Gerry DiNardo has been around the Big Ten for years.
The 68-year-old was head coach at Indiana from 2002-04 and has been an analyst for The Big Ten Network since its inception in 2007. DiNardo was at Purdue on Monday as part of BTN’s annual bus tour that stops at each campus to watch a practice and produce a TV show. The Purdue show is slated to air at 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday on BTN.
A big question that looms over the Boilermakers as they build toward the season opener on September 4 at home vs. Oregon State: Who will be the quarterback? It’s a battle that appears to be junior Jack Plummer vs. fifth-year senior Aidan O’Connell, with fifth-year senior Austin Burton also in the mix.
“I would think they're probably going to play two quarterbacks,” said DiNardo. “Nobody said that to me. But I'd say, from watching practice--and, again, it was the first day of class, it was really hot--I couldn't see any separation between those two.
“I lean toward they're probably going to play two. But no one has said that to me. That's just my impressions coming in for one day of camp. They both look about the same.”
What were DiNardo’s impressions of the offensive line, another area on the team under scrutiny?
“What I thought about the offensive line, depth is a concern,” said DiNardo. “But I also think that their starting guys have improved over the last few years that I've seen. One through five, they're better. Depth is definitely an issue.”
As expected, junior wideout David Bell caught DiNardo’s eye. So did the Purdue defense.
“To me, the defense coaching-wise and player-wise looked better,” DiNardo said. “They have George Karlaftis back where he belongs. So, I think that's a big positive.”
Last year, Karlaftis was miscast in the base 3-4 scheme of former coordinator Bob Diaco, who was ousted by Jeff Brohm after one season.
“The defensive line appeared to have a lot of depth ... linebackers, secondary. I was impressed with their defense,” said DiNardo.
“I'm sure he's told you guys he wants to be more collaborative, be more involved. There appears to be more depth there than on offense. With the new staff and Jeff's involvement, I would expect improvement on defense ,for sure.”
Brohm has rebuilt his defensive staff, adding linebackers coach Brad Lambert, line coach Mark Hagen, secondary coach Ron English and cornerbacks coach James Adams. Lambert, Hagen and English are all co-coordinators.
“Well, of course, I know (Lambert, Hagen and English),” said DiNardo. “Mark's been around forever. He's a hard-nosed defensive line coach. Ron English was Lloyd Carr's defensive coordinator 15 years ago (at Michigan) when we first started the tour. And then was head coach at Eastern Michigan when Derrick Gragg was AD who is now AD at Northwestern. Lambert was at Georgia with Jim Donnan when I was at LSU (1995-99).”
DiNardo liked the talent on that side of the ball, which will operate from a base 4-3 scheme and be aggressive. Overall, he thinks Purdue’s roster compares favorably with its Big Ten peers.
“Other than Ohio State, there's a lot of similarities between the other 13 teams, physically,” said DiNardo. “It starts with the offensive line. Some of the offensive lines separate themselves. And the obvious ones are Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota this year. But the offensive line at Purdue is similar to a lot of the teams in the Big Ten except for the ones mentioned.
“Defensively, I think they are more comparable physically to more of the Big Ten. And half the league has a quarterback, half doesn't. I would suspect that that's going to play a major role in the results of the season. But nobody looks like Ohio State. And I think in the West, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin kind of set themselves aside physically from the rest of the West.”
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