WEST LAFAYETTE – For the first time since 2019, Purdue Football will hold a spring game. The Boilermaker offense will battle the Boilermaker defense with kickoff set for noon on Big Ten Network (April 9). Admission into Ross-Ade Stadium for the event is free.
The format will be the same as the 2019 game. The offense will have traditional scoring, while the defense will earn points based on specific stops. In the 2019 edition, the defense emerged victorious 53-39.
Purdue wraps up the spring, its sixth under head coach Jeff Brohm.
BACK IN (OLD GOLD &) BLACK
• Purdue returns 15 starters (7 offense, 8 defense) from last season.
• Offense: RB King Doerue, TE Payne Durham, C Gus Hartwig, LG Spencer Holstege, RT Eric Miller, QB Aidan O'Connell, WR Milton Wright.
• Defense: SS Cam Allen, CB Jamari Brown, DT Branson Deen, LB Kieren Douglas, LB Jalen Graham, FS Marvin Grant, DE Kydran Jenkins, DT Lawrence Johnson.
• The Boilermakers also have their special teams unit back in field goal kicker Mitchell Fineran, punter Jack Ansell, holder (quarterback) Jack Albers and longsnapper Nick Zecchino.
EARLY ENROLLEES
• Head coach Jeff Brohm and Purdue were active in the early December signing period with the addition of 19 new Boilermakers.
• Five members of the 2022 class enrolled in January to join the Boilermakers for spring ball: QB Brady Allen, DT J.P. Deeter, DT Mo Omonode, WR Zion Steptoe and DE Joe Strickland.
OPEN THE PORTAL
• Purdue welcomed eight transfers to West Lafayette during the offseason: QB Kyle Adams (James Madison), WR Elijah Canion (Auburn), CB Tee Denson (Kansas State), OL Sione Finau (FIU), CB Bryce Hampton (Adams State), LB Scotty Humpich (Murray State), CB Reese Taylor (Indiana), WR Tyrone Tracy (Iowa).
NEW COACHES
• Head coach Jeff Brohm introduced four new assistant coaches this spring with the addition of David Elson (linebackers), Garrick McGee (wide receivers), Ryan Wallace (tight ends/assistant offensive line) and Ashton Youboty (cornerbacks).
• Elson, a former head coach at Western Kentucky and a defensive coordinator at several stops, spent the 2021 campaign with Purdue as a defensive quality control coach.
• McGee joined the Boilermakers with 26 years of coaching experience, including time as the head coach at UAB and several stints as an offensive coordinator; he most recently coached quarterbacks at Florida in 2021, but has six years under his belt as a wide receivers coach.
• Wallace has spent the past five seasons on Brohm's staff, serving as an offensive and special teams assistant.
• Youboty was an All-Big Ten cornerback at Ohio State and played five seasons in the NFL before making the transition into coaching; he coached cornerbacks at Youngstown State for the past two seasons after serving as a quality control coach at Wisconsin for three years.
A LOOK AT THE 2022 SLATE
• The 2022 slate, the sixth season under the leadership of head coach Jeff Brohm, features six games at Ross-Ade Stadium, including a season-opening matchup against Penn State on a Thursday night (Sept. 1).
• Purdue remains at home to host in-state foe Indiana State (Sept. 10) for the first of three straight non-conference games. The Boilermakers hit the road to face Syracuse (Sept. 17) before returning home to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls in Purdue's annual Homecoming game, closing out the month of September (Sept. 24).
• The Boilermakers have back-to-back matchups at Minnesota (Oct. 1) and at Maryland (Oct. 8). Purdue welcomes Nebraska to West Lafayette (Oct. 15) before another away game at Wisconsin (Oct. 22). The month of October features three road contests and ends with an off week for the Boilermakers (Oct. 29).
• Purdue alternates home and away games throughout the month of November, starting with the Iowa Hawkeyes making their way to Ross-Ade Stadium (Nov. 5). The Boilermakers look to keep the Cannon when they travel west to face Illinois (Nov. 12). Northwestern visits West Lafayette for the final home game of 2022 (Nov. 19), while Purdue travels to Indiana (Nov. 26) to close out the regular season and battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
BROHM AND THE BOILERMAKERS: YEAR 6
• Jeff Brohm enters his sixth year at the helm of the Purdue Football.
