A reporter recently told Isaac Zico that Jeff Brohm mentioned he performed well in last weekend's scrimmage and the senior wide receiver lit up.

"It means a lot, coming from the head coach. Oh, God," Zico said on Aug. 20 following a practice session. "He said that? Really? I may need to find him and thank him."

Zico, a 6-foot-1 target who has been asked to take on an expanded role recently in practice since Jared Sparks' ankle injury, is hoping to play a leading role for Purdue's offense Purdue, while realizing he's not nearly there yet.

"We're getting there," Zico said. "If he says that, it's over worth. I'll be doing everything, kickoff return, punt return, I'm doing everything."

For Zico to put himself in that sort of situation, he'll need to prove his reliability to coaches.

"Isaac Zico has made progress but we have to keep working on his consistency," Brohm said.

More than anybody, Brohm recognizes there was an eight-week stretch of last season where Zico managed just one reception, a two-yard play in a loss at Rutgers, and was barely involved in the offense.

Now, coaches see differences in the seniors, notably in the leadership category.

"Even just in the meeting room to be able to speak the language with those young guys and even see for themselves at times that I am way further ahead than I was at this time last year," wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard said of the difference between Zico and classmate Terry Wright from last season. "And then there is a physical attribute to this game where you have to perform and make tough, contested catches."

When asked during his weekly radio show Wednesday night, Brohm threw Zico's name in an early season rotation with Jarrett Burgess as a possible starting option opposite Sparks' or Wright's side of the field.

"Honestly, when I came in I didn't know anything at all," Zico said. "I didn't know the plays, playbook, coverages, nothing. Now I basically know everything and I'm starting to learn other (receiver) positions as well. I've gained a huge amount of confidence to show on the field now."

Zico already knows the one thing that will make his head coach smile: Catch the deep ball. Brohm and Zico might be able to agree some progress has been made in this aspect of Purdue's vertical passing game from the opening week of preseason camp.

Last season Purdue hit 50 passing plays of at least 20 yards, but in his last two years at Western Kentucky, Brohm's offense made more than 70 of those plays.

"Whether it's deep post routes, go routes, over routes or whatever, we've done a lot better," Zico said. "It's gone from not really catching them, to catching some and now we're catching them in almost every practice. Even in team periods, we're showing a lot of deep passes we can catch."

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