Devin Mockobee wants to put fumbling woes in rear view mirror

Just over a year ago, you be hard pressed to find anyone who knew much about Purdue running back Devin Mockobee. The Boonville, Indiana native was buried on the depth chart and was off the radar for the Boilermakers.

After some injuries to the Purdue running back corps and an 78 yard outing against Indiana State, the walk-on tailback began to earn recognition with the Boilermakers. That eventually turned into Mockobee emerging Purdue's top option out of the backfield by season's end and nearly becoming the first running back to eclipse the 1,000 yard mark for the program since Kory Sheets in 2008.

Now, everybody knows the Mock Train.

The breakout star was then put on scholarship on head coach Ryan Walters' first day on the job in December and was expected to solidify himself as one of the best backs in the conference in 2023. However, those expectations admittedly got to the redshirt sophomore.

"Definitely think starting off the season I was definitely in my head a lot. Expectations got to me a little bit," Mockobee said on Tuesday.

The result? A spell of fumbling issues that spiraled into Mockobee losing his bell cow role out of the Boilermakers' backfield. The typically sound running back coughed it up three times against Syracuse, then had a lost fumble against Wisconsin and Illinois in the following two games.

The ball security issues had Mockobee scratching his head, as he had just two all of last season. Along with having a hard time dealing with the expectations coming off a breakout campaign in 2022, Mockobee also thinks defenders are attacking him differently this season.

"It's kind of hard to comprehend, like, why's that keep happening? Obviously, you look at the defensive guys and how I was playing last year, a lot of the guys are coming back. They're trying to tackle the ball and not just me," Mockobee said. "So really just have to put more focus on that."

Mockobee took a step in the right direction against Iowa, rushing for 89 yards and a score in the Boilermakers' loss. It was his highest rushing total since week two, when he had 95 yards against Virginia Tech and interestingly enough, his last game without a fumble prior to Saturday. He credited the bounce back performance to simply going back to the basics.

"Just fall back on fundamentals and really just play my game instead of trying to do too much. I was trying to do too much and then, you know, things happen," Mockobee said. "I'm starting to get more relaxed and just play my game."

Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell recognizes the ball security issues of his running back, but also thinks Mockobee has been doing some good things with the ball in his hands this year.

"He kind of had some bad luck early just with putting the ball on the ground but other than that, like anytime he has the ball, he's just hard to tackle," Harrell said.

Unlike those who followed the Boilermakers' run to the Big Ten Championship Game last season, Harrell was't accustomed to Mockobee's unique running style which earned him the nickname "Crazy Legs" by the Purdue faithful.

Purdue's offensive coordinator touched on Mockobee's run style and how it's helped him become successful out of the backfield.

"It's crazy. It looks like his legs are going all over the place. He's kind of fun to watch run, but he's just slithery. He has a great feel for space. He has a great feel for run schemes and does a great job for us," Harrell said.

The Boilermakers will need Mockobee to return to his 2022 form moving forward, especially after Tyrone Tracy Jr. went down against his former team on Saturday and is expected to miss at least this coming week. Harrell has no reservations about what the redshirt sophomore will do while seeing the workload he became used to last season.

"We're gonna continue to need him to do that as we move forward and I think he will," Harrell said. "He prepares the right way, he does things right and because of that, I think, you know, he'll continue to play at a high level."

Tracy Jr. has been a pleasant surprise after his switch to running back during the off-season, which in part led to him overtaking Mockobee for the top option in the run game. The sixth-year senior scored a touchdown in the first five games of the year and rushed for nearly 200 yards combined against Wisconsin and Illinois prior to the injury.

Mockobee, Tracy Jr, and Dylan Downing had formed a formidable three back rotation, which is now just a two man attack with Mockobee and Downing for the time being.

"With all three of us, we're all working backs and we're all really good at what we do. So I mean, you hate to see injuries coming up and stuff like that, but we got to roll through we got," Mockobee said.

The trio of running backs and their talent are a driving force behind Harrell's commitment to run the football through six games, which wasn't what many expected when the Air Raid adopted came to West Lafayette this off-season.

Mockobee hasn't been surprised by how much the Boilermakers have run the ball, however.

"I wouldn't say I'm surprised or that I'm taken aback or anything like that. We're just playing ball. So, I mean if that entails we have to run a little bit more than what people were expecting outside of this these buildings. I mean, push comes to shove we just got to do what we got to do," Mockobee said.

While he's been featured out of the backfield, even with the fumbling woes, Mockobee has also been a reliable target for quarterback Hudson Card through the air. The physical back has 14 catches for 94 yards on the season after having 32 catches for 274 yards last year. With how the game is moving, Mockobee knows he has to be well-rounded to get onto the field.

"In this day and age of football, we got to be able to do more than just run the ball. We got to be able to block, got to be able to catch the ball and run after the catch. So that's just another part of the game now," Mockobee said.

Tracy Jr's status moving forward remains uncertain, but good news for the Boilermakers is they have a proven back to lean on that's starting to find his groove after early-season struggles.