• Brohm boasts a career record of 58-39, a .598 winning percentage, with nearly half of those wins coming at Purdue.
• A program with a combined nine wins in the four seasons prior to Brohm's arrival, Purdue matched that output in one season – a memorable 2021 campaign.
• The Boilermakers have made three bowl appearances in five years under Brohm, joining Joe Tiller and Jim Young as the only Purdue coaches to accomplish that feat.
• Over Brohm's five seasons at the helm, the Purdue offense has averaged 419.8 yards per game and 27.6 points per game.
• Purdue has had three All-Americans since Brohm's arrival; the Boilermakers only had three All-Americans from 2004-17 (13 seasons).
• Boilermakers have won individual Big Ten honors under Brohm's guidance: Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Rondale Moore – 2018, David Bell – 2019), Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year (Moore – 2018, Bell – 2021), Big Ten Tight End of the Year (Brycen Hopkins – 2019).
2021: A HISTORIC SEASON
• Purdue finished the 2021 season with nine wins for the first time since 2003, when the Boilermakers also were 9-4.
• The nine wins were second-most in program history, as the Boilermakers record at least nine wins for the 12th time in the
team's 134-year history.
• Two of those victories were over previously unbeaten No. 2 Iowa (Oct. 16) and No. 3 Michigan State (Nov. 6), giving the Boilermakers two wins over Top 5 teams for the first time since 1960.
• Purdue finished with a record of 6-3 in Big Ten play, the most conference wins in a season since the 2003 team went 6-2.
• The Boilermakers tied for second in the Big Ten West, finishing in the division's top three for the third time in five seasons under head coach Jeff Brohm (2017, 2018, 2021).
• Purdue won five games away from home for the first time since 1943, going 5-2 away from Ross-Ade Stadium.
• Purdue entered the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 19 on Nov. 9, the first-ever in the CFP era for the Boilermakers.
• The season was capped off with a thrilling 48-45 overtime victory over Tennessee in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.
• The Boilermakers held four opponents to fewer than 10 points in 2021, the first time it has achieved the feat since 1978, when six opponents were held to single-digit point totals.
RECORDS BROKEN
• The Boilermakers produced several new school records during the 2021 campaign, courtesy of the passing game.
• Purdue broke the school record for passing yards in a season with 4,620 to top the previous record of 4,208 set in 1998.
• The Boilermakers broke the program record for passing yards per
game with 355.3 to eclipse the previous mark of 341.8 set in 1985.
• Purdue totaled 221 passing first downs to best the original record of 204 set in 1998.
• Boilermaker quarterbacks recorded 407 completions to pass the previous record of 377 set in 1998.
• Purdue quarterbacks also completed 70.8 percent of their passes, including 70.2 percent by Aidan O'Connell; both percentages are new school records.
2021 NATIONAL LEADERS
• Completing 70.8 percent of passes, Purdue led the Big Ten and ranked second in the country.
• The Boilermakers limited making penalties, committing a conference-low 4.5 per game that was the 10th-fewest nationwide.
• Purdue's passing offense ranked fifth in the country and second in the Big Ten with 355.4 yards per game.
• Opponents were only been able to convert 8 of 22 fourth down attempts for a .364 conversion rate, putting the Boilermakers 11th nationally in defending fourth downs.
• Purdue's red zone defense also ranked 23rd in the country.
AIR IT OUT, AIDAN
• Starting his career as a walk-on before taking over the starting duties, Aidan O'Connell put together a memorable 2021 campaign.
• O'Connell earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the conference coaches and media, the first Purdue quarterback to be named to one of the first two All-Big Ten teams since Kyle Orton in 2004.
• O'Connell's .718 completion percentage set a new school record and ranked fourth in the country; he also completed 26.3 passes per game to rank sixth nationally.
• Despite splitting time at points of the season, O'Connell threw for 3,712 yards (11th nationally) and 28 touchdowns (17th nationally).
