Brohm: 'Jack Plummer will start for us'

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There will be no suspense about who will start at quarterback this week for Purdue: Jack Plummer will be the guy.

After Saturday’s dispiriting 24-6 home loss to Illinois, Jeff Brohm said the quarterback position would be an “an open competition” between Plummer and Aidan O’Connell this week. But, upon further review, Brohm’s mind already is made up. Plummer will start when Nebraska (4-4 overall; 2-3 Big Ten) visits Saturday for a noon E.T. kickoff.

“Right now, Jack Plummer will start for us,” said Brohm at his Monday press conference. “We'll get both quarterbacks ready to play. Like always, it's never as good as you think after a game and it's never as bad as you think.”

Plummer made his fifth start of 2019 last week. But the redshirt freshman was relieved not once—but twice—by O’Connell during the Illinois game, which was played in rainy conditions. Neither signal-caller excelled.

“It was rough conditions, and you know, it wasn't the easiest to throw the football in, and I think the quarterbacks will continue to work hard and get better, but Jack will be our starter,” said Brohm.

Against the Illini, Plummer hit 7-of-19 passes for 69 yards with a costly pick-six in the second quarter that swung momentum of the game. O’Connell took over after the interception, but the sophomore walk-on completed only 8-of-14 passes for 67 yards for the game. He did toss his first career touchdown pass, hitting tight end Payne Durham late in the game from 11 yards out for the Boilermakers’ lone score of the contest.

“We need to make some better decisions early on,” said Brohm. “I think we can find the check-downs better. I think we can locate the No. 2 receiver a little bit better. I think we can occasionally pull it back and run it a few times.”

Why did Brohm put the kibosh on having Plummer battle O’Connell this week?

“I think when you watch the video, you sit down and you study it,” said Brohm. “That's kind of what we came up with. That doesn't mean two quarterbacks aren't going to play. I think you have to have both guys ready.

"I think both guys are inexperienced and they are young, and they just got to continue to work through things. I think we always want to have the ability if things aren't going well, we need a spark to be able to bring somebody in, and I think Aidan can possibly do that for us. He did -- led us on a good drive at the end of the game. He did get us a touchdown. He wasn't super sharp at the very beginning, but you know what it was his first time ever playing and I have to understand those things after you watch film.”

Is this the week we’ll finally see Rondale Moore? He hurt his left hamstring on September 28 vs. Minnesota and has missed the last four games.

“You know, right now, when it comes to where we're at with that injury front, it's probably better for me to wait towards the end of the week to tell you where we're at,” said Brohm. “There's quite a few (injuries). I know they are all working hard to get back on the field but I probably won't know the status of quite a few of them until later on in the week.”

The Boilermaker offense could use the dynamic play-making ability of the sophomore. In its last three losses--all without Moore--Purdue has scored a combined 33 points.

“As you look at some of the thing that's happened on offense with us, we haven't been able to get explosive plays and plays to guys to go the distance, even when we've had a few running lanes, somebody that can break,” said Brohm. “It that's kind of what Rondale does; get it in his hands enough, he'll make a spectacular play and when he did, it's a big touchdown.”

It would be fun to watch Moore on the same field as Nebraska freshman Wan'Dale Robinson, who is built like and plays like Moore. Purdue recruited the 5-10, 190-pound Frankfort, Ky., native hard. Robinson came out of the Minnesota with injury before playing vs. Indiana.

“The name (Rondale, Wan'Dale) sounds familiar,” said Brohm. “Their play is familiar. He's a playmaker. He's strong. He's built low to the ground. He can do a lot of things for them, catch it out of the backfield, run out of the backfield, get open deep. When the ball is in their hand -- and they want to get it into his hand as many times as they can, because those are the guys that can make big-time plays and can make explosive plays.”

GoldandBlack.com will ask Brohm about Moore's status for Saturday on Thursday, the next time the Boilermaker coach is made available to the media.

Nebraska is coming off a crushing 38-31 loss at home to Indiana. And the Cornhuskers played without star quarterback Adrian Martinez, notching 514 yards but allowing 455.

The 6-2, 225-pound sophomore is a wizard at running Scott Frost's offense. He caused Purdue some fits last year, hitting 25-of-42 passes for 323 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran 18 times for 91 yards in a 42-28 Purdue win in Lincoln. But Martinez missed last week's loss to the Hoosiers, but he was on the field in uniform and went through warmups. Martinez reportedly has been practicing with a brace on a knee.

Noah Vedral made the start. The sophomore hit 8-of-9 passes for 139 yards passing with two rushing touchdowns, but he suffered a leg injury and had to be helped off the field. Vedral--who began his career at UCF--also started in place of Martinez two weeks ago at Minnesota.

True freshman Luke McCaffrey took over for Vedral. He’s the brother of Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey and Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey. His father, Ed, was a wideout with the Denver Broncos.

Martinez didn't play at Minnesota two weeks ago after suffering an injury on the final play of the third quarter against Northwestern on Oct. 5. (The Huskers were off the week before IU's visit.) Nebraska staffers haven't said much about his status since, and Martinez was not in uniform for the Minnesota game.

"Well, you're always going to get the spread offense," said Brohm. "You're always going to get an athletic quarterback who going to run that system and get the field and get you in space and be able to use his legs to get some first downs and buy us some time on some throws. That's what they have been on offense, wherever Coach Frost has been and the other guys have come in and improved and done a decent job.

"I know that they will be ready to go, and you know, they have the ability to score some points. You know, the backup quarterbacks that they played the last two games have gotten better."

Purdue has just four games left. And the Boilermakers (2-6 overall; 1-4 Big Ten) must win them all to attain the six victories needed for bowl eligibility for a third season in a row under Jeff Brohm.

After the visit by Nebraska (4-4 overall; 2-3 Big Ten), Purdue plays at Northwestern (1-6; 0-5), at Wisconsin (6-2; 3-2) and vs. Indiana (6-2; 3-2). There is an off week between the Northwestern and Wisconsin road trips.

“We’ve used the back against the wall this past week and the playoff format this past week and even before,” said Brohm. “I think at this point, that's zero of our focus right now. Our focus is finding ways to get better this week. We've got to take the small steps in order to get that done. We can't worry about anything beyond that.

“So for us, you know, playing an historically good football team in Nebraska that that's going to come in here hungry that needs to get a win. We just need to improve and get better and have a great week of practice and try to win come game day and that will be our approach this week is do everything we can to try to win this game, practice hard and then go out and compete. But we want to see improvement.”

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