Exit Interview: TE Brycen Hopkins

He leaves West Lafayette as one of the school’s best ever at the position, joining the ranks of Dave Young, Cliff Benson, Tim Stratton and Dustin Keller. Not bad for a two-star recruit.

The 6-5, 245-pound Hopkins was a consensus first-team All-Big Ten pick in 2019 as a fifth-year senior and was named the league’s tight end of the year. He finished the season with 61 catches for 830 yards and seven TDs. Those totals led all Big Ten tight ends. The Nashville native will leave with 130 career catches for 1,945 yards and 16 TDs.

Hopkins—whose father Brad was a long-time NFL offensive tackle—will take part in the Senior Bowl in January and hopes to get an invite the NFL Combine in February. He projects as a top-three round NFL draft pick and will return home soon to begin workouts at Boost Performance. Hopkins expects to sign with an agent in the next week.

GoldandBlack.com caught up with Hopkins—who will graduate in December—for an exit interview.

GoldandBlack.com: What is your best memory?

Hopkins: Probably beating Ohio State (49-20 in 2018). It is my greatest memory just because the fans rushed the field. It wasn’t necessarily the win, it was the whole atmosphere.

GoldandBlack.com: What was the best catch of your career?

Hopkins: I think it was against Missouri (2018), the one that bounced off Markell’s (Jones) hands. The defender came over and hit it with his helmet and it bounced straight into my hands.

GoldandBlack.com: How has the program changed since you arrived in 2015 under Darrell Hazell?

Hopkins: A coach (Jeff Brohm) that comes in confident and ready to do some work and proves it to the players that he’s ready to coach for them and help them get better. It builds confidence in the team. Once they build that confidence, they are ready to commit. I would say we had a bigger commitment overall by our guys. And it really came out in 2017 when we could actually see that we could do something in this division. We had a lot of leaders, too.

GoldandBlack.com: Did your career go as you expected?

Hopkins: Coming in, I didn’t know what to expect. Honestly, I didn’t know what a good tight end career looked like. I was just going off on what I had seen on film. I didn’t know what type of athlete I should be. So I was just being a basketball player out there on the field. And I had to learn football. It just got more fun and more fluent.

GoldandBlack.com: What was your favorite opposing venue?

Hopkins: I would say Wisconsin’s (Camp Randall Stadium). My freshman year, I went to Wisconsin and they did that Jump Around thing. And the whole stadium just went crazy. It was shaking everywhere. At that point, I wondered if our stadium was supposed to look like this. Nebraska had a good environment, too. They always sold out.

GoldandBlack.com: What was the best team you played?

Hopkins: That bowl game (Music City in 2018, 63-14 loss). I think Auburn was really good. And I also would say Penn State (35-7 loss in 2019). I think Penn State had a good defense.

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GoldandBlack.com: Who was the best player you faced?

Hopkins: I would say (LB) Zack Baun for Wisconsin was good, No. 56. (DE) A.J. Epenesa. He is a good player. He is a big dude. (DE Yetur) Gross-Matos (Penn State) is another.

GoldandBlack.com: What was the biggest hit you took? Was it at Michigan State in 2018?

Hopkins: That wasn’t the biggest, but it was the most knockout-worthy. I got hit straight in my helmet. Some of those hits I took coming across the middle, and they just hit me in my gut area, or my private area. And I can’t get up. Those hurt even more. When I can’t get up because I am unconscious, that is different. When I can’t get up because I feel it, ya …

GoldandBlack.com: Any parting words for fans?

Hopkins: The fans made the whole experience. Them coming together and supporting us my last two years at Purdue has meant the world to me and allowed me to have a great career here. It is kinda crazy to think that just five years ago I was a freshman just walking through those doors. It goes by really fast and I appreciate them for every second of their time.

GoldandBlack.com: How does the future of the position look?

Hopkins: I think Payne (Durham) will start next year, but I like the young guys, Garrett (Miller) and Kyle (Bilodeau). They just need to learn the playbook better, and there is a lot to learn. Kyle is technically sound. Garrett is a good athlete.

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