• In games against Top 5 competition (at No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Michigan State, and at No. 4 Ohio State), O'Connell threw for 1,301 passing yards (433.7 avg.) and completed 110-of-146 pass attempts (.753). For those three games, O'Connell had a 9-0 TD-INT ratio.
• O'Connell passed for a career-high 536 yards in the win over No. 3 Michigan State before ending the season with 534 yards against Tennessee in a TransPerfect Music City Bowl victory. He joined Drew Brees as the only Purdue quarterbacks to record multiple 500-yard games over a career, while becoming the only one to reach the 500-yard mark twice in a single season.
• The gunslinger produced six 300-yard games, the third-most in a single season and the first Purdue quarterback to accomplish the feat since Curtis Painter in 2007.
ALL-AMERICANS NFL BOUND
• Purdue will have to replace a pair of All-Americans in WR David Bell and DE George Karlaftis as the two Boilermakers are entering the 2022 NFL Draft.
• The dynamic duo became the first teammates to earn All-America accolades since 1980 (Mark Herrmann, Dave Young).
• A finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, Bell was named First Team All-America from four (AFCA, AP, FWAA, Walter Camp Football Foundation) of the five outlets recognized by the NCAA to just miss out on being a unanimous selection; however, the Purdue wide receiver became the 21st consensus All-American in Purdue history and the first Boilermaker since Rondale Moore in 2018.
• Bell earned the Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year as the best receiver in the Big Ten, leading the conference in catches per game (8.5) and receiving yards per game (116.9); both marks ranked Top 5 in the country.
• Bell racked up 1,286 receiving yards on the year, just 21 yards shy of the school record for a single season, while missing two games.
• Bell set a new Purdue record with 17 career 100-yard receiving games, ending his career ranked in the school's all-time Top 10 for receptions (4th), receiving yards (5th) and receiving touchdowns (T-5th).
• Karlaftis became the first defensive Boilermaker to earn All-America honors since Ryan Kerrigan (2010).
• Karlaftis led the Boilermakers in tackles for loss (11.5), sacks (5.0), forced fumbles (3), fumble recoveries (2) and quarterback hurries (8), earning First Team All-Big Ten honors along the way.
• Karlaftis was one of only four Big Ten defenders to force at least three fumbles throughout the 2021 campaign.
The format will be the same as the 2019 game. The offense will have traditional scoring, while the defense will earn points based on specific stops. In the 2019 edition, the defense emerged victorious 53-39.
Purdue wraps up the spring, its sixth under head coach Jeff Brohm.
BACK IN (OLD GOLD &) BLACK
• Purdue returns 15 starters (7 offense, 8 defense) from last season.
• Offense: RB King Doerue, TE Payne Durham, C Gus Hartwig, LG Spencer Holstege, RT Eric Miller, QB Aidan O'Connell, WR Milton Wright.
• Defense: SS Cam Allen, CB Jamari Brown, DT Branson Deen, LB Kieren Douglas, LB Jalen Graham, FS Marvin Grant, DE Kydran Jenkins, DT Lawrence Johnson.
• The Boilermakers also have their special teams unit back in field goal kicker Mitchell Fineran, punter Jack Ansell, holder (quarterback) Jack Albers and longsnapper Nick Zecchino.
EARLY ENROLLEES
• Head coach Jeff Brohm and Purdue were active in the early December signing period with the addition of 19 new Boilermakers.
• Five members of the 2022 class enrolled in January to join the Boilermakers for spring ball: QB Brady Allen, DT J.P. Deeter, DT Mo Omonode, WR Zion Steptoe and DE Joe Strickland.
OPEN THE PORTAL
• Purdue welcomed eight transfers to West Lafayette during the offseason: QB Kyle Adams (James Madison), WR Elijah Canion (Auburn), CB Tee Denson (Kansas State), OL Sione Finau (FIU), CB Bryce Hampton (Adams State), LB Scotty Humpich (Murray State), CB Reese Taylor (Indiana), WR Tyrone Tracy (Iowa).
NEW COACHES
• Head coach Jeff Brohm introduced four new assistant coaches this spring with the addition of David Elson (linebackers), Garrick McGee (wide receivers), Ryan Wallace (tight ends/assistant offensive line) and Ashton Youboty (cornerbacks).
