Pressure on Purdue's defensive backs; Poindexter familiar with Diaco; more

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Purdue has seemed to establish a reputation for being a stout defense against the run, even if the numbers in Big Ten play don’t seem to support it.

But there’s still plenty to prove in pass defense, and it appears as though the Boilermakers will get that chance Saturday against a Nebraska team with an improved quarterback and one of the best receiving corps they’ve faced to date.

"I know all about Tanner Lee," said Purdue co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Anthony Poindexter, the former Connecticut DC who faced then-Tulane QB Lee for two seasons. "He’s a good quarterback. He makes all the throws. He’s a good leader. It looks like he has some talent around him as far as receivers who can really make plays. We’ve got to be ready for this guy. This is probably the most skillful wide receiving corps — or one of the most — overall we’ve faced with a quarterback who can deliver the ball.

"We’ve got to be ready for it. It’s going to be a big challenge for us this week."

Lee may have started the season slowly, but in the last three-and-a-half games against Rutgers, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio State, he completed 61 percent of his passes for 869 yards, seven touchdowns and only one interception. He also was sacked only twice in that stretch, a key piece to the Cornhuskers’ potential success, Nebraska coach Mike Riley said. Lee is a pure pocket passer, and when Nebraska gives him time, “he can be effective,” Riley said this week on the Big Ten teleconference.

Purdue’s defense doesn’t plan to give Lee that luxury.

The Boilermakers have been fairly aggressive, especially on third downs, this season, but they could be even more so this week, given Lee’s statue-like pocket presence.

“We absolutely have to get after him so we can move his spot and take him out of rhythm. If we just keep him back there and just push it down field, he will complete some balls, no matter how decent the coverage is,” said senior Danny Ezechukwu, who plays Purdue’s end/linebacker hybrid spot. “We need to get him off his spot. He’s thrown a few picks this year. He turns the ball over a few times, so I feel it we can get him off his spot and corral him a little bit, we can have a favorable outcome.”

Riley said it’ll be key for his team to be aware of its pass protections against Purdue because he knows the Boilermakers have been timely in their blitzes and pressures.

“You’ve got to be sharp in your blitz pick-up. That will be big in protection end of it,” Riley said. “Then, with that, the routes and the quarterback have to be in sync. So (Lee has) got to make good choices according to the coverage that he sees.”

Nebraska has three players who have at least 26 catches and 370 yards. (Comparatively, Purdue’s leader in those categories has 27 and 300.)

Stanley Morgan Jr. has 540 yards and six touchdowns on 33 receptions this year — he’s second in the Big Ten in receiving yards per game (90.0) and third in receptions per game (5.5). JD Spielman also ranks in the top 10 in the league in catches per game and yards per game after turning 31 grabs into 475 yards. He has two TDs. Of those 31 catches, 19 have been on third or fourth down this season. De’Mornay Pierson-El has four TDs on 26 catches and 371 yards.

And, even though it’s a different quarterback than the one Purdue faced last season, Nebraska threw 31 times against the Boilermakers in a 27-14 victory in 2016.

So senior cornerback Da’Wan Hunte is expecting it.

“They have good playmakers on the outside,” Hunte said. “It’s an exciting challenge. I love when the ball is in the air a lot. I love going against competition. Those guys are good over there. They have a great receivers coach; I know him pretty well. They’re going to come to play and we’re going to do the same. I’m ready for the challenge.” (SC)

Poindexter first met Bob Diaco when the latter came on Virginia's staff in 2006. Poindexter, a star player at UVA who was getting his feet wet as an assistant coach, quickly bonded with Diaco over their love for defense.

And Diaco quickly saw potential in Poindexter's coaching ability and was so impressed that when Diaco became Connecticut's head coach, he asked Poindexter to leave his alma mater and become the Huskies' defensive coordinator.

Poindexter didn't want to leave Virginia, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity for a larger role — especially if it meant he'd work alongside Diaco again.

For the first time Saturday, Poindexter will be on the opposite sidelines of his coaching mentor. Diaco is Nebraska's defensive coordinator.

"It’ll be good to see Coach," Poindexter said after Wednesday's practice. "He gave me my first opportunity to be a defensive coordinator, and for that, I’ll never forget him. He’s a great coach. It’ll be interesting to get back out there on the field against him. It’ll be fun. I know he’s going to want to compete just as well as we will."

"We had a great working relationship. Coach taught me how to be a DC. He’d been the top DC in the country when he came at Connecticut, up at Notre Dame, the things he did with that defense were phenomenal. I just went there to learn from him. He really taught me how to be a DC, took time and was patient with a guy who had never been a DC."

