More: Purdue 2017 football primer

Day 3: Analysis ($)

A recap of Day 2: Cranking up vertical passing game a key | Competitive spirit fuels Blough ($) | Reserve a 'sparkplug' at QB and receiver | Sindelar ready for next step

Purdue held its final open practice of training Saturday on a picture-perfect morning at the Bimel complex.

The Boilermakers, who wore shoulder pads for the first time this camp, were on the field for two-plus hours. A couple items of note:

• Jacob Thieneman got significant first-team reps at strong safety after working primarily with the 2s over the first two days at camp. Jeff Brohm said after practice Thieneman, a walk-on, is "slightly ahead" right now at that spot.

"Right now, I think he’s been our most productive guy in the back end as far as consistency, knowing what to do, being in the right spot, getting guys lined up, being able to make tackles and in good position," Brohm said. "He’s has a very good first three days. We’re going to continue to push him and the others."

Purdue rotated its safety pairs often, though, Saturday. Sometimes, Thieneman was on the field with Navon Mosley, others T.J. Jallow, others Simeon Smiley.

• Purdue doesn't have practice Sunday, but there still will be treatment, team meetings and a walkthrough in the afternoon.

"We wanted to go at a good pace these three days, kind of catch up mentally and let their legs refresh," Brohm said. "While we have more capable bodies, we have to make sure that we don’t lose too many to camp to pulls and strains where they’re missing practice time. We want to be as on top of that as we can and make sure that we have a plan, which I think we do. I think our guys can get refreshed between now and Monday."

• The Boilermakers will have one more day in shoulder pads before being able to practice in full pads for the first time on Tuesday.

• Starting center Kirk Barron missed his second consecutive practice with a hamstring injury, meaning NIU transfer Shane Evans once again worked with the first-team unit. The rest of those 1s were the same as the first two days. New additions to the injury list included receivers Jarrett Burgess and Malcolm Dotson.

• Backup defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal missed practice because he was at the Hall of Fame with his father Lorenzo, who was presenting former Chargers teammate LaDainian Tomlinson for induction.

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