• Elson, a former head coach at Western Kentucky and a defensive coordinator at several stops, spent the 2021 campaign with Purdue as a defensive quality control coach.
• McGee joined the Boilermakers with 26 years of coaching experience, including time as the head coach at UAB and several stints as an offensive coordinator; he most recently coached quarterbacks at Florida in 2021, but has six years under his belt as a wide receivers coach.
• Wallace has spent the past five seasons on Brohm's staff, serving as an offensive and special teams assistant.
• Youboty was an All-Big Ten cornerback at Ohio State and played five seasons in the NFL before making the transition into coaching; he coached cornerbacks at Youngstown State for the past two seasons after serving as a quality control coach at Wisconsin for three years.
A LOOK AT THE 2022 SLATE
• The 2022 slate, the sixth season under the leadership of head coach Jeff Brohm, features six games at Ross-Ade Stadium, including a season-opening matchup against Penn State on a Thursday night (Sept. 1).
• Purdue remains at home to host in-state foe Indiana State (Sept. 10) for the first of three straight non-conference games. The Boilermakers hit the road to face Syracuse (Sept. 17) before returning home to take on the Florida Atlantic Owls in Purdue's annual Homecoming game, closing out the month of September (Sept. 24).
• The Boilermakers have back-to-back matchups at Minnesota (Oct. 1) and at Maryland (Oct. 8). Purdue welcomes Nebraska to West Lafayette (Oct. 15) before another away game at Wisconsin (Oct. 22). The month of October features three road contests and ends with an off week for the Boilermakers (Oct. 29).
• Purdue alternates home and away games throughout the month of November, starting with the Iowa Hawkeyes making their way to Ross-Ade Stadium (Nov. 5). The Boilermakers look to keep the Cannon when they travel west to face Illinois (Nov. 12). Northwestern visits West Lafayette for the final home game of 2022 (Nov. 19), while Purdue travels to Indiana (Nov. 26) to close out the regular season and battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
BROHM AND THE BOILERMAKERS: YEAR 6
• Jeff Brohm enters his sixth year at the helm of the Purdue Football.
• Brohm boasts a career record of 58-39, a .598 winning percentage, with nearly half of those wins coming at Purdue.
• A program with a combined nine wins in the four seasons prior to Brohm's arrival, Purdue matched that output in one season – a memorable 2021 campaign.
• The Boilermakers have made three bowl appearances in five years under Brohm, joining Joe Tiller and Jim Young as the only Purdue coaches to accomplish that feat.
• Over Brohm's five seasons at the helm, the Purdue offense has averaged 419.8 yards per game and 27.6 points per game.
• Purdue has had three All-Americans since Brohm's arrival; the Boilermakers only had three All-Americans from 2004-17 (13 seasons).
• Boilermakers have won individual Big Ten honors under Brohm's guidance: Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Rondale Moore – 2018, David Bell – 2019), Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year (Moore – 2018, Bell – 2021), Big Ten Tight End of the Year (Brycen Hopkins – 2019).
2021: A HISTORIC SEASON
• Purdue finished the 2021 season with nine wins for the first time since 2003, when the Boilermakers also were 9-4.
• The nine wins were second-most in program history, as the Boilermakers record at least nine wins for the 12th time in the
team's 134-year history.
• Two of those victories were over previously unbeaten No. 2 Iowa (Oct. 16) and No. 3 Michigan State (Nov. 6), giving the Boilermakers two wins over Top 5 teams for the first time since 1960.
• Purdue finished with a record of 6-3 in Big Ten play, the most conference wins in a season since the 2003 team went 6-2.
• The Boilermakers tied for second in the Big Ten West, finishing in the division's top three for the third time in five seasons under head coach Jeff Brohm (2017, 2018, 2021).
• Purdue won five games away from home for the first time since 1943, going 5-2 away from Ross-Ade Stadium.
• Purdue entered the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 19 on Nov. 9, the first-ever in the CFP era for the Boilermakers.
• The season was capped off with a thrilling 48-45 overtime victory over Tennessee in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.
• The Boilermakers held four opponents to fewer than 10 points in 2021, the first time it has achieved the feat since 1978, when six opponents were held to single-digit point totals.
