WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue Football head coach Ryan Walters spoke to the media Monday afternoon to discuss the progress of the team ahead of its next road game at Illinois on Saturday. Kickoff from Memorial Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. ET live on FS1.
Q. Is there anything to take away from Saturday's game at Wisconsin?
RYAN WALTERS: We got finally got two turnovers in the first half. I thought we came out and were playing the game the right way. That's about it.
Q. I guess everybody wants to know, can this be fixed?
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I believe it can. I don't see any reason why it can't. Whenever I've been in a struggling time or adverse time, the thing that you do is you take lessons from the struggles. You take lessons from the adversity. You identify problems and you fix them.
So, that is what we are in the process of doing right now with seven games remaining on the schedule.
Q. You talked a little bit Saturday about being more involved with the offense. Can you get any more detailed about that and just give us your assessment of Jason Simmons' maiden voyage.
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, obviously we have a defensive coordinator. We do not have an offensive coordinator right now. It would be negligent of myself as the head coach to just sort of abandon that side of the ball while making that move, and so I've spent time in there just helping the organization, coming up with ideas on how to attack defenses and what types of things give certain coverages or certain fronts problems.
So, that's what I've been doing. Spent time on that side of the field during practice. We got a roster full of guys that are on that side of the ball that needed leadership and guidance.
Like I said, we have a defensive coordinator, so let him do his job and help out with the offense.
Q. You have talked about doing self-evaluations after games before. What all does that entail for you personally?
RYAN WALTERS: You look at game management, you look at how we're using the roster, you look at schematic issues. Then you evaluate the play of the individual, all those things and take an assessment and evaluate and try to improve the areas that you failed.
Q. What all do you think has contributed to the slow second halves that you guys have had the last three weeks?
RYAN WALTERS: We are struggling to play from behind. For some reason, it kind of snowballs when things don't go our way, and so I've got to do a better job of giving them emotional answers on how to respond when you're behind or when things aren't going your way so that you don't play outside the framework of the play call, outside the framework of the technique; you don't panic.
Right now, when we get behind, we tend to hit the panic button. There is no need to. So, that's been the message. That's been sort of what we've been talking about the last couple days post-Saturday.
Q. Were there any structural changes in the past 48 hours that you implemented to go forward?
RYAN WALTERS: Obviously there are tweaks. It would be irresponsible of me to tell you what those tweaks are with a game coming up on Saturday. But yeah, the last 48 hours have been emotional. It's been challenging. I'm a problem solver, so I've been working diligently to solve problems.
Q. What is the message right now to the players committed to the 2025 and 2026 classes?
RYAN WALTERS: Just watch the season, see how it unfolds. They're committed here for a reason. They love this university, love this place. They have gotten to know and have belief in the coaches that are recruiting them.
So, that's what I would say. There are seven games left. Let's see how this deal plays out.
Q. How significant right now is a better product on the field going to be on the class that you sign in December?
RYAN WALTERS: I think it's hugely significant. As a recruit you want to see progress, you want to see improvement. You want to see wins, right?
I think everybody we are recruiting is of the mindset that I am, like I hate losing. I hate it with a passion. It drives me crazy. And so we've got to win ball games.
Q. How big do you expect the 2025 class to be?
RYAN WALTERS: There is a lot predicated on sort of the roster numbers, the revenue sharing, and evaluating our roster and deciding how many high school guys we take, how many guys we get in the portal, the whole nine.
Q. Is Jason Simmons going to go out on the road in place of Graham Harrell when you have that opportunity here in the next bye week?
RYAN WALTERS: We're still discussing that, but I would imagine so.
Q. Do you expect CJ Madden to play again this season?
RYAN WALTERS: I'm not sure.
Q. About your opponent this week, Illinois, you know them well; had good success against them last year. They're different, they've had a lot of the success or a fair amount of success this year. What do you expect from them? Quarterback Luke Altmyer looks like he's made some big steps forward offensively. What extra challenges do you see from them this week?
