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.

Clardie's up with her eighth selection.

Draft ticker: No. 1-29

OK, I get that this could be a surprise pick. When I made it, even the fellas were a bit taken aback, mostly, I think, because they'd not thought of it themselves.

One could argue other cornerbacks could be taken here, perhaps Jacques Reeves or Antwaun Rogers. But David Pender was a proven, productive Boilermaker during his career, starting 30-plus games and sitting No. 2 in the record book for career pass breakups with 33.

Pender was one of the Purdue's fastest and most athletic players during his career. At 6-foot-1, he used long arms and great anticipation skills to break up passes, making him a perfect option to cover the field while nearly 200-pound compact classmate Brandon King locked down the boundary and came up in run support.

Pender's ability allowed Purdue to play mostly man coverage during his senior season, and he responded by breaking up 13 passes.

Pender may have been soft-spoken — unlike King — but he still believed he was a great player, even saying his senior season he thought he and King were among the best cornerback tandems in the Big Ten.

I love the idea of his length, speed and athleticism at the spot opposite Ricardo Allen's feisty, playmaking style.

Go ahead and try to complete a pass against this secondary with Allen and Pender playing press man and Kerrigan et al. rushing the QB.

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