More from Big Ten media days: Handful of players stand out in summer ($) | Linebackers are strength of the defense | Recruiting start pleasant surprise | Blough wows with speech at luncheon | Brohm: Older players needed for 'a chance'
CHICAGO — Ja'Whaun Bentley says he's in a "dream come true" situation for his final season at Purdue.
With linebackers coach Nick Holt as the defensive play-caller, Bentley will get to play in a system that takes advantage of his strengths as a downhill, aggressive guy intent on making plays. This season, that may even include a sack or two. Mostly, though, Bentley hopes it includes a full slate of games, especially after how the last two seasons.
After a seemingly breakout freshman year in which Bentley started all 12 games and had 76 tackles as a rookie, he looked the part of an elite-level linebacker as a sophomore, registering three double-digit tackle performances in his first five games. And then he tore an ACL during practice, ending his season. Last season as a junior, though Bentley had seemed to come back early and strong the previous spring, he wasn't able to consistently perform. He missed three games with what he called "little nicks here and there" and had only 50 tackles in nine games, appearing to be out of shape toward the end of the season.
But Bentley seemed refreshed and renewed Tuesday at Big Ten media days, a season full of possibility ahead, especially with Holt, first-year coach Jeff Brohm and a body that finally feels great.
"Right now, I’m as fast as I’ve ever been, strong as I’ve ever been and in the best shape of my life," Bentley said. "To me, when somebody flicks on the film and they open it up in the fourth quarter and they watch me play, I want to look like the game just started. (Have people saying), 'He’s flying around as if the game just started.' You’re like, ‘What quarter is it?’ You don’t want to see too much of a drop-off from first to fourth quarter. In order to do that, you’ve got to be in great shape. It’s one thing to be able to run a bunch of sprints over the summer and the spring. It’s different when you’ve got a 15-play drive and you’ve got five of them. You’ve got to be able to tough it out in situations like that. That’s something I’ve specifically worked on."
Holt said after the spring that a well-conditioned Bentley could be a dangerous one, and a 255-pound Bentley with a personal-best 12.5 percent body fat — he said he was in the 260s with 15 percent last season — could mean a career-type season.
Holt's defense typically has linebackers racking up tackles, sometimes even two guys with 100-plus, but Bentley would have to stay on the field to do it. And with graduate transfer T.J. McCollum also at inside linebacker, it'll be interesting to see where Bentley fits. Bentley likely is the least-versatile of Purdue's top four linebackers, which also include sophomore and last season's leading tackler Markus Bailey and fifth-year senior Danny Ezechukwu, and he plays the same spot as McCollum.
Brohm said Bailey and Ezechukwu can play both inside and out and McCollum has some versatility — having played "leo," the hybrid defensive end/linebacker spot before — but Bentley is "for sure" an inside player.
Bentley, though, doesn't seem worried about playing time, probably because he's feeling better than ever. But he doesn't seem too worried about making a statement in Year 4 either, though the better he plays could be pivotal toward Purdue's success on defense.
"I’m focused more on proving something to myself," he said. "I feel like my expectations are a lot higher than anybody’s expectations they can have for me. I may get a lot of credit for doing tackles for loss or 10 tackles in a game. I might see I could have had 15, 20 tackles or broke the single-game tackle record. Nobody’s going to see that like I see that. So I feel like my expectations for myself dismiss everybody else’s expectations."
Teammates certainly expect a big season from the multi-year captain, who likely will be selected again as a senior.
"He knows exactly what he wants," Ezechukwu said. "He’s a strong guy, a physical guy. I haven’t seen any change in his demeanor at all because there’s no need for it to change.
"He’s been setback by some injuries here and there, but he’s ready to go, just like always. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him."
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