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 has his ninth-round pick.
Draft ticker: No. 1-34
Rob Ninkovich was largely a reserve during his two-year Purdue career, becoming a starter only during his last five games.
It was a mystery then — he backed up Ray Edwards — but there will be no such controversy now; the 6-foot-2, 260-pounder will be a starter from Day 1 for my all-star defense.
Ninkovich was incredibly productive in 2004 and '05, particularly considering he shared snaps with Edwards, as Anthony Spencer got a bulk of the repetitions on the opposite side of Purdue's defensive line. The J.C. transfer recorded eight of his career 16 sacks in two games vs. Indiana, twice tying Purdue's high for sacks in a single game. But he had other big ones, as well, like his two-sack performance in the Boilermakers' historic 2004 win at Notre Dame, when he also caught a touchdown pass. (Nice trio of tight ends I have, as well, with Dustin Keller, Shaun Phillips and Ninkovich).
As a senior, Ninkovich was second-team All-Big Ten, when he had 48 tackles, 17 for loss (ranking in the top-20 all-time in a single season), with eight sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
And he played — what? — 50-percent of Purdue's snaps? Crazy.
With Ninkovich and Phillips on the edges of my defensive line, I have two of the most tenacious, never-give-up, attack-minded ends in the history of Purdue football. Good luck keeping these two out of the backfield.
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