Poindexter said Diaco taught him nuances of being a coordinator, like the importance of attention to detail, the process of how to call a game and organizational skills to be able to command meetings with not just the entire defense but the defensive staff, as well.

The familiarity with Diaco gives Poindexter some perspective on Nebraska’s defense — he said if Purdue’s offensive coaches have had questions this week, he’s answered what he can — but Diaco isn’t running the exact system they ran at UConn. Still, Poindexter knows what to expect from a Diaco defense.

“They’re going to play hard. They’re going to play every snap. They’re going to run and hit. He’s an old linebacker, man, played at Iowa," Poindexter said. "There’s one way he sees football. We both see football the same way. They’re going to be ready to play, no doubt about that. They’re coming here to win. We’re going to have to play well to beat them.” (SC)

Jackson Anthrop thinks there’s been an opportunity or two that he’s let pass this season, but otherwise he feels secure about his punt returns.

Because the ball has been secure.

“You don’t want to risk anything, especially at certain points of the game,” the redshirt freshman punt return man said after practice on Tuesday. “So far, I feel like just making sure to secure the ball is the best thing.”

Anthrop hasn’t fumbled one this season — and that’s Goal No. 1 — but he’s not been productive, either. That’s not all on him; he’s seemingly not had a ton of room to operate either, perhaps due to his blockers not shielding gunners well enough.

Anthrop has 14 punt returns this season for only 18 yards, with a long of eight. The Boilermakers have 50 yards as a team, but 32 come from the Garrett Hudson/Race Johnson block-and-scoop vs. Wisconsin. Even with those yards, the Boilermakers’ rank second-to-last in the Big Ten, ahead of only Ohio State.

Anthrop, who starred as a return man at Central Catholic High School, says he’s feeling more confident due to experience, allowing him to feel more comfortable catching the ball in traffic.

“Early in the year, when guys get around eight yards, it’s, ‘OK, let’s fair catch it,’” he said. "Now, it’s five yards, and it’ll get closer and closer the more you get experience.

“You just have to feel it. You have to realize how far away those guys are and what risks you’re willing to take. Coach (Chris) Barclay trusts me to make the right decision and I’m going to do what is safe. I want to make sure the offense gets another possession to go down and score.”

The next step, however, is starting to pick up a few more yards, so that the offense doesn’t have quite as far to go. That involves blocking, but Anthrop, too.

“I have to work on getting vertical, especially when I have a little bit of space, just getting a few yards to help us out,” he said. (KC)

One of the first directives David Blough heard from his then-new coaches, former NFL players Jeff Brohm and Brian Brohm, was how they'd like him to develop a better pocket presence.

Blough worked on that in the spring and in the offseason and in training camp and into the fall, even though the 6-foot QB has some limitations there as it relates to vision and creating passing lanes from the pocket.

Blough didn't abandon his ability to escape from the pocket or create plays with his feet — mostly out of necessity with unrelenting pressure early in the season — and it's a good thing. Because Purdue's coaches are now calling for their quarterbacks to generate positive plays on the run by being aware of when opportunities present themselves, namely against man coverage when there's not a defender to account for the quarterback or when improv is needed when receivers aren't coming open.

"I think it all goes into quarterback play," Blough said this week. "You’ve got to know what some of your strengths are and some of your weaknesses are. So if we’re not open, we’ve got to get out and run. We’ve got to help the team with our legs. We can’t afford sacks. A four-yard run is better than an incompletion if it’s covered tight. Some teams cover well in the Big Ten. When they don’t have a player for the quarterback, you’ve got to be able to run and use your legs a little."

Blough said Purdue is trying to simulate that in practice, though it can be hard because quarterbacks are off-limits to tackling, so they can get into a habit of just “take an extra hitch and then throw to the open guy,” Blough said.

“It’s not always like that in the real games. We’ve got to work it with realistic reps in practice so we can get it in the game and get out and be efficient with our legs because a lot of teams who play man coverage don’t have a defender for the quarterback,” he said.

Whether Blough is the QB who gets the bulk of those opportunities Saturday only a select group of people know.

Brohm's not telling who he'll start at quarterback, and Blough wouldn't say if he's the guy either.

Elijah Sindelar has started the last two games and has four starts to Blough's three this season. But neither QB has emerged like Brohm would have liked and seize the no-doubt-No.-1-guy reins.

So both will keep working to gain an edge, whether that means impressing with their arms or their feet.

"Nowadays, college football is kind of going to a mobile quarterback. So if you can run, get an extra blocker with the running back, read a defensive end, it kind of balances out the number schemes of football," Blough said. "Having a quarterback who can move, I think all of college football will do it one day. It helps now to move the chains." (SC)

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