GoldandBlack.com's 20-year Purdue player draft: Pick No. 99
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 a playmaker with his last pick ...
Draft ticker: Nos. 1-98
At this point, I just want to go best available, regardless of position.
But who? There's Kyle Adams for an extra tight end; Alex Magee as a defensive lineman; Terrell Vinson at cornerback; big ole Ken Plue as another lineman. But I'm going to lean toward the productivity of Isaac Jones, who frequently paired with Billy Dicken and Drew Brees to make some of the biggest plays in program history.
Jones, let's not forget, was Purdue's leading receiver in 1998, with 83 receptions (eighth-best in a single season in school history) for 899 yards and seven touchdowns. And he caught the game-winning touchdown in the last-minute win over Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl, a throw that helped launch Brees' Heisman champaign and put Purdue in the national spotlight in the early years of the Joe Tiller Era.
(Notice the skill players in this video: Jones, Randall Lane, Chris Daniels).
The year before, Jones had 41 receptions and four scores. His career 154 catches rank 12th-best in program history and his 1,763 yards is 17th-best. He had a penchant for the big play, and that's why he fits in perfect here, as a receiver who can get open in a four-receiver set.
A solid way to round out my 25 players.
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