RYAN WALTERS: They're playing confident, they're playing complementary football. Obviously, I've got a lot of the respect for the staff and the roster there. I've gotten to know them very well, so I expect them to play the best brand of ball that they can play. That's what they've been doing up to this point in the season. I fully expect them to come out guns blazing.
Like you said, last year it didn't go their way, so I'm sure that is being replayed and reminded, so I fully anticipate to get their best shot.
They've had an extra week to prepare for us as well. I think Coach (Bret Bielema) does a great job during bye weeks in presenting new wrinkles, new personnel, so I fully expect to see things we haven't seen on tape yet. It'll be critical of us to be able to adjust to those things and to play and to go fight for four quarters.
Q. In light of how you seem to want to use your tight ends in a variety of roles right now, do you expect to have George Burhenn any time soon?
RYAN WALTERS: Yes, he's very close.
Q. When you go back and look at your zone coverage, obviously you're a man-to-man staff. What needs to be better in the zone?
RYAN WALTERS: Just our zone integrity. I think guys' eyes, the main culprit Saturday was eye discipline was awful. We're not getting the quarterback out of the pocket either. He's just being able to sit back there and kind of wait.
And then when the ball is in open space, our angles to get the ball down and the technique with which we're tackling was awful on Saturday. That's got to be addressed, it has been addressed. It will definitely be repped in practice.
Q. Have you been able to talk to some mentors of yours who have maybe gone through what you're going through, whether it's emotionally, mentally, trying to fix what you can control?
RYAN WALTERS: I have, yes.
Q. Who might those people be? What have those conversations been like?
RYAN WALTERS: Those are personal, so I'll keep that in-house. I appreciate you asking the question, though.
Q. Can you address the health status of Cole Brevard, Mo Omonode, Antonio Stevens and Winston Berglund?
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, (Cole Brevard) is fine. Mo (Omonode) obviously didn't play. He had an ankle in the Nebraska game. (We're) hopeful to get him back. Antonio (Stevens) should be back. Winston (Berglund), I'm not sure yet.
Q. What about Jayden Dixon-Veal?
RYAN WALTERS: He's close.
Q. Is there anything to take away from Saturday's game at Wisconsin?
RYAN WALTERS: We got finally got two turnovers in the first half. I thought we came out and were playing the game the right way. That's about it.
Q. I guess everybody wants to know, can this be fixed?
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, I believe it can. I don't see any reason why it can't. Whenever I've been in a struggling time or adverse time, the thing that you do is you take lessons from the struggles. You take lessons from the adversity. You identify problems and you fix them.
So, that is what we are in the process of doing right now with seven games remaining on the schedule.
Q. You talked a little bit Saturday about being more involved with the offense. Can you get any more detailed about that and just give us your assessment of Jason Simmons' maiden voyage.
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, obviously we have a defensive coordinator. We do not have an offensive coordinator right now. It would be negligent of myself as the head coach to just sort of abandon that side of the ball while making that move, and so I've spent time in there just helping the organization, coming up with ideas on how to attack defenses and what types of things give certain coverages or certain fronts problems.
So, that's what I've been doing. Spent time on that side of the field during practice. We got a roster full of guys that are on that side of the ball that needed leadership and guidance.
Like I said, we have a defensive coordinator, so let him do his job and help out with the offense.
Q. You have talked about doing self-evaluations after games before. What all does that entail for you personally?
RYAN WALTERS: You look at game management, you look at how we're using the roster, you look at schematic issues. Then you evaluate the play of the individual, all those things and take an assessment and evaluate and try to improve the areas that you failed.
Q. What all do you think has contributed to the slow second halves that you guys have had the last three weeks?
RYAN WALTERS: We are struggling to play from behind. For some reason, it kind of snowballs when things don't go our way, and so I've got to do a better job of giving them emotional answers on how to respond when you're behind or when things aren't going your way so that you don't play outside the framework of the play call, outside the framework of the technique; you don't panic.
Right now, when we get behind, we tend to hit the panic button. There is no need to. So, that's been the message. That's been sort of what we've been talking about the last couple days post-Saturday.
