More ($): Analysis from Thursday's practice

Grant Hermanns can tell you about the aftermath of injury not only lying in the physical.

It was around 11 months ago at this time that Purdue opened its anticipated 2018 season with a premier home game against Northwestern, a night game and a contest Jeff Brohm had put a particular degree of importance on for a program looking to build on the momentum gained in its first year under the coach.

Hermanns took the field that night for the first time since tearing his ACL midway through the season prior, an injury that led to him injuring his MCL later in the season and missing the final three regular season games because of it.

Opening up against the eventual Big Ten West champion, with its fearsome pass-rush, the Purdue offensive tackle struggled.

"I wasn't playing as fast as I could have been, or as aggressive as I could have been," Hermanns said Thursday, following Purdue's first training camp practice pre-2019. "I was probably overcoming some mental hurdles. But I feel like I'm completely over those now and playing and having fun."

It was a process.

No position, no player is more immune to injury than any other, but injuries to young offensive linemen can be particularly disruptive to a player's career arc, because of the importance of physical development missed off-seasons can hinder, and because of the simple realities of being big.

But in Hermanns' case, he says, it wasn't solely physical.

"It can definitely affect your mindset," he said. "I've definitely had to overcome those barriers, but it's just about realizing that you have a solid body, and it's where it needs to be for you to play physical and aggressive."

That's where the junior believes he is at this moment, and Purdue needs him to be.

The Boilermaker offensive line is an unknown.

Thursday, when Brohm mentioned there being three offensive linemen Purdue feels secure about, then a slew of others competing for that same standing, Hermanns was one of those three, along with fellow veteran Matt McCann and newcomer Will Bramel.

And this week, Hermanns was named one of six Purdue captains.

"I have to lead by example, too," Hermanns said, "because if I'm not playing well, then how can I tell the guy next to me to take care of his job?"

Needless to say, for a line dealing with uncertainty, it needs its certainties — or the closest thing it can find — to provide certainty, and in a larger sense, that's an element Hermanns might be best positioned to play with these days, more so than at any point in his career. Last time he was injury-worry-free was probably the beginning of his redshirt freshman season, when he'd not yet played in a college game.

"It makes you mentally tough," Hermanns said of his injury history, "and not really afraid of anyone across that line when you've been through things personally."

But he's not Purdue's only offensive lineman the same can be said for.

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While projected center Viktor Beach may not be one of those known-commodity types quite yet in the coaching staff's eyes — he's yet to have much of a chance to establish himself as such — his health also is at the forefront this month.

In addition to special teams work, Beach, the heir apparent last season to multi-year starter Kirk Barron, played center in just the blowout win at Illinois and blowout loss at Minnesota , then basically missed the spring due a ruptured disc in his back. Complications resulted in a pinched nerve, too, Beach said.

Never ideal, particularly for a 305-pounder who's job it is to bend at the back.

Rest remedied the issue, but Beach admitted he was interested to see how it held up through practice Thursday, a light one relative to those to come.

"I feel great right now," Beach said afterward. "It's kind of out of my mind, and I'm ready to go."

Nevertheless, he'll probably remain wary of it, and Purdue will keep a close eye on a player who's been next man up at center, but is also rotating in at left guard, as the Boilermaker coaching staff looks for the right mix for the wide-open interior of its offensive line.

"One of the reasons Coach Brohm and Coach (Dale) Williams are playing me some at left guard is they trust me to know how to do it," Beach said, "and that's big at center, knowing what everyone is doing, especially if I'm at center and I have two young guards around me. I have to be there to know what they're doing and help them."

Beach comes into this season of opportunity with very little experience to buoy him, but is drawing from that of his predecessor.

"I still talk to Kirk a lot and the thing he continues to tell me is that I'm in the same position he was," Beach said. "He got the opportunity to start the last game his redshirt freshman year, but he was a three-year starter, just like I'd have the opportunity to be.

"He's been through it. He knows what I'm about to enter into and he was super-successful and a great leader and had a great career and my goal — and I don't know want to make him mad – is to be even better."

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