Aidan O'Connell will admit it. There were times early on during his Purdue career when he questioned what he was doing.
"There were a lot of days of doubt, if I’m honest with you," said O'Connell. "It’s a difficult game, football is. When you come to a school like this, where there are great players around you that you’ve got to compete with, it’s a challenge."
O'Connell has met those challenges since arriving as a walk-on in 2017 to ascend to the No. 1 quarterback job. Purdue's BMOC is on scholarship now. That happened prior to the 2019 season. But O'Connell hasn't forgotten about his journey up the depth chart as he looks to lead Purdue to a winning season--and perhaps more--for the first time since 2017.
“There were some hard times, and there were some lonely times," he said. "But I always loved the game … I let that just carry me and motivate me.”
It's working. The junior ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten in passing, averaging 326.5 yards per game (653 yards). And O’Connell is connecting on 70.6 percent (60-of-85) of his passes with five touchdowns and two interceptions. But most importantly: O’Connell has the Boilermakers off a 2-0 start.
The 6-3, 200-pound Long Grove, Ill, native first flashed potential in 2019, when he started the final three games after Jack Plummer was lost to an ankle injury. The moment wasn’t too big for O’Connell, who began 2019 as the No. 4 signal-caller.
O'Connell completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,101 yards and eight touchdowns with four picks in 2019 after injuries took down No. 1 quarterback Elijah Sindelar in addition to Plummer. And No. 3 man Nick Sipe had to give up football early on last season due to back issues. Suddenly, O'Connell was the last QB standing.
"I think those game reps are priceless," said O'Connell. "You can get a lot of practice reps, but those game reps are really where when you're thrown into the fire you learn. You know what throws you can make, what throws you can't make, ... how fast you need to make decisions. So, I think just being able to play in some games and preparing like I was going to play the games, and then finally getting that chance, that just gave me a lot of confidence and am super thankful for that experience."
O’Connell’s top moment last year was against this same Northwestern team Purdue will face Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Ross-Ade Stadium that he engineered a comeback victory against in 2019. In that contest, O'Connell orchestrated a comeback Purdue win on a last-second field goal in Evanston.
Comebacks are becoming O'Connell's thing, as he led the Boilermakers to a comeback vs. Nebraska the game before. And he used more of his comeback magic in the opener this season vs. Iowa. How does he do it?
"I just try to put my team in the best position we can to win," said O'Connell. "In some of those games, if I had just played better earlier on, we probably wouldn't have been in a position that we needed to come back and win. So, you know, in games like that, the wins feel great. But more than that, you look at the plays that you didn't play so well and then you try to learn from those. When I go to sleep, I think about the plays that I can improve on rather than you know the plays that we succeeded on."
A victory this Saturday in prime-time vs. the No. 23 Wildcats would stamp Purdue as the top contender in the Big Ten West. Does that success in 2019 vs. Northwestern--O'Connell wasn't a NU fan growing up but had gone to a few games from his Chicagoland home--help O’Connell?
“I think it helps that he has experience and he's been out there and played and he's done a good job,” said Jeff Brohm. “I think, as you guys can see, he's got great poise and composure and can stand in there and make throws. We got to do things to execute well. He's not going to make a ton of plays on his feet, but we got to make sure that we run a balanced attack, we find a way to get some big plays.”
Purdue is just No. 9 in the Big Ten in “long scrimmage” plays—10 yards or more—with 38. And it has just one play of 40 or more yards and none of 50 yards or longer. (The Boilermakers have played just two games with most other Big Ten teams having played three.) The sledding could be tough vs. the Wildcats.
“They're well coached,” Brohm said of the Northwestern defense. “They have always done a very good job on defense. This year is no exception. They might even be better than what they have been. And they haven't given up hardly any points. I think zero in the second half. And you got to work to score on them. It's tough to get a big play by how they play, and then you got to work it down. And to do that, you can't make mistakes and have penalties.”
A win likely would vault Purdue into the rankings for the first time since 2007. That would be a nice feat for a former walk-on who is on an unlikely journey that is still being authored.
"You know, looking back on it now, it seems like a flash," said O'Connell of his ascent.
And, the ride isn't over yet.
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