Purdue's pass rush coming along, but what about the pass protection?

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Saturday morning's Purdue scrimmage was closed to media and onlookers, but Coach Jeff Brohm said afterward that his team's pass rush, an area of needed growth, again was a positive.

"It's been a big emphasis to get pressure on the quarterback, to coach better and put them in a better position to get to the quarterback," Brohm said, "and I think all those things have happened. There are more guys we can play there that I think can come in and do a good job for us. It's good to see those guys emerge and I think it keeps those other guys fresh, and provides competition.

"I'm hopeful what I'm seeing is accurate, because I do see us finding ways to get to the quarterback and apply pressure without having to blitz every snap."

Improvement has been evident from Purdue in that key area, in part because of experience, but also because newcomer George Karlaftis has been particularly productive in practices and scrimmages and veteran Derrick Barnes seems to have settled in at the hybrid Leo position, to which he moved from linebacker prior to the bowl game last season in hopes of invigorating the pass rush.

"We always say, 'No fly-bys,'" linebacker Markus Bailey said of experience's effect on Purdue's pass rush. "A young guy might just try to speed rush off the edge, and then the quarterback will just step up, but Derrick and George, they'll get off the ball well and then be able to come back underneath, and we'll see guys matching route concepts better, and that's a testament to (cornerbacks coach Greg) Brown bringing some new things and Coach (Nick) Holt coaching us up well in our zone concepts and doing some things differently.

"Overall, I think our football IQ is elevated because we have most of our guys back."

But, like with anything else that can be weighed off intrasquad competition, one group's win is another group's loss, so Purdue's success pressuring the quarterback can also be viewed as an indictment of pass protection (or other offensive factors), and that's another pronounced area of concern for Purdue.

After giving his offensive line mixed reviews after last weekend's scrimmage, Brohm said much the same on Saturday.

Purdue has been operating with an offensive line consisting of Grant Hermanns and Will Bramel at the tackle positions, Matt McCann and Alex Criddle at the guard spots and Viktor Beach at center. Three of those five players have yet to play meaningful snaps, two of them any at all.

"I wouldn't say we've locked into (that group), but we've had a consistent five the past week and it's looking like that'll be the first five," Brohm said. "But others are going to play and we want them to play, to be ready to play, and when they go in to want to prove that we're wrong, that they should be in there. That's really what needs to happen, at the O-line position and other positions. When they get in there, they need to prove that we're wrong and earn their playing time."

That said, Purdue's pool of reserves on the offensive line had been thinned out by injuries sustained by Mark Stickford and Eric Miller, but both are returning and moving toward full participation, Brohm said.

Regardless of which five linemen are starting, or which six, seven or eight are playing, the offensive front remains one of Purdue's most acute sources of questions, it would appear.

"We have to get better there," Brohm said, "and we have to help them with how we scheme things. We're not really trying to concentrate on that. We want them to learn, learn to block one on one, learn to be able to maintain the pocket without a whole lot of help, but yes, we're going to have to do some things to make sure we're (being) smart and find ways to make big plays and run the football consistently."

Defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal has yet to return to practice following last November's ACL injury, and on Saturday Brohm moved off his "game-time decision" designation for the senior, one of Purdue's most important defensive players.

"Lorenzo, my guess would be Game 2 at the earliest," Brohm said.

Purdue has been judicious with Neal, only nine months removed from the knee injury that ended his junior season early.

"You push as hard as you can, but with situations like this, you never know what the timing really is," Neal said last week, "so you just have to be patient and make sure you feel better, because when you feel better every day, then you improve, but when you go back-to-back days and then you don't feel good, you can get discouraged and things like that."

After being limited early in training camp with a hamstring issue, the outlook for touted freshman wide receiver David Bell's outlook may have changed to some extent but his chances to be on the field in Reno for the opener may not have.

"He'll play for sure," Brohm said. "But before camp, I anticipated him being a starter. Now we'll see where he is and how he's feeling, but he will play.

"He's gaining some confidence and we have to continue to get him in better football condition, so he can feel like he can feel confident he can handle a full workload and go full speed. That will still take a little time because he hasn't practiced a whole lot, but he definitely has a ton of talent and we have to get him ready to play."

Fellow freshman Milton Wright has stood out in camp and may be in line to start the opener. Classmates T.J. Sheffield and Mershawn Rice have made positive first impressions, too, but both missed Saturday's scrimmage.

At linebacker, Brohm said that senior Ben Holt was held out of the scrimmage Saturday but would be back in practice Monday.

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