T.J. McCollum had seven tackles in his only season playing at UAB, in 10 games.

McCollum averaged 7.6 tackles per game in his first season with Nick Holt as his linebackers coach at Western Kentucky in 2015. He finished with a team-best 106 that year and followed that with 85 in only 11 games this season, which ended prematurely because of an elbow injury.

That’s 191 tackles in two years — and includes 15.5 for loss — as McCollum developed into a consistent playmaker and run-stopper in Holt’s defense. That’s the kind of production McCollum hopes he can bring to Purdue, where he enrolled recently as a graduate transfer.

“I see they gave up a lot of rushing yards this past year, so I was like, me coming in, it could definitely help,” McCollum said Wednesday, days after arriving in West Lafayette. “I’ve seen some of the (current) guys (on film). They’re pretty good linebackers — I’m not going to take that away from them. But I feel like with me coming in, it can definitely help and bring more depth to the linebacker crew.”

McCollum thinks he can help because of his experience in Holt’s system, one that utilizes linebackers’ strengths and puts them in position to make plays. For the 6-foot-3, 240-pound McCollum, that means getting downhill to make tackles from an inside linebacker spot.

According to WKU stats, 80 of McCollum’s 106 tackles in his first season were on run plays.

He says he’s aided there by film study, prompted by Holt’s insistence on it, and that’s allowed him to get in the right positions to make plays. He’s also a sure tackler, he said, and takes advantages of the opportunities in a system that keeps him mostly in the box.

“I’m patient. I read stuff really well,” he said. “Sometimes I know what they’re going to run even before they run. You’ve just got to be smart with the game. I think I’m pretty smart with the game. I move pretty well. I play inside downhill. I’ve got a sense of where the ball is going. That’s what really makes me better from other guys.”

Mostly, McCollum’s at Purdue because he loves Holt and he wanted to finish his playing career with Holt by his side. Or in his face, depending on what the moment may bring.

Holt’s fiery approach is what helped McCollum blossom into the player he’s become, McCollum said.

Holt never lets McCollum relent. Not in practices — even when McCollum felt, at one point, he’d become established to an extent, that he’d gotten a firm grasp of the defense and his responsibilities in it and didn't need to lock in, Holt would quickly put an end to any relaxing or non-business attitude. Not in games — even when McCollum would in the process of another double-digit tackle game and the defense was limiting opponents to a couple touchdowns, Holt would keep him on edge by getting on him after the slightest mistake.

But those expectations of perfection keep McCollum reaching for it.

“I love playing for him. He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had — and I’ve had about three different linebacker coaches,” said McCollum, who was a captain at WKU last season. “He made me better by every technique I do, the drills we do. He pushed me. He teaches you the game. He makes you want to know and learn the game even more. He taught me to do that, to be a better player and try to lead guys. He just really gets onto me. It makes me better. That yelling and stuff, it really gets me better because if he’s not yelling at you, you’re not doing something right, to me.

“He’s definitely a winner, definitely a coach you want to play for and win for. You have the respect from him and he gains the respect right back.”

For at least the next couple months, McCollum may have a reprieve from Holt's prodding. At least on the field.

McCollum had surgery in December to repair an elbow injury — he dislocated it and tore ligaments after being hit by a teammate while making a tackle in the C-USA championship game — and won't participate in spring practice.

"It’s getting better," he said. "I got my motion back. I think I’ve got two probably more months to really get cleared to fully go on everything. So I’m just waiting on that, just trying to rehab it, get it better and then get back with the team."

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