RECORDS BROKEN
• The Boilermakers produced several new school records during the 2021 campaign, courtesy of the passing game.
• Purdue broke the school record for passing yards in a season with 4,620 to top the previous record of 4,208 set in 1998.
• The Boilermakers broke the program record for passing yards per
game with 355.3 to eclipse the previous mark of 341.8 set in 1985.
• Purdue totaled 221 passing first downs to best the original record of 204 set in 1998.
• Boilermaker quarterbacks recorded 407 completions to pass the previous record of 377 set in 1998.
• Purdue quarterbacks also completed 70.8 percent of their passes, including 70.2 percent by Aidan O'Connell; both percentages are new school records.
2021 NATIONAL LEADERS
• Completing 70.8 percent of passes, Purdue led the Big Ten and ranked second in the country.
• The Boilermakers limited making penalties, committing a conference-low 4.5 per game that was the 10th-fewest nationwide.
• Purdue's passing offense ranked fifth in the country and second in the Big Ten with 355.4 yards per game.
• Opponents were only been able to convert 8 of 22 fourth down attempts for a .364 conversion rate, putting the Boilermakers 11th nationally in defending fourth downs.
• Purdue's red zone defense also ranked 23rd in the country.
AIR IT OUT, AIDAN
• Starting his career as a walk-on before taking over the starting duties, Aidan O'Connell put together a memorable 2021 campaign.
• O'Connell earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors from the conference coaches and media, the first Purdue quarterback to be named to one of the first two All-Big Ten teams since Kyle Orton in 2004.
• O'Connell's .718 completion percentage set a new school record and ranked fourth in the country; he also completed 26.3 passes per game to rank sixth nationally.
• Despite splitting time at points of the season, O'Connell threw for 3,712 yards (11th nationally) and 28 touchdowns (17th nationally).
• In games against Top 5 competition (at No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Michigan State, and at No. 4 Ohio State), O'Connell threw for 1,301 passing yards (433.7 avg.) and completed 110-of-146 pass attempts (.753). For those three games, O'Connell had a 9-0 TD-INT ratio.
• O'Connell passed for a career-high 536 yards in the win over No. 3 Michigan State before ending the season with 534 yards against Tennessee in a TransPerfect Music City Bowl victory. He joined Drew Brees as the only Purdue quarterbacks to record multiple 500-yard games over a career, while becoming the only one to reach the 500-yard mark twice in a single season.
• The gunslinger produced six 300-yard games, the third-most in a single season and the first Purdue quarterback to accomplish the feat since Curtis Painter in 2007.
ALL-AMERICANS NFL BOUND
• Purdue will have to replace a pair of All-Americans in WR David Bell and DE George Karlaftis as the two Boilermakers are entering the 2022 NFL Draft.
• The dynamic duo became the first teammates to earn All-America accolades since 1980 (Mark Herrmann, Dave Young).
• A finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, Bell was named First Team All-America from four (AFCA, AP, FWAA, Walter Camp Football Foundation) of the five outlets recognized by the NCAA to just miss out on being a unanimous selection; however, the Purdue wide receiver became the 21st consensus All-American in Purdue history and the first Boilermaker since Rondale Moore in 2018.
• Bell earned the Richter-Howard Receiver of the Year as the best receiver in the Big Ten, leading the conference in catches per game (8.5) and receiving yards per game (116.9); both marks ranked Top 5 in the country.
• Bell racked up 1,286 receiving yards on the year, just 21 yards shy of the school record for a single season, while missing two games.
• Bell set a new Purdue record with 17 career 100-yard receiving games, ending his career ranked in the school's all-time Top 10 for receptions (4th), receiving yards (5th) and receiving touchdowns (T-5th).
• Karlaftis became the first defensive Boilermaker to earn All-America honors since Ryan Kerrigan (2010).
• Karlaftis led the Boilermakers in tackles for loss (11.5), sacks (5.0), forced fumbles (3), fumble recoveries (2) and quarterback hurries (8), earning First Team All-Big Ten honors along the way.
• Karlaftis was one of only four Big Ten defenders to force at least three fumbles throughout the 2021 campaign.