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It's one thing to be healthy enough to play and quite another to be healthy enough to be a go-to option.
It was also easy for the announced crowd of 47,410 at Ross-Ade Stadium and the rest watching ESPN at home Thursday night to see Jared Sparks was the latter.
Sparks says he knew right after the first play of the game.
The 6-foot-1 wideout stuck his foot in the turf, caught a short pass from Elijah Sindelar and broke a tackle for an eight-yard gain. The first-down play was the lightbulb-turning-on moment for the receiver who'd been battling ankle issues late in preseason camp and was only described as simply "going to give it a go" by his head coach about 24 hours before kickoff.
"I needed that first catch because usually that first play always shows what the drive is going to be like," Sparks said. "Last year was my first year playing and now I'm going out there with a little more confidence and calmer. Everything is a little slower for me now because I know the offense and I know what Big Ten speed is."
After that eight-yard pickup, Sparks managed to earn five more catches for 68 yards and was the second-most-targeted receiver Thursday night behind Rondale Moore.
Sparks' position coach, co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard, said after practice Tuesday that he knew his sophomore receiver would be able to play against Northwestern despite trying to come back fast from a severe ankle injury.
"Y'all kept asking me if he was going to play or not and I kept telling you he was going to be there," Shephard said, seemingly joking, to local media. "You said it 400 different ways. Is Sparks going to be there? Is Sparks going to be available? I told you he's going to be there mind, body and soul. I knew all week and I knew all camp that he was going to be doing just fine."
Sparks said Thursday night was the best he's felt physically since rolling his ankle in preseason camp and attributed a lot of his recovery to the natural magic of adrenaline pumping through him in the days leading up to the season opener.
"The training staff did an amazing job with me, the strength staff did an amazing job and the coaches really did a great job in terms of the amount of reps I was getting in practice," Sparks said. "It was just all on me. I said to myself, 'I can't miss this first game' and I had so much anxiety for this first game that I felt I had to go out and play."
Jeff Brohm said Monday he was pleased by the wide receiver position as the second-year Boilermaker coach said the unit "played better the first game than we had last year at that time" when Purdue lost the opener in Indianapolis to Louisville.
Shephard said Tuesday that he hopes all this opening week attention for Moore leads to a more balanced passing attack that will include Sparks, Wright, Isaac Zico and Jackson Anthrop as the season progresses.
"We typically spread the ball around in our offense and guys get opportunities to catch the ball in our offense," Shephard said. "That's the reason why in recruiting, we can recruit lots of wideouts. This isn't a one-trick pony."
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