MORE SPRING PREVIEWS: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Offensive line | Tight 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: Receivers.
What we know
David Bell has left the building. And he does so as arguably the best receiver in school annals, coming off a 2021 junior season stamped as a consensus All-American and Big Ten Receiver of the Year. He can't be replaced.
Also gone is Jackson Anthrop, a Swiss Army knife whose value couldn't be measured solely by numbers.
Purdue will fold in two transfers this spring: Tyrone Tracy (Iowa) and Elijah Canion (Auburn). Tracy is a speedy, proven target who has starting experience. It wouldn't be a shock if the Indianapolis native earns a starting spot. Canion is a bigger target who is more potential than proven commodity. He'll get a chance to impress this spring.
Staffers are excited about Deion Burks, who flashed late in 2021 as a true freshman. He could emerge as a key weapon. Classmate Preston Terrell also drips with promise. Will they seize the opportunity?
The unit has a new coach in Garrick McGee, a veteran who has head coaching and coordinator experience. McGee's last gig was as quarterbacks coach at Florida. He takes over for JaMarcus Shephard, a high-energy coach who left for Washington after serving on Jeff Brohm's Purdue staff from Day One.
What we don't know
Will Milton Wright be eligible? With Bell gone, he is poised to be the team's go-to target in 2022. But serious questions hang over his ability to get eligible. Fingers are crossed. Wright--who missed the bowl game because of academics--is able to practice this spring, but school will be his focus. This process will extend into the summer.
This unit will be without some key options in the spring due to injury: Broc Thompson, Mershawn Rice, Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen and T.J. Sheffield.
Thompson was a breakout star in the Music City Bowl who earned MVP honors by making seven catches for 217 yards with two touchdowns while playing on two bad knees. The Marshall transfer has undergone surgery on each knee this offseason. He's out this spring.
Rice's promising career never has gotten on track due to injury. He look poised for a breakout in 2021 before a foot injury in September vs. Notre Dame ended his season. Yaseen also saw his season end in September after he aggravated a 2020 knee injury in practice. Each could figure prominently in the 2022 wideout unit.
Sheffield is rebounding from an ankle injury suffered while making a TD catch in the Music City Bowl. Can he regain the promising form he flashed in 2021? Sheffield could morph into a key weapon in 2022.
Names to know
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