New Purdue DE coach Jake Trump's goal: Revitalizing pass rush

New defensive ends coach: Jake Trump has deep ties to Barry Odom, who hired Trump to Purdue from Arkansas where he has coached since 2020.

A defensive quality control coach at Arkansas, Trump played linebacker at Missouri (2015-18), where Odom was head coach from 2016-19. Trump is the second Arkansas coach to join Odom’s maiden Purdue staff, as Kelvin Green was named defensive line coach on Wednesday.

Trump began his career as a student assistant at Mizzou in 2019 before working as a GA at Nevada in 2020.

Trump is a native of Kahoka, Mo.

Q: We were just talking to (DL coach) Kelvin Green. You’ve got an extensive background with him now, and you’ve worked with (DC/LB coach) Mike Scherer before, too, right? How is that helping the three of you get this project started and set on what you want this defensive line to look like?

A: Well, first of all, the congruency in terms of our staff is not going to be an issue. I think that was one thing Coach Odom was really big on bringing us all here. I played for Coach Odom, so I kind of know the expectation and what he wants. There’s a number of former teammates of mine on the staff, including Coach Scherer. Coach Scherer and I played together, played in the same scheme together, and then, when we got to Arkansas, I worked with him for a couple years when he was the linebackers coach, and Coach Odom was calling it. We were together then, and then Coach Green. The last three seasons, I’ve been with him, and he has also had experience with Coach Scherer and Coach Odom. But congruency is not going to be an issue. That was one thing Coach Odom wanted. It wasn’t only just bring the best, bring people in from all these different places. It was, OK, what can I do to have guys who align. Coach Green, he’s probably one of my closest friends in this. Relationship wise, there’s trust built, but we can also agree to disagree on things and have honest conversations. Working together on the defensive line, it’s not in a lot of schools. You see two back end coaches. Well, Coach Odom wanted to put a premium on the front. With being multiple and what we do defensively, it allows us to have a specific coach for different positions, where I can take a defensive end and we can get to an outside linebacker position if needed, we can play him as an off-the-ball linebacker. There’s just some things with how multiple we want to be, it helps tie it together, and helps be able to put finer detail into what we’re doing. Coach Green and I talk and we meet as a defensive line. The other day, we had the guys in there, and we talk about whole part, whole teaching. We’re going to show them the whole picture together, separate, teach their part, and then we can bring them back together and put the whole thing together again, and a lot of guys, they respond well to that.

Q: What is your early sense on the players you’re going to be able to work with here?

When I got here, there weren’t very many on the roster. We ended up bringing one guy out, who was currently in the portal back here at Purdue, Jamari (Payne). And then we brought in two guys, Breeon [Ishmail] and CJ (Nunnally IV). First of all, I’m proud of all of them in terms of their approach to what we’ve done this far. This morning was actually the first time we actually got to see them truly move around. I think you can maybe hear it my voice a little bit. We just got done doing our first winning edge. That was honestly the first time we got to see them in action, face a little adversity, get to see them move around. A lot of my guys in my room haven’t necessarily played a whole lot of snaps. CJ is by far the one who has played the most, but that also doesn’t mean that he’s played here at Purdue. CJ Madden had just around 60 snaps this past year before getting hurt. Trey Smith had some snaps. I’m excited to see what I have. To this point, what I can tell you is I’m excited about who they are as people and their approach to what we’ve talked about to Coach Ro in the weight room. They’ve done everything we’ve asked, and we’re just now starting to ramp up so we’ll be able to get a little better feel for that. I’m excited about everyone. Landon Brooks, he’s coming in as a freshman. He came in, and he was in the 220s now he’s in the 240s. CJ, coming from Akron, he was light. Now he’s close to 260. Breeon’s gaining weight. Trey’s gained some weight. CJ Madden, he’s gained some weight. It’s not bad weight. It’s good weight. This is how I can eval them right now, in their approach, and how they’re approaching the weight room, their nutrition, how they’re taking care of their bodies. Jamari, he’s shown flashes where I’m excited to see what he’s able to do. Logan Jellison, he’s an in-state kid, and I’m really excited to see what he’ll do this spring for us. Then, obviously, we have Mason Alnutt coming in this summer from Buffalo, N.Y. I’m excited when he gets here. He’s a bigger body, a violent kid on tape. I just texted with him this morning.

Q: What’s kind of the ideal athlete for what you’re looking at as a defensive end for this defense?

Coach Scherer and I have played about every scheme you could think of while we were at Missouri, at Arkansas and UNLV, we adjusted to the personnel. This spring, we’re going to see where we’re at. You can tell when a guy’s getting too heavy, but guys ask me a lot, and recruits ask me a lot, what weight do you want me at? Well, honestly, I’m recruiting good football players. I want a good football player, and I want you to be able to move at the weight you are at, but I also don’t want you to really force it. You need to have the correct habits to be able to put on the weight you’re supposed to. But at the end of the day, I don’t want you to panic on, “I got to get to this weight.” I think we can feel that out, There’s a couple guys in my room right now that I’m saying, “Okay, I think, 255 is a good weight for you. Let’s, let’s try to stick around there.” But all the body types I have in my room are good football players. You love length, you love guys who are able to separate from offensive lineman, but we’ve got all kinds of shapes and sizes in our room right now. I think the biggest thing is as coaches, we can’t just be limited to whatever we know. We have to adjust to whatever is the strong as the strong point of our guys, the best 11 that are going to be on the field together. I’m not necessarily having this prototype figure when I’m recruiting and I have, you know, there’s that you want to see, length you want to see.

