Complete camp coverage: 2017 football primer

A short practice for the Boilermakers on Thursday morning, and inside too, as rain in West Lafayette pushed Purdue inside Mollenkopf. Following are Jeff Brohm's thoughts:

• The Boilermakers went pad-less — and without helmets — for a quick practice, perhaps an hourlong-or-so on Thursday.

Brohm called it a "situational practice."

"Where guys are getting used to being off on the sidelines, seeing the signal, getting lined up, communicating calls and making sure we're catching up on that as we're staying fresh, so to speak," Brohm said. "I think it was a very productive day."

• Purdue will practice again Friday before its kickoff luncheon, then have its second scrimmage of camp on Saturday.

This one won't be as extensive, probably in the "low 100s" for snaps rather than the 150 last weekend, Brohm said. And it'll be more thud and less live, he said.

"It'll still be competitive," Brohm said. "You want to see playmakers emerge. You want to see a few people on defense step up and get a few turnovers. Obviously, you want to see the quarterbacks move the ball and be effective."

The scrimmage will mark the end of training camp, with the Boilermakers starting to get into more Louisville prep on Monday.

• Purdue's gotten at least a couple of its receivers back from injury, as Corey Holmes and Terry Wright are working their way into the rotation.

Holmes, who has had a sore hamstring almost from Day 1, isn't yet at full speed, Brohm said, but he's closer, and he should participate in Saturday's scrimmage.

So will Wright. The J.C. transfer has had a sore shoulder, the same right one that was injured at Coffeyville Community College and required surgery. He thinks he ran into a teammate, causing some shoulder soreness and putting him on the sideline for a few days late last week. But after missing Saturday's scrimmage, he got the shoulder braced and is feeling good.

"The first week was frustrating, because I hadn't been getting any reps, no playing time," he said. "Since my injury has gotten better, I've been getting back in, getting in the flow and I've actually having a good end of camp."

Wright, a slot receiver, is likely behind Jackson Anthrop and perhaps KeyRon Catlett on the depth chart, but has a chance to move up quickly, if healthy. And Brohm wants to keep him that way, because he adds an element Purdue is missing.

"He kind of gives us some quickness and burst that maybe we don't have," Brohm said. "We want him on the field to be able to make plays."

Although Purdue has had receivers miss practices, including veterans Jarrett Burgess and Malcolm Dotson, and David Blough is out until next week with a shoulder injury, Brohm thinks the Boilermakers' overall health is good.

"There are certain guys I feel very, very good about and a lot of them have played a lot and will be very good players for us, but we have to have them in the game," he said. "Let's put it this way: It will affect us quite a bit if we lose certain guys, so we want to make sure we're working them hard and they're ready to go, but at the same time you've got to be smart."

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