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The nickel position, bridging linebacker and the secondary, is expected to be a particularly important piece of the Boilermaker defense this season.

But Purdue's turning over, too, at its other hybrid position as part of its extensive retooling on the defensive line.

With Danny Ezechukwu gone, Purdue's "Leo" position — combining defensive line- and linebacker-type responsibilities — is open, there for the taking, Kai Higgins seemingly getting first crack.

The junior played sparingly last season after transferring from junior college the prior spring.

Higgins says he's experienced "tremendous growth" in the past year, on a variety of fronts.

First, and perhaps most importantly, Higgins — 225 or so when he arrived from Chaffey College in California — is now in the ball park of 260, a needed step.

"I thought last year I could play at any weight, but in this conference, it's the best conference in college football," Higgins said. "You have to take care of your body, be at the right weight, eat right, sleep right, hydrate.

"I needed to do a lot more if I was going to play in this conference."

Second, it's simply experience, following a full year in Purdue's program after he played just one season of junior college football. Boilermaker coaches thought early on they'd benefited from Higgins slipping through the recruiting cracks after he was primarily an offensive lineman during his varsity high school football years.

"I'm not where I started, but I'm not where I need to be," Higgins said Tuesday, following Purdue's morning practice. "I feel like I can be a great player. I just need to clean up some things technique-wise, practice harder and just, overall, more maturity. I've grown a lot. This is a growing process ... and it's more about focusing on little things now, like my stance, my get-off, looking at the ball, getting the call.

"I still have a long way to go, but I have made tremendous growth."

The responsibilities being grasped are multi-layered, because the Leo position asks much of a player.

""In the old days you'd refer to it as like a rush end," said assistant coach Kevin Wolthausen, who works particularly closely with the Leo position. "It's kind of evolved to where it's multiple things now. (The Leo) needs to be a good pass-rusher, a guy who can drop and cover, maybe not really intricate things, but able to cover certain areas of the field.

"He has to be physical and aggressive on the edge, to play head up on a tight end, outside a tackle. There's lot of different attributes that you need and so it's become kind of a special position."

But Higgins is also playing Purdue's true defensive end position at times, one of several defensive linemen — Giovanni Reviere and Jeff Marks among them, too — alternating between positions.

No matter where he's lining up, though, Higgins says he has a stronger grasp of his responsibilities.

"I was just trying to make plays (last year)," Higgins said. "I wasn't really focusing on getting the (assignment). I was just trying to find the ball. This year, the maturity level has really grown and I'm starting to understand coverages, drops, where the linebackers are fitting so I know my fit, and just the whole defense, how it works together, so I can do my job to the best of my ability."

In a perfect world for Purdue, Higgins will prove to be part of the solution for the Boilermakers as they seek personnel who might give its pass-rush a jolt. As Nick Holt said last week, Purdue has looked to have more "pushers" — bigger, space-eating types — than rushers up front to this point.

But Robert McWilliams could factor in there, too, the redshirt freshman also working at the Leo spot behind — or along with — Higgins.

A linebacker sort of body type, McWilliams was specifically recruited as part of Jeff Brohm's first Purdue class to add burst off the edge.

Listed, though, at 225 pounds as of right now, the redshirt freshman remains a work in progress physically "and probably always will be," Wolthausen said.

"But he's the guy who can really gas it off the edge, and he has good athletic ability in space," said Wolthausen, who was on staff as an analyst last year before being tabbed as Purdue's 10th assistant coach in the spring, to work with the defensive line and special teams. "He has to learn how to play. It's his youth. It's not his fault. Chronologically, you can't change that. You just force-feed the issue and try to get them ready as fast as possible."

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