GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft: Pick No. 66
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.
Clardie moves toward finishing up the O-line with the next pick.
Draft ticker: Nos. 1-65
Was hoping to take another outside receiver with this pick, but Brian nabbing DeAngelo Yancey has me changing course.
May as well finish assembling my offensive line, and it's clear putting a priority on defense hasn't hurt me put together a good group up front on offense. For example: I was able to wait until Round 17 to nab my center, and I couldn't be happier, getting to snatch Robert Kugler.
Not only was Kugler a four-year starter — one at guard, three at center — but it was the way he played that was so impressive. He was voted a multi-year captain because of his tremendous leadership, the way he worked, the way he challenged teammates, the way he fiercely attacked practice and the tough-guy persona he made reality by starting 43 consecutive games.
He wasn't necessarily physically imposing — he came in as a tight end before moving to the O-line and it was quite a moment when he hit an ideally shaped 300 pounds going into his final season — but he was able to make up for that with a nasty attitude and a cerebral approach.
Coaches trusted Kugler to diagnose defenses from the center spot, so they typically gave him a lot of responsibility, and teammates trusted him, too, to make the right calls.
Have my eye on a perfect fit to finish out my physical, tough-minded O-line with my next pick.
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