Purdue took its first steps on the practice field on Tuesday in what it hopes will be a successful season. Jeff Brohm's assessment of practice No. 1?

"If I had to assess it, just like I told the team, I thought we looked pretty slow overall and lacked some finish," said Brohm, who is in his sixth season at Purdue. "Now, sometimes that happens day one without pads, but we've got to make sure now we're pushing ourselves to play harder, to play faster and to finish. Just things we gotta work through as we get going into camp."

The Boilermakers worked out in helmets, jerseys and shorts on a warm Tuesday and will practice on Wednesday before being off on Thursday. Questions loom for a program looking to build momentum coming off a 9-4 season. One is a running game looking for a spark. Central Michigan transfer running back Kobe Lewis flashed.

"He'll push King (Doerue) there in the backfield," said Brohm. "Just has to kind of get up to speed on exactly terminology and how we practice and those type of things. But he has talent, he has played a lot of football. He did sit out last year with an injury. So, we just got to get him back into flow once again."

Another transfer who drips with intrigue: Iowa wideout Charlie Jones, who doubles as a deadly return man.

"Charlie can play football," said Brohm. "We're going to use him a lot of different ways on the outside, on the inside, return kicks. He's got good receiving skills, he can run good routes, understands football. He definitely will be a big factor for us."

Brohm said the offensive line has more depth.

"It's a good crew, led by some some veterans in Gus Hartwig and Spencer (Holstege) and also Eric Miller."

Several key players were limited to individual work as they recover from injury, including cornerbacks Cory Trice, Jamari Brown and Tee Denson, along with safety Sanoussi Kane, wideout Broc Thompson, and nose tackle Lawrence Johnson, among others.

"They've been able to do some individual and some work on the side," said Brohm. "I think they're close. We're not going to risk damaging them. We really need all of them for the first game without question to help us win. A lot of really good players that still have a little bit of a ways to go. The secondary and even at receiver, it's gonna be important we get them back."

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