Sparks turns in career day for Purdue; more notes

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EVANSTON, Ill. — Jared Sparks has only been a full-time wide receiver for a little more than a month.

But already, he might be developing into one of the Boilermakers’ most consistent options. He was on Saturday night, catching a 11 balls for 130 yards, both easily more than doubling his previous output. Sparks, on his 20th birthday, was a bright spot on a rather frustrating day offensively for the Boilermakers, a 23-13 loser at Northwestern.

“I felt a little bit more comfortable out there,” Sparks said. “I just wanted to try to make as many plays as I could for my team. I knew we needed to make plays on the offensive side to help maintain momentum for our team and help our defense out, because our defense played their tails off this whole game. I just tried to help the team in any way I could.

“This is just the beginning, but that’s hopefully one of my goals, to become one of those (consistently reliable) guys, but I’ve still got a lot of things to work on.”

Probably so, but at least Sparks is giving the Boilermakers an option. Sparks’ 11 receptions are the most for a Boilermaker in a single-game since Danny Anthrop had 10 vs. Nebraska in 2015, and it’s Purdue’s first 100-yard receiving game since DeAngelo Yancey against Wisconsin last season.

Purdue — obviously — has been searching for playmaking outside receivers, and Sparks has gotten a recent opportunity. The redshirt freshman started playing receiver full-time in about Week 5 this season, after he had been splitting time at quarterback, as well. He’s still in the receiver room now, even though he’s Purdue’s backup QB with the injury to David Blough.

He’s committed to making strides at the position and because of it, he’s getting a better feel. Saturday, he thought his route running was better, and he was seeing the ball well out of the quarterback Elijah Sindelar’s hand.

“He’s a competitor, loves football and likes to work at it,” Coach Jeff Brohm said. “That’s the main thing. Now, this is his first year playing receiver, so he has to learn on the job. I think he made strides today and will continue to make strides, but he’s got to constantly work at it to play catch up. But the competitor in his definitely showed and he’s a guy that gives us everything he has, even though he’s green. He did a very good job for us.”

Sindelar says his confidence in Sparks increased.

“It grew a lot. He was there when I needed him, especially on a lot of third downs, running some hook routes that we were able to catch it and get upfield a little bit,” Sindelar said. “Then the big go route down the sideline was a good one to see. I saw the corner overlapping our inside guy, so I gave him a chance and he made a great catch. He runs hard. He plays hard. I like seeing that as a quarterback. I’ll give him a chance.”

Sparks, too, feel better, now knowing he can turn in this kind of production. Saturday was his third straight start, but he’s not had big reception totals in the last two — he was shut out vs. Illinois, although he had 40 yards rushing in the Wildcat. He’s gaining confidence.

“I felt like I got a little bit better tonight at the receiver spot, along with some of my teammates,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many receptions I get. I want the W, that’s all I want. We didn’t get it tonight and I’m not satisfied.”

T.J. McCollum needed to feel a little contact, figuring that was the best way to see if his right ankle would hold up.

So in warmups, he locked up with a couple teammates — it’s a typical drill — and felt good. It allowed the senior linebacker to return to the field for the first time since he was injured against Minnesota a month ago.

“I wanted to play this game,” he said. “I warmed up before the game, did a couple drills and a couple snaps and decided I wanted to play.”

The return has felt a long-time coming. McCollum was hurt on the very last play vs. Minnesota, when a couple Gopher offensive linemen rolled on his leg. In the days afterward, he thought he might be back soon, but the weeks added up.

When an MRI revealed a high ankle sprain, he knew it’d be a little longer than first anticipated.

“It definitely did (get frustrating), just with me siting out and watching my guys going out there and competing, not being out there with them,” he said. “The outcome of some games, it definitely took a toll on me. That’s why I wanted to come back so fast and hurry to get back to my team.”

McCollum had a productive day at Northwestern, finishing with 10 tackles, 1.5 for loss, a sack and a pass breakup. But he said he felt rusty.

“Felt a little sluggish,” he said. “I don’t think I played my best, could have played better.”

But McCollum’s presence was certainly a boost, particularly from a run-stopping point of view — Brohm thought he might have had some difficulty in pass coverage — where Purdue allowed only 94 yards. His leadership was welcomed, too.

“It’s always good to see T.J., how impactful he can be once he touches the field, so it was great to have him back today,” safety Navon Mosley said.

• Purdue was only 1-of-4 on fourth down, and the one success came on a fake punt, when Joe Schopper hit Ben Makowski for a 24-yard passing gain.

But on the other three, the Boilermaker run game was stuffed. It failed on a fourth-and-two, when D.J. Knox was knocked for a three-yard loss, his first loss of the season. It was held short on a fourth-and-one on the Northwestern four-yard-line late in the first half, when Richie Worship couldn’t pick up the yardage up the middle. And Knox again couldn’t convert an and-one on the first drive of the fourth quarter.

Purdue had only 40 yards rushing on 22 attempts, after it had totaled 687 yards in the last three games.

“We weren’t able to run the ball all game, especially at the beginning,” Brohm said. “You’d like to be able to hit it up the middle with it’s fourth-and-less-than-a-yard. You’d like to try it off tackle when it’s about a yard. I guess w have to get back to doing a little trickery and play-action pass, but I just thought we could hit it up in there and we weren’t good enough to do that.

“Obviously we have to coach them better and do some different things because that did not work and it hurt us. We need to convert the fourth-and-shorts. You hate to resort to spreading them out and doing a couple different things because we obviously should have done that instead of trying to ram it up in there.”

• In the second half, Purdue put Tim Cason on the field, much like it had the week before.

But against Northwestern, the cornerback was in for Josh Okonye, who had given up a late first-half touchdown.

“I know he had some opportunity to make plays and didn’t make them,” Brohm said. “Josh has played good all year, but this team we knew was going to throw it around and w had to change up a few things. Those things at times didn’t work. It wasn’t one of his better games, but he’ll bounce back. He works hard.”

Purdue also used Simeon Smiley more frequently as part of its base defense in the second half, rather than Mosley.

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