Link: Day 13 Analysis ($)

It’s been a while since Jimmy Herman felt healthy.

So long that he can’t immediately come up with an answer.

“That’s a good question,” the linebacker said following Purdue’s practice on Tuesday, the 13th of the spring. “I feel healthy now. Part of the game is being nicked up, but I feel good. I never wake up and feel hurt or feel limited physically. I’m just trying to keep a positive mind and that’s helped me a lot.”

Doing so over the last year, however, hasn’t been without its challenges. First it was the hamstrings – both of them – that kept him out of a majority of training camp last fall, then he injured a shoulder when he did return to practice just before the start of the season.

Herman could play with the shoulder injury – it limited his ability to train in the weight room and his range of motion – but the hamstrings were a near-constant hindrance. He missed Weeks 4 and 5, then tried to push himself back in the lineup vs. Minnesota, after Ja’Whaun Bentley had torn his ACL a few days earlier in practice. But Herman re-pulled a hammy and missed the next two games.

Then, Herman opted for offseason surgery on the shoulder – just a minor cleanup, but a needed one nonetheless – that kept him sidelined the first 11 practices of spring ball.

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound senior took team reps on Monday, his first significant action of the spring, then again on Tuesday.

“(I feel) good, surprisingly good,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been rough to sit out for a little bit, but I’m really excited to be back.

“I really don’t even think about (the injuries). I really just want to go out there and play. I took a shot (to the ribs) today and the only thing I’m thinking about is ‘Am I good enough to go the next play?’ And if I am, I’m going to go. That’s all I want to do is play. That’s all I think about. I don’t think about getting injured. I’ve had too much experience with that, so I’ve learned to deal with it appropriately.

“It’s just the offseason – it’s not OK (to be missing now), but the only time we could do (surgery) – it was the time to regain physically and come back.”

Now, Herman rejoins a linebacker corps with a bit of a different look under new coordinator Ross Els. With the Boilermakers playing multiple-DB schemes, frequently with five or six in the secondary, the opportunities for linebackers are lessened.

When fully healthy, Bentley will be on the field – he’s getting team repetitions but also breaks as he recovers from the ACL – and Danny Ezechukwu has a couple years experience. Purdue also likes redshirt freshman Markus Bailey, an up-and-coming player who seems to have an innate ability to always be where he’s supposed to.

But Herman’s frequently been called Purdue’s most athletic linebacker, and when healthy he’s produced; in eight games last year, he had 41 tackles, six for a loss and a forced fumble. He says he feels fast, having worked on his leg strength a lot during the offseason, both because he couldn’t use the shoulder for upper-body work and as preventative maintenance against more hamstring injuries.

“There’s competition in our room and it’s only going to make us better,” Herman said. “It does kind of suck to be on the sidelines, watching other guys get reps, but you do what you can with the situation, try to do the best you can and when they call your number, you have to do your job. So I’m hoping when they call my number, I’m doing what I’m supposed to and things will take care of themselves. And I’m hoping everybody else in the room is thinking the same thing and pushing each other, so whoever is on the field knows what they are doing and will help us win games.”

Herman, who sat out the jersey scrimmage last Saturday, will likely get in on the spring game Saturday, even if in limited reps.

“He was a little bit slower getting back, but if we can get 10 to 15 snaps out of him on Saturday, I think that’ll be good for his confidence,” Coach Darrell Hazell said.

Matt McCann is getting a crash course.

After playing right guard on the scout team last season, offensive line coach Darrell Funk moved the 6-6, 321-pounder from there to right tackle on the third day of spring.

Eight practices later, McCann took 87 of the 113 jersey scrimmage snaps at right tackle, every one helping him to feel more comfortable.

“I just feel more confident in myself,” he said. “The first day, Coach Funk told me I was going to get a couple first-team reps and I was like ‘OK, yeah.’ But now I’m taking them all and I feel more confident, especially after the jersey scrimmage, because I feel I did pretty well there, got a lot of reps against people going full-go, live and all that.”

Right tackle isn’t completely foreign. McCann played there at Bishop Chatard, but did so in a heavily run-oriented offense. So the idea of setting back in pass protection, and getting outside to stop speed off the edge, was different.

“At the college level, it was a little bit of a shocker,” he said. “How fast the ends are, you’re not in the middle any more, you have a little help, but you’re kind of on an island out there so you have to get used to that. There’s a lot of good competition out there for me too, so that’s good.”

Purdue needs McCann to develop as quickly as possible, because at the very least he could be a valuable backup in the fall. Cameron Cermin, a senior starter, will be back then following offseason shoulder surgery, but the Boilermakers could stand to build quality depth.

Maybe McCann can do so.

“Matt McCann has been a guy who has opened our eyes up a little bit this spring time,” Hazell said. “He’s been forced into that role, which has been a good thing for him. He looks like a Big Ten player. He does some things physically that you didn’t know he could do. He’s recovered on pass pro quite a few times where he flips his hips and gets on guys. So he’s got a chance.”

• Nose guard Eddy Wilson, who missed the end of Monday’s practice, tried to go at the start of Tuesday.

But when the sophomore couldn’t get stretched out, he headed over to the pit, where he spent the rest of the day.

“I don’t think it’s very significant,” Hazell said. “I think it’s his groin or hip, but he should be OK for Saturday.”

• Left tackle Martesse Patterson was injured during a drill late in practice, then went to ride a bike for a couple periods.

He didn’t participate further, but was standing on the sideline for the last team period. Hazell didn’t immediately know the extent of injury after practice.

• Antoine Miles was also in the pit, but wasn’t with the injured players.

The defensive end joined others – Andy Chelf and David Rose – on the disciplinary list.

Afterward, Hazell confirmed that Miles’ move to the pit was for disciplinary reasons.

• With only nine healthy offensive linemen, counting Patterson, the Boilermakers can’t field two completely separate teams at the position for the spring game.

So, Hazell said, they’ll do something different. Likely, several players – or maybe all of them – will play for both squads. But Hazell said he’ll release details of the plan sometime after the spring game draft on Wednesday afternoon.

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