Advertisement
football Edit

Notebook: Brohm says 'Jack Plummer will be our starter' vs. Illinois

MORE: David Bell in concussion protocol

Advertisement

Jack Plummer is still Purdue's No. 1 quarterback.

Boilermaker coach Jeff Brohm reiterated the point at his Monday press conference after making a similar statement in the aftermath of Purdue's 27-13 loss at Notre Dame last Saturday in which Plummer was replaced midway through the fourth quarter by Aidan O'Connell.

"Well, Jack Plummer will be our starter," said Brohm. "Like every game, we will have the ability to play multiple quarterbacks and we won't hesitate to do that. We have got a good quarterback room. We definitely have two guys with a lot of experience that can do different things for us."

Purdue (2-1) welcomes Illinois (1-3) to Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday for its Big Ten opener, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Plummer completed 25-of-36 passes for 187 yards and a TD vs. the Fighting Irish. O'Connell connected on 11-of-18 passes for 104 yards and two interceptions off tipped balls.

"Jack played a good game," said Brohm. "Could he have played better? Sure, he could have. But he was under some duress and he had to make some throws off his back foot and he had to stand in there quite a bit and take some hits and did a decent job."

O'Connell won the starting job entering last season over Plummer, who has started the first three games of 2021 after winning the job in camp.

"Aidan came in, threw the ball really well," said Brohm. "Unfortunately, going into score to cut the game to within seven again, we kind of dropped a touchdown pass that wasn't an easy catch, but I think just Payne (Durham) was really tired and didn't find a way to bring in that ball that hit him in the hands, and then we had the interception late in the game.

"So, both guys have played for us and have played good football, and like every position on our team, if we have a position we feel good about, we're not going to be afraid to play multiple guys."

CB Jamari Brown comes up big

Purdue played at Notre Dame without its best cornerback: Cory Trice. The junior had suffered an ankle injury earlier in the week in practice.

"You know what, it's an ankle, so I'm going to guess anywhere to two to four weeks," said Brohm when asked how long Trice would be out.

With Trice out, the defense turned to Jamari Brown, a junior transfer from Kentucky.

"I thought Jamari played really well," said Brohm. "It was very encouraging because we did have concerns at that position. He did not have a whole lot of experience for us. He had been injured through camp. But he's a bigger corner (6-3, 205) with some physicality that can continue to get better. But he definitely challenged routes. He was able to lock down people one-on-one when we needed him to and did a really good job."

According to Pro Football Focus, Brown gave up one catch on 10 targets, playing every snap in his first outing in Trice's absence.

Fifth-year senior Dedrick Mackey is Purdue's other starting corner. Who would be Purdue's No. 3 cornerback? Redshirt freshman Anthony Romphf and junior safety Cam Allen, who has been working at the spot, per Brohm.

Injury updates

In addition to junior wideout David Bell going into concussion protocol after taking a big hit at Notre Dame and junior cornerback Cory Trice's updated status, Brohm also said sophomore wideout Mershawn Rice "will be out for an extended period of time" with a foot injury suffered at Notre Dame.

And fifth-year senior defensive tackle/guard DJ Washington also will be out an extended stretch with a toe injury.

Blocking junior tight end Jack Cravaack has been lost for the season with a knee injury.

Sophomore No. 2 tight end Garrett Miller was limited last week after getting hurt at UConn. He played just four snaps at Notre Dame, according to Pro Football Focus.

"Garrett was nicked up, recovering from an injury," said Brohm. "I think he'll be more healthy this week. He wasn't able to play a whole lot last week. Will he be a 100 percent? Probably not. But I think we can use him more this week."

Punting competition

Punter Jack Ansell suffered from some inconsistency at Notre Dame, as his first three punts were 46, 26 and 28 yards. The staff had seen enough and sent out walk-on Brendan Cropsey, who boomed it 56 yards. The two shared punting chores in the second half.

"Well, it's always open competition at our punter position," said Brohm. "They know that. If one punter's hot, we're going to continue to ride him. If not we have another punter who can punt pretty well and he came in and put one out there and unfortunately didn't do it the next time."

Ansell is a 23-year old true freshman from Australia who arrived his summer and won the job. Cropsey is a redshirt freshman walk-on.

"What we have seen in practice, unfortunately, has been some really good punting that just needs to carry over to the game," said Brohm. "So, whether it's the ability to relax and just go out there and make it happen, whether it's us as coaches figuring out a way to give them less things to do and think about instead of maybe putting it in a certain area of the field, just punt it far and long and with some hang time, so simplifying it as much as we can. Just a lot of little things that we have to think of in order to get our punters punting that the way they do in practice."

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2021. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.

Advertisement