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 takes another physical cornerback ...
Draft ticker: Nos. 1-90
Shortly after spring football in 2001, Ashante Woodyard tore his ACL.
But only a little more than four months later, the cornerback was a starter for Purdue's season opener, playing in all 12 Boilermaker contests and picking off a couple passes and knocking down five others. It was an almost unbelievable comeback with a nearly unheard of recovery rate.
But Woodward was that kind of player, a hard-working Boilermaker typical of defenders of that era. And at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds — as a cornerback — he was Purdue's most physical defensive back, per Joe Tiller, in his first five years as the Boilermakers' head coach.
And he could make plays. In 2000, of course, he picked up the Craig Terrill blocked field goal, racing it into the end zone for an overtime victory. It was one of those crazy October games that season, with the homes vs. Michigan and Ohio State, that helped propel Purdue to the Rose Bowl.
Woodyard fits in well on my defense, because he gives me a second tall cornerback (with Mike Hawthorne), allowing Brandon King to move inside to nickel, where he would excel, if needed. Flexibility is key, considering the weapons the other three have in our fantasy draft.
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