Deep Dive Practice No. 12

It’s insightful, it’s informative, it’s fun, it’s the Deep Dive, a look at Purdue spring practice No. 12 on Tuesday.

• Purdue practiced outdoors on a day that felt like early November. Tough guys wore short sleeves.

• Sounds like Purdue has some promising true freshman o-linemen.

“Rico Schrieber from Marist High School in Chicago is as good as a freshman as I’ve had at that spot,” said Barry Odom. “Brock Brownfield is as good of a interior guy right now that I’ve seen in a long time. And then Terrell Berryhill from St. Louis. All three of those guys being able to go through winter conditioning and the amount of reps that they’ve gotten in spring practice, don’t be surprised if they don’t help us in some capacity this fall.”

• Purdue had a scrimmage last Saturday that included 160 plays.

“I thought our playmakers stood up and made plays at times, which was fun to see on both sides of the ball,” said Odom. “I think our line of scrimmage play has gotten significantly better and when you can do that on both sides of the ball that makes everybody’s job a little bit easier, the quarterback and the pass defense and some of those things. So, made a lot of progress and we are excited about what this team’s going to be in the fall.”

• The No. 1 OL remained the same. From L-R: Jude McCoskey, Marques Easley, Boaz Stanley, Micah Banuelos, Nuku Mafi. Remember this: Joey Tanona has been limited coming off shoulder surgery. He figures to be the No. 1 left tackle.

• OL Ethan Trent was more of a participant today than he had been in recent weeks. DL TJ Lindsey, WR Jesse Watson, DE Aiden Solecki and WR Jalil Hall worked off to the side.

• Lots of situational work today, including goal line and last-second/hurry-up. There is no wasted motion in Odom’s practices, with three groups of teams often working at the same time in 11-on-11 run game action.

• In all my years watching as a fan and then covering Purdue football, I don’t recall a taller o-lineman than McCoskey, who is every bit of 6-8 (320). The biggest Boiler OL I have covered is Grant Herrmanns, who at 6-7, 305 looked like an NFL OT. Herrmanns had a cup of coffee (or two) in the NFL. A great young man, too.

“Being 6’8″ with a long wingspan definitely helps,” he said. “Going against guys like Keyshawn (Burgos), Elo (Modozie), CJ Madden, Trey (Smith), Jeremy (Lewis)—it helps being able to use my length and height against those kinds of players.”

McCoskey began his career in his home town of Terre Haute at Indiana State, spent a few weeks at Tulane before moving to Purdue prior to last year, where he saw spot duty as an extra blocker.

“When I had the chance to come here, I couldn’t pass it up,” said McCoskey. “My dream growing up was to play Big Ten football, especially at Purdue in my home state.”

• New OL coach Zach Crabtree is an impressive young coach. The 31-year-old has a short resume but it is strong with stops at Baylor, USC and Fresno State. He’s a fast-riser who has been described to me as “intense.” I asked him how his players who characterize him.

“That’s a great question,” he said. “Probably intense and demanding. We’re going to go after it every single play. That one play is the most important play—the one we’re on. Not the next play, not the last play. So, intensity is probably the word they’d use. Intense and demanding, but also rewarding—and we have a lot of fun doing it.”

Have any OLs caught Crabtree’s eye this spring?

“I don’t know if there’s one in particular,” he said. “Jude’s having a good spring. Brock Brownfield, as a young guy, is having a good spring. Micah Banuelos is improving every single day. Then there are a bunch of guys coming in every day—I love that room and their approach. They’re hungry, they want to improve, and they’ve got a ton of questions. It’s been fun to be a part of.”

• Oklahoma State transfer Nuku Mafi would be an ideal right tackle, were the 6-4, 330-pounder has spent most of the spring.

“I’m physical,” he said. “You can count on me in the run game. I love pulling—being in open space, hitting guys. That’s my favorite part. I’m working on perfecting my pass game, especially transitioning from left to right, but it’s been a pretty easy transition so far.”

• Purdue is treating this week like a game week, so the Thursday and Friday practices will be brief prior to the final workout of the spring: The Spring Showcase on Saturday at noon ET in Ross-Ade Stadium, which is open to the public.

“Thursday, we’ll do an in-season Thursday practice for us, what that looks like, just so our guys get a feel for what that looks like,” said Odom. “Friday, we’ll do the same thing, in-season Friday practice, and then Saturday, will be a combination of some practice, some individual drills, some things both sides unit-wise, and then there will be some scrimmage situations.”

• No AC/DC today. C’mon. You can do better. Just one song was spun worth mentioning: “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour.

• Thanks for reading.