed in college.

Overall, it’s an intriguing group of scholarship QBs, sophomore running back Markell Jones said.

“One thing about David I love — and I love multiple things — (is) he can control the offense and everyone respects him. Because he’s a guy who does what he says and says what he does,” Jones said in June. “He’s very consistent out there and had a great spring.

“I like that there’s going to be competition in that room because Elijah isn’t going to just roll over and cede the spot to him. And Jared Sparks will be here, (and) he’ll get working. Whether they play him or not, he’s the fastest and most athletic of all the quarterbacks and he can mix it up if he gets a chance to play this year, some Wildcat or whatever else it might be.”

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