GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft: Pick No. 49
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.
Karpick loads up at defensive end and makes a subsequent position switch for his first pick of the 13th round.
Draft ticker: Nos. 1-48
Ray Edwards was talented. In the last 20 years, he belongs on the Mount Rushmore of the highest-ranked and most-talented recruits the Purdue program has snagged.
During his days as a Boilermaker (2003-05), his motor might not have always been running as fast as the coaching staff would have liked, but he showed flashes of brilliance, compiling 16 sacks in three seasons. He was good enough that when it came time to name the Den of Defensive Ends, Edwards is front and center among Purdue's all-time elite at the position. He came out a year early, earning a fourth-round pick by Minnesota.
Simply put, Edwards was just too good to pass up. And with the flexibility of moving Akin Ayodele back to linebacker, it made the decision even easier. Plus, the groan in our staff room from colleague Stacy Clardie was audible when I made the selection. That has to be worth something.
Yes, even during his seven-year NFL career with the Vikings and Falcons, there were complaints of Edwards possessing a poor attitude. That was consistent with his time in West Lafayette. Yet he was productive in the league with 33 career sacks. More importantly, my team has focused, high character guys on both sides of the ball (starting with Drew Brees Matt Light, Akin Ayodele and Gilbert Gardner) that might hypothetically keep Edwards moving in the right direction.
Now a professional boxer known as "Monk" who has 12-1-1 ledger, he has a nasty streak, good hands and great athleticism. Again ... too much of a talent to pass up.
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