Five observations from the spring game

MORE: Spring Football Central

Purdue enjoyed Chamber of Commerce weather for today’s spring game, with temperatures pushing toward 70 degrees. The North parking lot was jammed. Attendance estimates? Between 5-6,000.

The game featured an unconventional scoring system. The offense could score points in a traditional manner. The defense could score points with a defensive stop (2 points); three-and-out or fourth-down stop (3 points); turnover (5 points); safety (5 points); TD (seven points). The final score gave the edge to the defense, 53-39.

After the offense jumped to a 10-0 lead, the defense scored 35 consecutive points, including a scoop-and-score fumble return by cornerback Dedrick Mackey and pick-6 by linebacker Jonah Williams.

Here are five observations from the spring game:

1. The quarterbacks offered a mix bag. With Elijah Sindelar out as a precaution after tweaking a knee last week and Nick Sipe out with a back issue, redshirt freshman Jack Plummer ran the first team and sophomore walk-on Aidan O’Connell was the second-team signal-caller. Early enrollee Paul Piferi saw action in the second half when there was a running clock and tossed a couple TD passes. O’Connell and Plummer each had a TD pass in the first half. Plummer also had an interception. Neither guy was particularly sharp. And both were hurt by some drops. If he had to start a game tomorrow, Plummer said afterward he is confident he would perform well. He is an underrated athlete who can run, too.

"They had some good moments and bad moments, which is good for them," said Jeff Brohm. "I saw some good things. At the same time, there are a lot of things we have to improve on. We have to take care of the ball, we have to make better decisions, we have to get the ball out quicker. We will evaluate them more watching the film, but I didn’t think it was a great day for our quarterbacks by any means."

2. Give the defense credit. Even without key players like Derrick Barnes, Lorenzo Neal, Anthony Watts, Markus Bailey, Cornel Jones and Jaylan Alexander, the unit more than held its own most of this day. If you had to hand out an MVP award today for the defense, you would probably give it to redshirt freshman Elijah Ball. He was all over the field and made some key plays as he trains as a hybrid linebacker/safety who can play in space.

"Elijah has done a great job," said Brohm. "He has been very versatile for us. He started out as a safety, little bit of a linebacker, now he is in that nickel/linebacker position. He plays out of the box. You now what? He makes some plays at times. He is a guy we would like to get into the fold. I think when he knows what to do and is playing fast and downhill, he can make plays."

3. Purdue has three tight ends it can use. Senior Brycen Hopkins saw scant action by design. The staff knows what he can do. In fact, he should be one of the Big Ten's best. But junior Darius Pittman and redshirt freshman Payne Durham saw plenty of action. Each had their moments. Pittman even caught a TD pass. Durham had some drops, but at 6-5, 255 pounds, he is an intriguing prospect who the staff knows can block. Keep an eye on him.

"I like Payne," said quarterback Jack Plummer. "He is my class. Living with each other next year. Me and him have pretty good chemistry. Obviously, Brycen Hopkins is a really good tight end, one of the best tight ends in the Big Ten. Darius has a little playing experience, too. He has played two years already. He is coming along well."

4. The offensive line didn’t do much to quell worries many have about the unit. Tackles Grant Hermanns (left) and Matt McCann (right) are known commodities. The interior? Not so much so. Sophomore Sam Garvin was with the first team at center today—as has been the case almost all spring. Sophomore Mark Stickford was at right guard with redshirt freshman Jimmy McKenna at left guard. The unit struggled for consistency most of the day. No doubt, this is the ultimate work in progress.

"We have some bodies in there that have shown some signs, but we have guys nicked up and injured so hopefully we can get them all healthy and crank the thing up," said Brohm. "I think there has been improvement. But I don’t know if three guys specifically have emerged (on the interior) other than we got a lot of repetitions and progress has been made. But we still are gonna wait to determine who the starters will be until we get to fall camp."

5. The pass rush showed some signs of life. Redshirt freshman George Karlaftis had a sack—and could have had a few others—while sophomore Jeff Marks also notched a sack. Tackle Giovanni Reviere also got a push from the interior. The potential is there, especially when players like tackles Anthony Watts and Lorenzo Neal return from injury. Purdue needs to be able to generate pressure without blitzing too often if it wants the defense to evolve.

"It’s hard for me to tell until I look at film," said Brohm. "I think throughout camp, it has been more consistent. I think today we were very vanilla on defense and offense but especially on the defensive side as far as trying to figure out extra ways to create pressure. But we have made improvements in camp and that’s what we have got to continue to do and figure out what these guys do well and put them in the right positions. And if we have to bring extra guys occasionally, we are gonna have to do that."

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