Cranking up vertical passing game key for Purdue's offense

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Jeff Brohm wants Purdue’s offense to be exciting, creative and aggressive.

A key part of that is an ability to hit for big plays in the passing game by stretching the field.

Brohm’s offense at Western Kentucky did that well, regardless of who the quarterback was. Purdue released a graphic this summer that touted Brohm’s offenses at WKU as having the most “big plays” of any other program in the country since 2014. It touted Brohm’s offenses as having 287 plays of at least 20 yards — or 9.7 percent of all plays called. Though it didn’t break down the numbers passing vs. running, there’s a good bet the larger portion was through the air. One of Brohm’s receivers, Taywan Taylor, was reported to be first in the country in 2016 with 948 “deep passing yards” and second with 20 catches of 20 yards or more.

But can that kind of vertical passing game translate to Purdue’s personnel in 2017?

Time will tell.

QB coach Brian Brohm said after Friday’s practice, the second of camp, there’s “no doubt about it” that Purdue’s quarterbacks have the arms to produce down the field. But whether the Boilermakers actually develop a deep passing game could depend more on the other pieces.

Gone are deep targets DeAngelo Yancey and Domonique Young, and in their places are receivers who are new to Purdue, new to quarterback David Blough and new to Jeff Brohm’s offense.

Gone are three starters on the offensive line, and in their places are, at least right now with the 1s, players with little to no starting experience.

Two days into practice, it’s clear work has to be done in camp — and beyond.

“We’ve got to throw it better, we’ve got to track it better, we’ve got to block it better,” quarterback David Blough said Friday. “It comes with time doing it over and over again against a real defense. Because we can do it as much as we want against air and it looks pretty, but doing it — we had a big one today, it probably would have been a sack — and we don’t have pads on, so they’re getting some push on us, it’s tough on our guys. We have to really just focus on taking every rep like a game rep and just work on it and just keep working on it. If we’re not good at it, we’ll figure out a different way to do it.”

Blough was good at it last season, pairing with Yancey for a potent deep combination. Yancey averaged 45 yards on his 10 touchdowns, a product of often being targeted beyond 20 yards.

Unofficially, 16 percent of Blough’s total pass attempts last season traveled at least 20 yards in the air. Most of which went in Yancey's direction.

Early in camp, Blough still is searching for that weapon.

So is Purdue.

“We can find ways to create some time to throw it up the field. I think we have some creativity to do that," Jeff Brohm said last week. "I think our playmakers are getting better. Do we for sure got some key guys we can count on? I don’t know that yet. But we need to. We need to be able to have some guys we can throw deep to. I think it was probably one of the strengths of Purdue last year. They had three or four really good receivers and they could throw it deep and those receivers did a very good job. So we have to get a couple guys who can do that."

Because, he knows, it changes the offense.

“We need to stretch the field,” Brian Brohm said Friday. “It’s been a big part of our offense in the past and we expect it to be here in the future. So we’re going to challenge our guys to be able to challenge the DBs in the vertical game and be able to push the ball down the field because it really opens up everything else. It opens up the run game. It opens up the short passing game. It makes life a lot easier for the offense.”

David Blough has joked about his "big" chin is his worst feature.

But when it started shaking after Friday's practice when Blough talked about being named one of Purdue's six captains, it may have been his best: It was a tangible indicator, in a way, of just how much the honor meant to the junior QB.

It was an emotional moment.

"It’s definitely the best achievement I’ve ever ..." Blough started to say, before pausing to collect himself and then not being able to finish the thought.

Blough said the honor means so much because it was decided by his teammates.

"That they look to me," he said, "that the work that’s been put in hasn’t been overlooked."

But the new label also won't change Blough. He earned it by doing things right — and that's not going to stop now.

"I’m going to approach the days just like I have every single day," he said. "Being able to attack a day, start early, finish late, first one in, last one to leave, that’s how it’s been all summer. That’s how it’s going to continue to be in the fall, whether I’m the first guy or the sixth guy on the (depth chart). That’s how a quarterback should be."

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