To help commemorate the 20-year anniversary of Purdue's magical turnaround 1997 season, GoldandBlack.com's staff will break up the rosters and select the best players to wear a Boilermaker uniform since Coach Joe Tiller's first season on the sidelines.
GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft will have 100 players chosen — two picks each weekday over the next 10 weeks. Boilermakers who were on Purdue rosters between 1997-2017 are eligible for selection. The draft order is Alan Karpick, Stacy Clardie, Kyle Charters and Brian Neubert.
Charters at Pick 27 ...
Draft ticker: Picks No. 1-26
I want to build my defense around playmakers.
And although those available at safety are lessening, there are still several options, so at No. 27 I'm taking one of them: Adrian Beasley.
Purdue had a few players who personified the early Joe Tiller Era, but perhaps none more so than Beasley. He embodied everything Purdue was about then, a hard-nosed worker who had a knack for making something happen.
Perhaps we're not talking about any of this if it's not for his 43-yard fumble recovery vs. Notre Dame, a tide-turning moment in the history of Purdue football. It led to one of the greatest upsets in program history and the greatest run of success for the Boilermakers.
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The 5-foot-11, 204-pound Beasley's instincts for being in the right place at the right time were uncanny. He was there against Notre Dame, but frequently other times as well.
He left Purdue in 1999 as the program's leader in interceptions with 11, including five during his senior season when he was second-team All-Big Ten. He had three picks in two Alamo Bowls, including two in '97 when he was named the game's Defensive MVP in the win over Oklahoma State. The interceptions set up the Boilermakers' first score of the first half and first of the second, which he had returned to the OK-State 5-yard line.
Other Boilermakers over time might have been faster or bigger than Beasley, but he had tenacity and a knack for changing games. How can you ask for more? And as a former captain, I'll take him as the leader of my still-developing secondary.
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