GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft: Pick No. 28
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.
Neubert continues his path to utter domination at No. 28 ...
Draft ticker: No. 1-27
In addition to a really good offensive lineman, Gene Mruczkowski gives me both the co-longest last name on the board and some flexibility on my fake offensive line.
I am slotting the lineman in right now at center, where supply-and-demand rule here, but very much reserving the right to slide him over to guard, where he was outstanding for three seasons before moving inside as a senior in '01.
Mruczkowski was a big-time radar flier-under while at Purdue, because of the nature of his position and his modest, understated nature.
As a personality, he was surrounded by outsized personalities for much of his career, but as a player he more than held his own, a wide, powerful, tank of a human being with a great head on his shoulders, whether it was put to use at guard or center.
And his recruiting story came with little fanfare. He was that last-man-in guy who Purdue threw a last-second offer out to just as he was about to put pen to paper for West Virginia.
Big-time value here in this pick for me as I turn my attention to the O-line.
Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook
More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.