Q: Jake, you kind of touched on “The Winning Edge” program. Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like, and what do you remember about going through that and how much that helped you guys when you were a player?

The big thing with Coach Odom, is our motto here: hard, smart, tough and simple wins. If you have those things, you give yourself a chance. In terms of implementing what we want here and what it takes to win, it’s been a proven process since I played. It’s being able to pay attention to the details, to put your hand behind the line while you’re tired, while you’re in rep 20 after doing a whole different circuit station, and it’s having the ability to focus and pay attention to that detail and finish while you’re tired and while you’re going through a little bit of adversity. It’s changed over the years a little bit, and, rightfully, it’s gotten better over the years. You have to go through hard things to be able to have a galvanizing process. It’s not just a year one thing. Every year you have to continue to build on it. If you’re prepared and if you treat it like a gam and have your approach as a scrimmage, where I prepare my body, my mind, you will go and dominate it. It’s not like this undoable thing. Then having the pride and toughness to be able to stand tall between reps and to be able to breathe and but not only is it during it, but the preparation. wWhat are my habits through the week? And what are my habits on in the weekend? Coming out of the weekend on Tuesday, we’re getting up early. I mean, we’ve been going for four hours now, a lot of this. It’s dealing with a little adversity, putting them through it, and that’s part of the galvanizing process, so that your guys understand that toughness wins. You’ll hear Coach Odom say that over and over, and that’s that’s our mindset behind it.

Q: Can you go into a little more detail on CJ? Is there anything you guys have seen from him so far that gives you some insight into why he had the success he did at Akron?

He brings a veteran mindset to the room that’s really good for us. It’s just an inexperienced room. That’s just the fact, and CJ kind of brings in that older veteran mindset. Early on in his career, he’s been to Jackson State, Independence (JC), Akron, and now he’s going on his fourth school. That is adversity in and of itself, moving that many times, having that many different coaches. I think he’s brought a presence that is really good for our room, a maturity. When you look at sacks, when you look at stats, most sacks are effort based. It is not stopping on a play. We will teach how to cross chop, how to double swipe, how to defeat an offensive lineman, but at the end of the day, it is effort. I do think his mindset and effort is is what has allowed him to have success. That’s one of the things that was super attractive for me. He checked boxes in terms of physical size, but it was when I made the calls on who he was. That’s what sold me on him, and that’s what tied the whole story together. He’s got tools, yes, he’s got some athleticism, but it’s his mindset, it’s his approach that separates him. Now it’s a clean slate with the whole room. It’s a competitive room. I’m excited about what they’ll all put together through this spring.

Q: You’re coaching defensive ends at a school that is known for producing NFL-caliber defensive ends and ones that go on and have great NFL careers. How appetizing is that?

A: Yeah, I mean, the Den of Defensive Ends. It’s written in the lobby. You go in the lobby and there’s a spot on the wall. It’s got all of the history of great defensive ends that have come through here. I’m grateful to have this opportunity at a Big Ten school like Purdue at the highest stage. I’m super grateful, and, no, I don’t take that lightly, but it’s also something in recruiting. I’m absolutely trying to show guys that you are able to have success here. Everyone needs the example that’s come ahead of them. That gives confidence of “OK, that can be me.” That is something I show our recruits. I would love to have some of those guys come back. I know Rosevelt Colvin. He was around at one of the basketball games. You see George Karlaftis playing in the Super Bowl, and you use all those things. Guys that take pride in being a Boilermaker. That’s what I want to help instill that into our guys, to make it a challenge. The guys that I currently have: This is the standard that has been set. This is the expectation.

Q: Your relationship with Barry Odom probably is much different as a coach, with him being your boss. As a player, what makes him a great football coach and gets you to buy into what he’s selling?

A: Coaching is about earning trust from your players. You want your guys to trust you, and really they don’t. You’ve heard the cliche saying, but it’s there’s so much truth to it, they don’t care how much you know until you know how much you care. And Coach Odom truly cares about his players. I think if you look at our staff, that is a living testimony of guys that he has poured into in the past and has brought on staff here. Guys that he really he knows share the same vision he has and have done it before. But as a player, I think Coach Odom loves his guys, and he is pouring into them. Young men are hungry for accountability and structure, and I think he challenges them, and it may be a hard process at first, but eventually, the guys are very grateful for that, and the guys that hold on to that and run with it are the guys that have a lot of success. I don’t think that’s necessarily just in our program, but I think that’s throughout college football. I think he challenges you to get the best out of yourself, and I think that’s the best quality he has as a leader, and he challenges us coaches. Now I’m on the other side, but I see the accountability that he has to us in challenging our guys, you know? He challenges the players, but he’s also challenging us to be that example, to challenge them in ways to get the most out of them. Coaching is teaching and motivating players, and he is exceptional at that.