GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft: Pick No. 39
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 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 is up with his next pick ...
Draft ticker: Nos. 1-38
Cliff Avril is still available?
Well, no longer.
And I don't care that I don't have room for the 6-foot-3, 260-pounder at defensive end. I'm going best defender. And the athletic Avril is capable of playing more than one position, like he did during his career as a Boilermaker.
From 2004-2007, Avril was a productive defender at Purdue, first at linebacker, then at defensive end. Because I've already got Shaun Phillips and Rob Ninkovich at end — although both, as has been proven in the NFL, are also capable of standing up — I'll put Avril in at his first Purdue position. He made four starts there in 2004, then four more in '05, but 2006 saw his move to D-end after the fourth game of the season. In 14 starts, the last 10 at end, Avril had 84 tackles, 15 for loss, six sacks, an interception, six pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a recovery. He followed that a year later, starting all 13 games at D-end and having six more sacks, in addition to four forced fumbles and recovering three more.
It's those last numbers that are must enticing, giving my defense yet another who has a tendency to force turnovers.
At linebacker, I envision Avril on the line, moving around and taunting my opponent's offensive line; might need to create havoc in the backfield, considering my secondary is still developing.
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