Receiver spots open; scrimmage report
With Purdue's season just more than a week away, Coach Joe Tiller said his No. 1 offense is settled, except for one position.
The Boilermaker coach said that wide receiver is the only spot left where a starting lineup is yet to be determined.
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"Outside of (Greg Orton)," Tiller said. "Otherwise, we have to make some decisions about who those guys are going to be."
Tiller did marginalize the relevance of starting at receiver, to a degree, by noting that many will play.
So did quarterback Curtis Painter.
"It may not necessarily mean anything who starts," Painter said. "We'll have guys rotating in and getting playing time."
Tiller said, "We'll play eight guys there all year long."
Orton, the group's headliner, agreed that Purdue's receiving corps is largely interchangeable.
"The offense is going to give a lot of guys a lot of touches," said Orton, who said the receivers have to still be more consistent
If the rest of the offensive starting 11 is in fact settled, it would mean that QB Curtis Painter and running back Kory Sheets would be operating behind Cory Benton at center, Justin Pierce and Jared Zwilling at guard and Sean Sester and Zach Jones at tackle, with Kyle Adams at tight end.
Purdue's primary backup at tackle, senior Garret Miller, is currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
On another depth chart note, Chris Summers will punt this season, Tiller said.
Scrimmage report
Purdue ran 105 plays, all taken by first- and second-team players, Thursday.
Purdue issued the following report on the scrimmage:
The numbers put up by the Purdue offense during this afternoon's 105-play scrimmage at Ross-Ade Stadium were fantasy-game like. But head coach Joe Tiller still liked the play of his defense.
First, the eye-popping numbers: nine touchdowns and three field goals.
Curtis Painter completed 18 of 26 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns, while Joey Elliott was 12 of 23 passing for 155 yards and four scores.
Brandon Whittington had six receptions for 93 yards, including a 40-yard Hail Mary pass from Painter. Keith Smith also caught six balls for 90 yards. Roberto McBean hauled in three touchdown strikes among five total catches for 75 yards. Greg Orton and Frank Halliburton also caught touchdown passes.
There were two rushing TD's, 2- and 1-yard plunges by Halliburton and Jared Crank.
Justin Siller was the leading ground gainer with 66 yards on 13 carries, while Ralph Bolden gained 55 yards on seven totes, Halliburton 45 yards on 10 rushes and Dan Dierking 42 yards on five carries.
The defense, meanwhile, came up with five sacks: two by Keyon Brown and one apiece by Kevin Green, Gerald Gooden and Jermaine Guynn.
"As I have said all camp, I like the way our defense runs to the ball, and that continued today," Tiller said. "I thought we came out ready to go defensively and made some plays. We are going to have a good defense."
The defense forced four three-and-outs in the early going.
Chris Summers made a 37- and 42-yard field goal, the latter to cap a two-minute drive, and Carson Wiggs nailed a 47-yarder. Both punted once for 41 yards.
Hurry up and wait
While the majority of the college football world debuts this weekend, Purdue will sit and wait for its Sept. 6 opener against Northern Colorado.
Orton, for one, is glad to have an extra week.
"Right now, I'd rather be watching," Orton said. "I've still got a little bit of the camp legs under me, and I'd rather be fresh. But it'll be hard watching."
Players also said the extra preparation work will offset any stir-craziness that might come from watching everyone else play.
"It's a good thing," defensive end Keyon Brown said, "because we still have things we can better at and improve on. From a preparation standpoint, I think it's a positive thing."
"I think it's more positive than negative," Painter said. "We get that one more week to sharpen up."
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