Coach meets Cradle at Purdue
More: Players excited for 'new era' of Purdue football | Bobinski: Brohm was 'best choice' | Blog: Purdue gets the right guy ($)
David Blough stood off to the side during Jeff Brohm’s introductory press conference Monday, listening to the new coach talk about the big offensive numbers his teams have put up over the years.
And the Purdue quarterback liked what he heard, a reaction that was plain to see.
“I don’t know if the smirk left his face the entire press conference,” running back Markell Jones quipped afterward, “the amount of times (Brohm) said 'quarterback' and 'offense' and 'trick plays.' David is excited.”
As he should be. Brohm’s offenses have been outstanding over the last three seasons, including this one, when Western Kentucky averaged 45.1 points per game, the second-best in the NCAA, and 517.4 yards, the seventh-best.
Brohm brings that track record to Purdue, plus his penchant for quarterback development, both at Western Kentucky and in previous stops as an assistant. And Brohm hails from a quarterback-rich family, with he and his brother, Brian, having starred at Louisville, then playing in the NFL. At Monday’s press conference, athletic director Mike Bobinski called the Brohms the “first family of athletics” in Louisville.
Add it all up at Purdue, with its Cradle of Quarterbacks, and the Boilermakers hope they’ve found a perfect match.
“The great players they had, the great quarterbacks, that's impressive,” Brohm said. “So I think I've been fortunate enough to play the position, to be around a lot of great players and coaches, and it's important to me to make sure we take care of the quarterback wherever I'm the coach, and normally if you're doing that and you're helping him develop and putting him in a position to succeed and do well, your team is going to play better.”
Brohm’s done so at WKU. In three years, Hilltopper quarterbacks — Brandon Doughty in 2014 and ’15, and Mike White this season — have totaled nearly 14,000 yards of offense, with 131 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.
Even Purdue’s rich history of quarterbacks, from Samuels to Griese to Brees to Orton and the rest, haven’t hit those kind of ridiculous passing numbers. It makes Blough like the fit.
“Without a doubt,” the rising junior QB said. “I got to talk to athletic director Bobinski and he said, ‘(Brohm) is thought of as one of the best quarterback developers around,’ and that’s a testament to how much he knows about the position and everything he’s done playing the position and so I’m really looking forward to just getting to pick his brain and learn how to play from his viewpoint.
“You really see how much success they’ve had developing quarterbacks, producing quarterbacks and that’s exciting as a player. You want to play in a system like that, for someone who has been in your shoes. As we get to know him, I’m looking forward to building a relationship. It’s going to be a new chapter in my book and his book as well. I’m looking forward to it.”
Because QBs are so critical to Brohm’s program — he said Monday that “everything has to revolve around the quarterback” — he thinks he’s developed a feel for their recruitment. Physical attributes and mechanics are important, from the release and motion, but the intangibles are as well. Maybe more so.
“I think when you're recruiting them, you do need to get to know them, and you get to know what their makeup is: Do they really love football? Are they willing to do the extra mile? Are they a competitor?” Brohm said. “I love when they play some other sports and they're used to competing each and every day.
“… I think if you can get a guy that wants to work hard, I think we have a plan and a method to improve them. I think you've not only got to improve them as a player to succeed (but) build the offense around who you have. It's not just this is what we run. So if you have a true drop-back guy, you're going to have to figure out a way to throw the ball and do some things in that avenue. If you've got a dual-threat guy, you've got to take advantage of that.
“You've got to build it around his strengths, and you've got to make sure he's not getting hit a lot. I think sometimes when guys get hit a lot, they're going to cause them to turn the ball over too much and make mistakes, so you've just got to take care of them. Everyone is different, and we'll make mistakes on it some, too, but I think we've got a good feel of the pulse of that position and how to develop it, how to hopefully recruit it, and you need more than one.”
Purdue hopes it already has more than one, at least for the 2017 season. Blough passed for 3,352 yards in his first full season, with 25 touchdowns, showing signs of promise, but he had 21 interceptions, as well, showing room for growth. And the Boilermakers have backup Elijah Sindelar, a rising sophomore who, like Brohm, is a former Kentucky Mr. Football.
Both need developing, but Brohm’s shown an ability to do so.
Blough saw that on Saturday, when he watched a bit of Western Kentucky’s 58-44 win over Louisiana Tech in the C-USA title game. He caught the first 21 minutes, he said, before he had to step away, but in that time the Hilltoppers had scored 38 points.
“You can tell he’s ahead of the curve,” Blough said. “I saw the comparisons today, that (Joe) Tiller played this type of offense and he was successful at Purdue, and that’s what this place has been all about, when Purdue has had some success, it’s been this, throwing it, playing exciting, finding different ways to run the ball. That’s what is encouraging about this hire and we’re all looking forward to it, we really are.”
Membership Information: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2016. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.