It's a calvacade of top quarterbacks working in the Arizona sun. There's former Michigan State signal-caller Brian Lewerke, Spencer Rattler of Oklahoma and Jack Miller of Ohio State, among others. There's also Jack Plummer.
Like thousands of other Purdue students, Plummer is back home, finishing classes. And he also has been busy honing his on-field skills with personal quarterback coach Mike Giovando--all while maintaining social distancing.
“It’s been about 100 degrees out here in Phoenix,” said Giovando. “But Jack is working hard, getting better.”
Giovando is a Arizona-based private quarterback coach who operates Elev8 Quarterback Academy in Phoenix. Giovando has seen Purdue’s redshirt sophomore signal-caller develop before his very eyes as he matriculated from Gilbert (a southeast Phoenix suburb) to West Lafayette.
And with Purdue—like every other school in the nation—shuttered amid the coronavirus pandemic, Plummer has had to return to home base to continue school remotely—and hone his football skills.
“Jack came down here during spring break and then never, ever went back,” said Giovando. “He couldn't go back because they closed everything down.”
Plummer has been working with Giovandno four times a week this spring.
“We go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then Saturday,” said Giovando. “We want to get back inside the classroom but haven't been able to. We hope to this month. We never were told we couldn't be outside. It has been good for Jack to get the extra work in.”
Especially since the 6-5, 220-pound Plummer is coming off a broken right ankle suffered in the ninth game of 2019 vs. Nebraska that ended his season.
“He's flying around,” said Giovando. “We're going over bags and he is moving through hurdles and jumping off the wrong foot, moving lateral and throwing. When he first came out here in January, he was still kind of ginger. He barely had gotten cleared and he wasn’t allowed to put much pressure on it. And then that first week of spring break, he was a little tender after a workout. But now, I don't see an issue at all.”
Purdue had conducted eight spring practices when it broke for spring break and Plummer headed home to Gilbert. And Plummer has remained in the southwest.
“Jack is getting better and better,” said Giovando. “He has had an opportunity to work on things without having to think about all the team stuff. You don't get a lot of individual time during the season and during spring ball. Everything’s about getting plays installed, getting ready to run the offense.
“So, I think with the injury, in a way, this has helped him, because he got to kind of train and get his leg back and get everything back underneath him.”
Plummer showed promise last season. He appeared in seven games, making six starts and emerging as the No. 1 quarterback after Elijah Sindelar was lost for the season in the fourth game with a broken collarbone. Plummer completed 144-of-241 passing attempts (59.8 percent) for 1,603 yards and 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He rushed 62 times for 56 yards before breaking his right ankle--a similar injury to what David Blough suffered in 2017.
In 2020, Plummer is competing with junior Aidan O’Connell—who started the final three games after Plummer got hurt—for the Boilermaker quarterback job. And UCLA grad transfer Austin Burton will join the race whenever Purdue resumes workouts for the 2020 season. Plummer will be ready.
“He has been trying to tighten up what we call the circle,” said Giovando. “Trying to make everything come out a little bit quicker. Quickening up the circle. Try not to reach back as far as when you're a big, tall long guy.
“Sometimes, you have a tendency when you take the ball back to extend back a little further than you want to. He's working on that. It's not a big thing, it's just something he'd like to be able to do, get the ball up quicker, out faster.”
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Plummer also has been working on his base, getting it wider so he doesn't have to step that much when he throws. He wants to keep his delivery quick and compact.
“He also has been focused on climbing up harder in the pocket,” said Giovando. “So we do a lot of pocket drills where he has to maneuver in there, climb up and make a throw.”
The competition on hand is heady. In addition to Rattler, Miller and Lewerke, Plummer’s little brother, Will, who is going to Arizona, is on hand, too.
“They track every ball and throw,” said Giovando. “It is fun. We talk almost each day, talking ball. We have a good relationship. We are gonna get into the playbook soon.
“My favorite thing about Jack is he always wants to work on his spiral. He's always frustrated if it's not the tight spiral. He wants the ball to come out clean and nice. He throws spirals, but he really wants a pretty ball. Jack will be ready to go whenever we start up football again.”
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