MORE SPRING PREVIEWS: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Offensive line | Tight ends | Receivers | Defensive tackles | Defensive ends

With 2021 in the rear view mirror, Purdue has its eyes cast toward next fall. And the work begins in spring football for a program coming off a 9-4 record.

Jeff Brohm enters Year Six in West Lafayette. And it's a year few Boilermaker coaches have reached in the last 60-plus years. Only Jack Mollenkopf, Jim Colletto and Joe Tiller have coached into a sixth season since Mollenkopf took over the program in 1956.

The program continues to evolve in a positive manner under Brohm, who has gone 28-29 overall and 20-22 in the Big Ten. The nine-win 2021 season was Purdue's first since 2003, as Brohm has produced bowl trips in three of his five years.

This is a series of positional analyses in anticipation of spring drills.

Next up: Linebackers