Purdue Football - Banged Up Boilers

Another week, another long list of injured Boilermakers.

It's not the story Purdue football wants to be telling going into the final three games of the season, but there are Garrett Miller and Gus Hartwig both taking turns in front of media after a Tuesday practice.

Miller and Hartwig both missed the start of the season as they finished their rehab from season-ending knee injuries last season. They are two of Purdue's healthiest players coming into the match up against Minnesota at home on Saturday.

"I looked down at it at first and I didn't really feel anything at first because of adrenaline and all that stuff," Garrett Miller tells us Tuesday as he looked down to his wrapped shin. "Looked down and saw the little bullet hole and I was like, 'that shouldn't be there.'"

Miller got spiked in the Michigan game when a defender got twisted around trying to make a tackle. It was a scary moment in what's been a frustrating two years of injury after tearing his ACL in fall camp ahead of what would have been his senior year, Miller had the look of someone who was scared and over major injuries when he went off the field again Michigan.

Luckily for Miller, the crate of a wound was able to be wrapped and he was back on the field to finish the game for Purdue. Purdue hasn't gotten very lucky for most the season. Boilers have gone down left and right for Ryan Walters in his first season as head coach. Most of them have been unable to get up and back on the field.

Just for Michigan, Purdue had Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen, OC Brothers, Damarjhe Lewis, Julio Macias, Scotty Humpich, and Mahamane Moussa all listed as out. The list would have been longer, but once a player is reported to be out for the season they don't need to be included on the injury report.

Someone not listed as out but ended up missing was Josh Kaltenberger who filled in for Gus Hartwig at center when Hartwig was recovering from his knee injury from late last season earlier in the year. Kaltenberger ended up missing the game, cutting into Purdue's depth at offensive line even further.

The group has been decimated at injuries, and it got so bad that Hartwig, healthy, had to slide to tackle for a few plays against Michigan because Daniel Johnson, who has been banged up all season, was out for a drive.

"DJ ended up kinda needing to go out for a drive," Hartwig summed up how he got put to that position. "Well, do what I needed to do."

Hartwig himself is still recovering at times from his knee injury. Though compared to a lot of his teammates, he judged himself as doing pretty good on the health front.

"Kinda beat up. But I'm not terrible," Hartwig said."... I'm sure a lot of other guys are beat up a little more."

The state of Purdue is as such. This late in the season most teams are banged up. Players are bruised and cut, and for Purdue it's about managing that, getting younger players time, and making the last three games a new season.

For Hartwig, even without a bowl game in his future, he's still driven by the same thing.

"I just love playing football," Hartwig said on Tuesday. "I just wanna go out and play."