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Nagging injuries continue to hamper Purdue RB depth

Jeff Brohm looked out on the Ross-Ade Stadium field for his program's first preseason scrimmage and didn't see a running back depth chart much different than when spring ended.

With several tailbacks excepted to contributed and battle for the starting job battling nagging injuries this month, once again freshman Evan Anderson and 230-pound redshirt freshman Alexander Horvath got a majority of the action Saturday. The Boilermakers' second-year coach said D.J. Knox has been battling hamstring issues and was limited and 2017 leading rusher Markell Jones was held out due to the hand injury suffered earlier in preseason camp, what Brohm called "a laceration on his finger."

Brohm said Jones has enjoyed a solid camp when given opportunities with the first-team unit. Tario Fuller, who rushed for 261 yards through three games last year before suffering what turned out to be a season-ending ankle injury, had been dealing with soreness in his lower body and was also limited on Saturday.

Suddenly a position group that looked to be filled with multiple veteran options this preseason camp is something Brohm and his staff will have to likely manage throughout the entire season, as they did a year ago.

"What some people thought was a deep position really needs to be deeper," Brohm said Saturday. "At this point, D.J. Knox was nursing something, Markell had a little something, Tario is getting over things, Richie (Worship) is out. That's four guys that aren't fully healthy. Yes, you'd like to be deeper now because we have guys not fully ready to go."

Brohm seemed to indicate most of these nagging injuries, except for Richie Worship's continued indefinite absence following last season's knee injury, won't be long-term issues.

But the coaching staff will continue to monitor and proceed with caution as preseason camp rolls on. In the meantime, Anderson and Horvath will likely see significant reps.

"(Horvath) is a guy that we are going to count on this year," Brohm said, "and it's good to get him quality reps because he's still young but the other guys need to get repetitions but also need to get healthy."

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Moore shines in preseason scrimmage debut

The first name out of Brohm's mouth when asked about impressive playmakers from Saturday's closed scrimmage was that of Rondale Moore, the former blue-chip recruit who's impressed from his first day at Purdue a few months ago. No statistics were available from Saturday's scrimmage, but the freshman is said to have made several big plays as both a receiver in the pass game and also in Purdue's backfield with the run game as well.

"Rondale Moore stood out and made a lot of big plays for us (and) he was probably the one who stood out the most," Brohm said.

In his first preseason scrimmage, Brohm said, Moore was able to showcase his dynamic athletic ability on a day the Boilermaker coach seemed less than pleased with the overall receiver play.

"Other receivers had some ups and downs, so we need to continue to have playmakers emerge," Brohm said. "When you want to throw the football, there has to be execution at all areas and it wasn't our best day at receiver by any means. We had numerous drops and a couple of big drops so that was disappointing but I think we can improve that."

No separation at QB with Sindelar and Blough

Brohm continues to maintain his commitment to the idea that Purdue likely won't tab a starting quarterback until "about 10 days before" the Boilermakers open the 2018 season by hosting Northwestern on Aug. 30 (8 p.m., ESPN). However, the second-year coach said both signal-callers had their moments during the first preseason scrimmage.

"Elijah did a good job, made some throws up the field and David did a good job and had his moments but had some mistakes as well where he didn't cut the ball loose and put it on guys," Brohm said. "Both of them have had a good camp so far and it was good to get them some game-like repetitions today."

Brohm said one of the only turnovers Saturday was Sindelar throwing a "forced" pass into coverage that was intercepted by fifth-year senior safety Jacob Thieneman.

Brohm pleased with first-team defense and secondary depth

While the youth and inexperience down the defensive depth chart continues to concern the Purdue coaching staff, Brohm maintained Saturday that the first-team defense remained solid in scrimmage action.

"You know what, I like our defense and where it is at," Brohm said. "I think the one thing we're lacking slightly is a pass rush but when it comes to being sound and fundamental, stopping the run, challenging routes, I've seen all that."

Following a scrimmage that all four of Purdue's top cornerbacks said Friday would be highly important, Brohm said he was impressed with the coverage skills of that position and the safeties in the two-hour scrimmage.

"Our corners have had a good camp and I believe we have five guys that we can rotate in and that's good because it does provide competition and challenge the others," Brohm said. "Of course, we need to get a pass rush so they don't have to cover for an extremely long time."

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