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Purdue’s offensive tackles need to perform better.

Cameron Cermin, Jalen Neal and Matt McCann know it.

After the Boilermakers allowed six sacks last week in the Big Ten opener to Maryland and quarterback David Blough never quite got comfortable, Purdue will do some “things” to help the tackles this week, coaches and players said.

That’s largely because of Purdue’s opponent: Illinois has a pair of stud defensive ends in seniors Dawuane Smoot and Carroll Phillips.

Phillips, a 6-3, 240-pound speed rusher, leads the nation in TFLs per game (2.5) and is 14th in FBS with 1.0 sacks per game. Smoot, a 6-foot-3, 255-pounder on the watch lists for the Bednarik, Hendricks and Lombardi awards, had a safety earlier this season against North Carolina and has had two eight-tackle games in 2016. Last season, Smoot had eight sacks.

“Both of them are legitimate rushers on the outside,” Illini first-year coach Lovie Smith said this week. “I think both play hard. They’ll play the run. I don’t think it matters who we’re playing, we feel like they should be able to match up with whatever tackles they’re going against.”

After watching film of Purdue’s performance last week, that's probably certainly the case.

Cermin flat-out said he needs to play better. Even though he only made a handful of errors over 80 snaps, "all it takes is one play to ruin the whole game," he said.

Neal got benched in the first half and didn't return, and he worked with the second-team offense this week.

McCann said he thought he played "decent" but also admitted he wasn't healthy, calling himself about 70-75 percent with a right ankle injury.

"Coach (Darrell) Funk graded me the same way he’d grade me if I was healthy so doesn’t matter. They don’t care if I’m dinged up or not. You’ve still got to play at a high level," McCann said.

But Cermin and McCann, especially, will get a chance to rebound Saturday. They're expected to start, though Cermin’s assignment will be different than his previous two starts this season. He projects on the left side where he moved from right tackle on the game’s 11th play last week for Neal. Cermin finished the game on the left side and has practiced with the first-team offense there all week.

McCann finished last week’s game on the right side after Neal ultimately got benched. McCann didn't participate in any team periods Tuesday or Wednesday, but he was the first-team tackle against the scout defense. McCann said he feels better this week, and he’ll start on the right, where he was the first two games of the season before the injury.

And after shaky moments last week, both Cermin and McCann are eager for a challenge this week. Even though it’ll be a considerable one.

“They definitely play hard,” Cermin said of Illinois' front. “Their defensive ends really like to get after the passer. We’re going to have our hands full at tackle. Their inside guys go hard, don’t give up. We have to get back there and protect and block them for a long time, can’t let them get to the quarterback.”

McCann said he and Cermin have talked about how they need to "show them what we've got this week."

“Any time you step on the field with a Big Ten team, you’re going to get challenged. Every week, I’m thinking that. I’m not just thinking just because we had a bad game last week, it’s going to be hard. It’s hard every week. You’ve just got to get ready for it,” McCann said. “I think (Cermin's) going to do well. I think we’re going to do well as an offensive line.”

• As of late Wednesday, Darrell Hazell wasn’t sure if starters Ja’Whaun Bentley and Markell Jones would play Saturday.

Neither Bentley (ankle) nor Jones (shoulder) participated in practice Tuesday or Wednesday. Bentley had a walking boot on his left foot, and Jones had a brace on his left shoulder.

Bentley got hurt against Maryland and left the game for a couple series to get the ankle re-taped before re-entering and finishing the game. Jones has been nursing the shoulder injury for several weeks but was ultimately knocked out of the Maryland game in the third quarter after taking a hard hit after catching the ball out of the backfield.

“We’ll figure it out in the next 72 hours,” Hazell said.

If Bentley is unable to play, either Danny Ezechukwu or Jimmy Herman likely would get his reps, though Purdue also could move Markus Bailey to the middle linebacker and play Ezcehukwu or Herman at Will. If Jones doesn’t play, Purdue likely will go with a committee approach in the backfield.

Jordan Roos (back) also has been limited in practice this week, but Hazell said the plan was to work Roos into practice Thursday. Roos was experiencing back spasms last week before Maryland and then suffered a different back injury during the game, Hazell said.

“I think Jordan will be fine,” Hazell said. “He said he feels a lot better (Wednesday). I’m counting on Jordan to be ready to go.”

• Robert Gregory has moved to his fourth position at Purdue.

After coming to the Boilermakers as a quarterback, shifting to running back and then moving to safety, Gregory started practicing with the linebackers this week.

“We just thought he could help us in that second level,” Hazell said. “We’ll see how well he adapts. We thought (we’d) probably get a little bit more out of him as a ’backer, didn’t have to do with the Ja’Whaun (injury) situation.”

Gregory started at one of the safety spots last season, but he’s played sparingly in games this season. Freshman Navon Mosley started all four games this season at one spot, and either Leroy Clark or C.J. Parker has in the other spot.

• Joe Schopper just have been Purdue’s MVP during its 50-7 blowout in the Big Ten opener last week. After not punting once against Nevada the week prior, the sophomore buried five of his eight kicks inside the 20 against the Terrapins.

Schopper averaged 38.4 yards on his punts — with a long of 54 yards. Maryland had only two chances to return the ball on those eight punts, and it gained only four yards.

“I had a pretty solid day, I think,” Schopper said after Tuesday’s practice. “I have to give a lot of credit to the guys up front, and the snipers covered the ball extremely well. They didn’t give them a chance to return the ball for the most part. (Snapper) Ben (Makowski) just had a phenomenal day snapping. He was money all day. They challenged him up front a lot. They put a running back on him, and he blocked his heart out.”

Of those five punts inside the 20, all of them were fair caught by Will Likely.

“That’s the goal on every punt,” Schopper said of landing them inside the 20. “When I’m punting out the back of my own end zone, that’s not going to happen. But my job is to pin them deep and make them have to move the ball and work for it. That’s what I think about every time I go out.”

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