Purdue will again ask much of young wide receivers
More: Roundtable: Expectations for Purdue | Coordinators Corner
Last year, as he watched classmate Rondale Moore star on the field and a bunch of touted recruits commit to play his very position off the field, Amad Anderson took nothing for granted, as he says.
The freshman wide receiver said he took to heart details, and their importance, in hopes of carving his niche among a Boilermaker receiving corps that now stands as Purdue's most talent-laden position.
The diligence with which he tried to approach not playing, Anderson said, has put him in the position he finds himself in today.
Heading into Friday night's 2019 opener at Nevada, the redshirt freshman is listed as one of Purdue's No. 1 receivers, opposite Moore and junior Jared Sparks.
"Every little thing I knew would help me, I did it," Anderson said. "Staying after practice, catching extra balls, little things like that. It kind of helped me get where I am now."
He'd already enrolled early, the spring prior, and got some of his inevitable mistakes out of the way, and when the season came around, Anderson seemed to be on the cusp of playing for Purdue, but never did.
Instead, he redshirted.
"Understanding what the coaches want and being able to execute the plays and just doing all the little things that the coaches want," Anderson said. "All the receivers are talented, but they want guys who'll do what the coaches are asking and execute the plays.
"Basically I just did what the coaches wanted me to do and that put me in the position I'm in now."
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There probably won't be another Rondale Moore for Purdue this season, no freshman receiver who establishes himself as one of the best players in his sport from his very first snap. How could there be? Moore's freshman season was extraordinary.
But in a different way, Purdue will be no less dependent on youth at wide receiver, as last year's seniors have been become this year's freshmen.
Anderson is listed as a starter for Nevada. True freshmen Milton Wright and David Bell are listed as second-teamers, and considering that paper depth charts are anything but ironclad, and wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard expects to play as many as seven wide receivers, there might be starter-type snaps available for players even if they're not listed on the top line.
Wright included.
"I feel like I'm ready," he said. "(Coaches have) gotten me ready for this moment. I believe I'm ready to compete and I believe that they believe I'm ready to compete as well."
Purdue's young receivers say they're ready. Of course they do. But sometimes it takes experiencing something to even know what "ready" means.
For Wright, it may come with the speed of the game.
Purdue is known to be working toward operating even faster on offense this season.
"The pace," Wright said of the stiffest adjustment he's faced just in practice. "We don't huddle a lot, so it's been the pace of the game and just how fast it is, but I feel like I'm getting a feel for it and I'm excited for it."
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Wright starred in camp, a credit to his aggressiveness, physical nature and knack for "going and getting the ball," as coaches and teammates have put it. His place in the rotation in 2019 was cemented quickly, probably from the very first practice, if not before.
Bell's was virtually guaranteed before he even arrived, but questions followed as the heralded rookie missed significant practice time to start camp because of a hamstring issue sustained in July.
Jeff Brohm has said he expected Bell to be one of Purdue's starting wide receivers this season. The ramifications from Bell's injury — missed practice time as much as anything — may keep him out of the starting 11, but won't keep him off the field.
"There's no question about it," Shephard said. "David Bell will be in the game on Friday.
"Early, too. It's not like it's going to take all day."
That's three untested players debuting Friday night at a position suddenly so deep in talent that preseason standout T.J. Sheffield — "spectacular" in the preseason, per Shephard — seems more likely to redshirt than not, barring circumstances unforeseen.
Three players all in the position Moore was in a year ago, readying to play key roles from their very first moments on a college football field.
Helping them along has been Moore himself.
"Whenever I need help with the playbook, he's there for me," Bell said last week. "Whenever I need a ride home, he's there for me. Just a great dude all-around."
Moore's a stakeholder here, obviously, figuring to be one of the most focused-upon assignments for opposing defenses in all of college football.
When Purdue recruited Wright, Bell, etc., it did so with a message of opportunity playing opposite Moore and all the attention he's sure to draw.
The reality is Moore attracted a super-sized share of defensive attention last season and only rarely did it work. But now, the key to it not working may be those around Moore as much as it is Moore himself.
It's going to be up to the other receivers — in many cases, young ones — to make defenses rethink their strategies against Moore.
"We kind of know what certain teams are going to throw at us," Anderson said. "If they want to double-team, other guys are just going to have to step up and make plays. Whether the opportunity comes, you may not know who it's going to be, but someone has to step up and make the play."
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