Old National Presents: The 3-2-1—Questions nag for spring football

Three things learned. Two questions. One bold statement. It’s time for the 3-2-1, a look at Purdue football.

Three things learned

1 – Offensive struggles

To say the offense struggled during Saturday’s scrimmage in Mollenkopf Athletic Center would be a colossal understatement. The staff has to hope the old adage “nothing is as good as it seems, or as bad as it seems” is true.

The running backs provided the highlights, with Jaheim Merriweather scoring on a long TD run and Devin Mockobee racing to paydirt with a short pass.

Other than that, the offense flat-lined.

The line struggled to get a consistent push in the run game. And myriad leaks occurred in pass protection. Plus, there appears to be no playmakers at wideout.

That brings us to the QBs. The transfer trio of Malachi Singleton, EJ Colson and Evans Chuba didn’t impress–which has been a persistent storyline. The best of the bunch was Bennett Meredith, the lone holdover.

Is there a true Big Ten starter in the bunch? Or will Purdue shop for a portal quarterback?

We’ll get one last good look at the offense on Saturday in the spring showcase.

2 – This one hurts … a lot

Before anyone had broken a sweat, George Burhenn was prone on the south end of the artificial surface in Mollenkopf last Saturday. It didn’t look good as trainers huddled around the Purdue tight end and a cart was summoned to take him off the field.

Everyone’s breath was held as a hush settled over the proceedings.

The extent of Burhenn’s injury isn’t known, but it may not look good for the Boilermakers’ No. 1 tight end who appeared to injure his right ankle. When will he be back? In time for camp in August?

No other tight end on the roster is close to being comparable. In fact, Burhenn arguably is the team’s best player overall, a true difference-maker with all-conference ability.

In an offense sorely lacking for star power, Burhenn is needed.

3 – Quality PWO OL

Purdue received a pledge from Carmel (Ind.) High OL Sankeerth Veluri on Sunday.

He is a member of the Class of 2025 who was headed to Army. But, he had issues passing a physical due to having screws in a foot. (It’s nothing that alarms the staff.) Now, he’s a Boilermaker, set to arrive in June. Veluri is a 4.0 student whose sister went to Purdue.

He’s essentially been told he is guaranteed a spot on Purdue’s 105-man roster. Why not? The 6-5, 285-pound Veluri is worth the risk. He’s better than most of the walk-on offensive linemen on the roster.

It’s all about building quality depth in this truncated roster era that looms. And Veluri certainly looks like low-risk “quality” depth.

Two questions

1 – Will Purdue shop for portal QB?

Who’s the best QB on the roster? The QB most ready to start a Big Ten game? It’s Meredith, who has been the best all spring. That’s the guy I would start if Purdue played tomorrow. He shows command and confidence, and he throws the ball with the most accuracy. And, Meredith has started a Big Ten game: 2023 at Northwestern.

After that? The next best option looks like Singleton. Colson and Chuba? The jury is out, in my mind.

Bottom line: This team needs to get a quarterback out of the portal. And I think it needs to shop with a sense or urgency for a starting-caliber singal-caller. The price? It probably will be around $1 million. But it is money Purdue has to spend.

2 – How good is secondary?

Purdue looks to have three legit corners in Ryan Turner, Tony Grimes and Huduauri Hines. At safety, Crew Wakely adds value, Stu Smith has been a revelation and Smiley Bradford is on the rise. And fellow safety Tahj Ra-El–a transfer from Memphis–figures to impact but has yet to practice recovering from offseason ankle surgery.

The issue: The QBs and WRs really haven’t been able to test the secondary in the spring. How good are these DBs, really? We won’t find out until the fall.

One bold statement: Change is coming

At this point, it is no secret: Purdue is gonna hit the portal hard with the spring window is open from April 16-25.

Barry Odom has made no secret of that fact, saying Purdue could see as many as 20 players come and 20 players go to make room.

Every position–save for running back–can use help … some more than others. The positions with the most need: Offensive line, receiver, quarterback and linebacker.

This roster figures to look a different by the end of the month.

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