He's back! Hopkins' big day shows he's still an elite tight end
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PDF: Purdue-Maryland statistics
For Purdue's offense to succeed, Brycen Hopkins needs to be a big part of it. But he had been MIA or several weeks. However, the tight end showed today he is still a deadly weapon and key cog.
The fifth-year senior caught a career-high 10 passes for 140 yards, also a career high. It was quite a turnaround after Hopkins entered the game with just 14 receptions for 205 yards and three TDs.
“Our theme for this game was battling through adversity,” said Hopkins. “That was one of Coach Shep’s (co-OC/WR coach JaMarcus Shephard) theme. That hit right on the target these last couple of games. I had some trouble finding the ball, whether it was Jack (Plummer) finding me or just even play-calling or coverages by the defense.”
Time and again on this day, Hopkins found opens spots in Maryland defense, as Purdue had a 547 yards in a 40-14 homecoming win vs. Maryland. And credit goes to Hopkins. He had six catches in the opener at Nevada … then made eight in the next four games. He had none vs. Minnesota and just one last week at Penn State. Today, Hopkins' showed the production many projected for him in 2019 when he began the year on the Mackey Award watch list.
“It was great for Brycen,” said Jeff Brohm. “It is good to get him back on track. He is a very good football player. Wanted to target him as much as we can. I think our quarterback did a good job of locating him. And he did a good job of getting open on multiple different routes.
"That’s a big part of our offense. I know things lately haven’t been as good as he’d like, either, but he came through today. And, hopefully, we can continue to improve upon that.”
Hopkins says Purdue put in nothing different for the tight ends this week.
"We just read their coverages," he said.
And remember when Hopkins threw up in the Nevada and Minnesota games? What was up?
"I honestly don’t know," he said. "Just like a sudden urge … one of the games, it was like a hit in the stomach that triggered it and it just kind of snowballed ...
"I wasn’t sick today."
But he was sensational.
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