More: Day 2 analysis ($)
On a play at Wednesday practice, linebacker Rob Simmons lined up over the slot receiver, acting as though he was going to be in coverage.
But just before the snap, the lanky 6-foot-6 athlete took three or four giant steps toward the right offensive tackle. He was there in an instant, juking around the block and getting into the backfield, then recovering a fumble on a bad exchange.
It was only a play, but a microcosm of what Nick Holt, the co-defensive coordinator who will call plays on Saturdays, wants from the Boilermakers, particularly his linebackers. They’re his playmakers, task with making instinctual reactions, like Simmons did, near the line of scrimmage.
And the veteran defensive coach is going to scheme to put them in positions to do so.
“They need to be really multiple, as you see,” said Holt, referencing the linebackers’ alignments in different formations, from three-man to four-man fronts. “They’re all over the place. They have to be really, really smart, very instinctual, fast, strong and be able to pressure the quarterback and make big plays for us. They’ve go to be sudden, explosive.
“This is a very linebacker-driven defense and linebacker-friendly for that matter also. The good thing is that we’ve got some guys who have played a lot of football who are pretty good players. It goes really hand-in-hand with what we have here, so I’m excited to get all that in with those guys and really highlight our players.”
It fits Purdue; the Boilermakers have veterans in the linebacker corps, like multiyear starters Ja’Whaun Bentley and Danny Ezechukwu, plus Markus Bailey, arguably the defense’s best athlete. Add in transfer T.J. McCollum, who played for two years under Holt at Western Kentucky, and coaches feel comfortable about the position.
And the Boilermakers feel comfort, even at this early stage of installation, with Holt’s scheme.
More so than last season.
Then, Purdue was undergoing a major change, in that Ross Els, the 2016 defensive coordinator, wanted the linebackers to play pass-first, moving laterally to diagnose what was happening, then reacting. Not so now.
“That’s a fair assessment,” Ezechukwu said. “(Holt’s system) is really attacking, downhill, and you know where you’re going. You know where the guy is going in front of you and you have to make him right if he’s out of position. It’s really downhill, attack, attack, attack, and if you do drop, you know exactly where you’re dropping to.”
Holt calls the base defense a 4-3, but he’s willing to move players around, and had four linebackers on the field a couple times during Wednesday team drills.
“We’ll give a four-linebacker look, a three-linebacker look, and sometimes, we’ll have two linebackers out there,” Ezechukwu said. “I feel like he’s trying to figure out what favors us the best and that will be what (we) do mostly. But right now we’re running all kinds of fronts and we’ll see how much we’ve absorbed it once we get the pads on on Friday.”
It’s all about disguise. McCollum said that’s what Holt did at WKU, from twisting defensive linemen in the front to shifting around linebackers. Occasionally, one will jump up to the end of the line of scrimmage, almost like a standing D-end, or slide over to cover a slot receiver.
And, Holt said, Purdue wants tall players on the edges, like the 6-6 Simmons or 6-4 Kai Higgins or the 6-2 Ezechukwu. Those players, he says, can not only get to a quarterback but could drop into passing lanes to cause a QB major issues.
Coach Jeff Brohm says the goal is to not be a stationary defense that the offense can easily react to.
“We’ve done a pretty good job, getting better every year at that,” Brohm said. “Right now, even though we’ve putting a lot in, there’s some other adjustments to make sure it’s not easy for an offense to pick up and identify, whether that’s moving the front or standing up defensive ends or making it unrecognizable sometimes to the offensive line or the quarterback, all those things go a long way. We’ve found to get better at that and be multiple in what we do and as long as we know what we’re doing and can get lined up quickly and properly, I think it can be effective.”
Bentley agrees.
“It definitely lets us be us,” the senior middle ‘backer said. “We have a whole lot of guys who don’t just do one thing. We have guys we can do a plethora of things. Guys who can possibly put their hand in the dirt. Guys who can stand up. Guys who can cover a wideout. We definitely have a very unique group of guys and now we’re just putting everything to the test and testing offenses to stop us.”
• Mike Mendez was at practice on Wednesday after missing Monday due to “personal issue” per Brohm.
It might have been the biggest development of Day 2, considering the few experienced options Purdue has on the offensive line, Mendez being one.
“We definitely want as many bodies at that position,” Brohm said, “and Mike, going in to camp was projected to go with the 1s and we need him out here, want him out here, need to get him ready to play.”
Mendez started the day as the backup left guard, but rotated in with the 1s at that position during team drills late in practice.
• Defensive Austin Larkin sat out practice Wednesday, wearing a boot but gently riding a bike early.
He has a sprained foot, per Brohm, but could be back as early as Friday, but perhaps Monday.
Other injury news: Gregory Phillips didn’t participate in the second half of practice due to a hamstring issue. Fellow slot receiver Tyler Hamilton has been out too for the same reason. The injuries gave Jackson Anthrop plenty of chances in the slot on Wednesday. … Running back David Yancey has missed the first two days, and is likely out a month, after having a meniscus injury that required surgery. … Reserve linebacker Dezwan Polk-Campbell is out while having wisdom teeth removed. … Special teamer Malcolm Dotson is on the track team right now and not participating in the spring. … Backup offensive lineman Johnny Daniels has left the team, focusing on his academics.
• Freshman Jalen Jackson was in white on Monday.
Wednesday, he was in black, as he moved from defensive tackle to offensive guard, where he was expected to be when spring began.
“We recruited him as an offensive lineman,” Brohm said. “There’s been some talk about seeing what he could do on the defensive side of the ball. He is athletic. After the first day, our numbers are extremely low on the offensive line, so without question we had to move him back right away. Throughout spring, there may be some other guys who move over to that side of the ball if we think they can help us.”
• Purdue will wear full pads on Friday, getting ramped up in only its third practice this spring.
• McCollum has been practicing a little during the spring, a good sign considering it was only a couple months ago that had surgery to repair multiple ligament damage in his left elbow.
He had been hurt in WKU’s conference championship game.
“I messed it up pretty bad,” he said. “… I’ll participate in a lot of stuff, but no contact. Just so it’d be safe for my elbow. Right now, I’m trying to get full range of motion with it, strengthening it back up.”
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