Q. Were there any structural changes in the past 48 hours that you implemented to go forward?
RYAN WALTERS: Obviously there are tweaks. It would be irresponsible of me to tell you what those tweaks are with a game coming up on Saturday. But yeah, the last 48 hours have been emotional. It's been challenging. I'm a problem solver, so I've been working diligently to solve problems.
Q. What is the message right now to the players committed to the 2025 and 2026 classes?
RYAN WALTERS: Just watch the season, see how it unfolds. They're committed here for a reason. They love this university, love this place. They have gotten to know and have belief in the coaches that are recruiting them.
So, that's what I would say. There are seven games left. Let's see how this deal plays out.
Q. How significant right now is a better product on the field going to be on the class that you sign in December?
RYAN WALTERS: I think it's hugely significant. As a recruit you want to see progress, you want to see improvement. You want to see wins, right?
I think everybody we are recruiting is of the mindset that I am, like I hate losing. I hate it with a passion. It drives me crazy. And so we've got to win ball games.
Q. How big do you expect the 2025 class to be?
RYAN WALTERS: There is a lot predicated on sort of the roster numbers, the revenue sharing, and evaluating our roster and deciding how many high school guys we take, how many guys we get in the portal, the whole nine.
Q. Is Jason Simmons going to go out on the road in place of Graham Harrell when you have that opportunity here in the next bye week?
RYAN WALTERS: We're still discussing that, but I would imagine so.
Q. Do you expect CJ Madden to play again this season?
RYAN WALTERS: I'm not sure.
Q. About your opponent this week, Illinois, you know them well; had good success against them last year. They're different, they've had a lot of the success or a fair amount of success this year. What do you expect from them? Quarterback Luke Altmyer looks like he's made some big steps forward offensively. What extra challenges do you see from them this week?
RYAN WALTERS: They're playing confident, they're playing complementary football. Obviously, I've got a lot of the respect for the staff and the roster there. I've gotten to know them very well, so I expect them to play the best brand of ball that they can play. That's what they've been doing up to this point in the season. I fully expect them to come out guns blazing.
Like you said, last year it didn't go their way, so I'm sure that is being replayed and reminded, so I fully anticipate to get their best shot.
They've had an extra week to prepare for us as well. I think Coach (Bret Bielema) does a great job during bye weeks in presenting new wrinkles, new personnel, so I fully expect to see things we haven't seen on tape yet. It'll be critical of us to be able to adjust to those things and to play and to go fight for four quarters.
Q. In light of how you seem to want to use your tight ends in a variety of roles right now, do you expect to have George Burhenn any time soon?
RYAN WALTERS: Yes, he's very close.
Q. When you go back and look at your zone coverage, obviously you're a man-to-man staff. What needs to be better in the zone?
RYAN WALTERS: Just our zone integrity. I think guys' eyes, the main culprit Saturday was eye discipline was awful. We're not getting the quarterback out of the pocket either. He's just being able to sit back there and kind of wait.
And then when the ball is in open space, our angles to get the ball down and the technique with which we're tackling was awful on Saturday. That's got to be addressed, it has been addressed. It will definitely be repped in practice.
Q. Have you been able to talk to some mentors of yours who have maybe gone through what you're going through, whether it's emotionally, mentally, trying to fix what you can control?
RYAN WALTERS: I have, yes.
Q. Who might those people be? What have those conversations been like?
RYAN WALTERS: Those are personal, so I'll keep that in-house. I appreciate you asking the question, though.
Q. Can you address the health status of Cole Brevard, Mo Omonode, Antonio Stevens and Winston Berglund?
RYAN WALTERS: Yeah, (Cole Brevard) is fine. Mo (Omonode) obviously didn't play. He had an ankle in the Nebraska game. (We're) hopeful to get him back. Antonio (Stevens) should be back. Winston (Berglund), I'm not sure yet.
Q. What about Jayden Dixon-Veal?
RYAN WALTERS: He's close.