Brohm COVID-19 infection confirmed, likely won't be on sideline Saturday

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As big news goes, Purdue dropped a doozy of information on Monday when Jeff Brohm said he has COVID-19.

The school announced on Sunday that Brohm registered a “presumed positive result” after a rapid test administered that morning. He said on Monday that a follow-up PCR test was taken immediately after that. And it confirmed the initial daily antigen test result: Brohm has COVID-19. Will he be able to coach the team Saturday when the Boilermakers open the season at home vs. Iowa?

“Well, I've asked that question numerous times to try to make that work,” said Brohm. “It's looking like that probably won't happen. I'm not going to give up hope on any of that. But following the guidelines set forth, I don't think I'll be able to do that.”

Brohm isn’t sure how he contracted the virus.

“I really don't know for sure exactly,” he said. “It's something that -- some people in my family did contact the virus. When that happened, I isolated immediately and continued to isolate, and unfortunately it got me.

“I don't really know for sure. I thought I'd done a very good job of isolating from anyone that I thought had the virus. But come Saturday, I started to feel all the effects that you feel and Sunday tested positive. Unfortunately, I didn't win that one.”

Big Ten COVID guidelines follow CDC recommendations for staffers: 10-day isolation, return at conclusion of that if symptom-free for 24 hours. Players who test positive must sit out 21 days, per Big Ten guidelines.

Bottom line: Brohm should be back for Purdue’s next game, at Illinois on Oct. 31. Until then, Brohm is working from home.

“I will continue to coach throughout the week,” said Brohm. “I've been in communication with our coaches constantly and our players. And then, you know, when it comes to game time, Brian Brohm will handle the game-time decisions, and will be the acting head coach on that day if I were not able to be there with the team.”

Brian Brohm is Purdue's co-offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. The 35-year-old was a decorated signal-caller at Louisville who in the past has worked in concert with Jeff Brohm from the press box during Purdue games. Jeff Brohm has confidence in his staff and is doing all he can to help prepare.

“I'm going to be stuck in my house doing those things,” said Brohm. “I've got my laptop here, I'm able to watch practice, I'm able to make notes, I'm able to communicate those notes to our coaching staff."

If Brohm can’t be at Ross-Ade Stadium this Saturday, where will he be?

“I really haven't thought that far down the road,” he said. “I think, trying to prepare and help the coaches as much as I can this week remotely is what I'm going to do. And then come game day, I'll adjust from there.”

The thought of being away on game day is unsettling to Brohm.

“Well, it's not going to be very fun and it's not something I -- this is bad timing,” said Brohm “You work all year long, our players do, our coaches, to play the season. It's an abbreviated season. We've got a great opponent in Iowa coming in, so yeah, I'd love to be at the game and be with the team. I've asked numerous questions to see if that could happen, but I'm not optimistic that that's going to happen based on the rules that we have, which I will follow all the guidelines and the rules that we have.”

As for football matters, the big question looms: Who will be the starting quarterback on Saturday? It was a three-way battle in training camp between sophomore Jack Plummer, junior Aidan O’Connell and junior Austin Burton, a UCLA grad transfer.

“Well, we've made a decision about who the starting quarterback will be,” said Brohm. “But we're gonna go ahead and let that go all the way up until game time and not announce that. …

“But we have picked a starting quarterback. It's been a good competition. I think we have three capable guys right now that can go in and compete. Obviously, we have to do some good things around them, as well. But we will not announce that until game time.”

Plummer is Purdue's most experienced quarterback, making six starts in 2019 when Elijah Sindelar was hurt (shoulder/concussion). Plummer saw his season end with a broken ankle in the ninth game, allowing O'Connell to start the final three of 2019. Burton started one game while at UCLA, coming in 2019.

Would Brohm consider playing two quarterbacks on Saturday?

“We will consider playing two quarterbacks on Saturday,” said Brohm. “And we'll have a plan for that to happen. Does that mean the other quarterback will go in? Sometimes they don't. If something's going well, we feel good about where we're going and how things are going, sometimes that gets pushed off. ... "

Brohm wants to make sure he has a plan together for each signal-caller if the team needs a spark.

• Jeff Brohm expects to have a relatively healthy team on Saturday.

“There will be a few game-time decisions on a couple guys that I probably would rather not talk about at this point,” said Brohm. “But we do have about two or three guys that will be game-time decisions.”

• Iowa transfer CB DJ Johnson is good to go on Saturday.

“DJ, yes, has been cleared to play and his waiver has been approved and he will be fully approved to play come Saturday,” said Brohm.

The Indianapolis native left an Iowa program this summer that was rocked by racial unrest. The sophomore adds depth to a burgeoning collection of corners.

• Purdue A.D. Mike Bobinski said that since daily testing began on Sept. 30, no football players have tested positive. Football is the only sport undergoing daily testing for now.

“We and all the other Big Ten schools will begin testing our basketball programs as soon as everything is in place and ready to go,” said Bobinski. “But that's probably about a week away.”

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