QB coach Hinshaw breaks down depth at position

Purdue QB coach Darin Hinshaw brings a lot of experience to West Lafayette for first-year Boilermaker coach Barry Odom.

Hinshaw was co-OC at UCF in 2024, also coaching quarterbacks. He had been with the Knights since 2021, working for Gus Malzahn during his stint in Orlando.

Prior to UCF, Hinshaw was passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Cincinnati (2013-15) under Tommy Tuberville and co-OC/QBs at Kentucky (2016-20) under Mark Stoops.

Hinshaw also has coached at Middle Tennessee, Georgia Southern, Memphis and Tennessee.

Hinshaw, 52, was a prolific quarterback at UCF who went on to play in the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League.

As Purdue heads to the start of spring practice on March 4, Hinshaw discussed a variety of topics. Here are five questions with him.

Q: Assess the QB situation.

A: I looked at what we had, and obviously it was a situation where quarterbacks had left, and we wanted to bring in guys I knew could throw the football and be successful throwing the football, that were athletic and could go play, that we can mold in the next eight months and build a quarterback room. And again, we’re going to have competition. It started the moment they all got here. They all know they’re competing. We are not announcing any kind of starter or anything. We’re going to build that room, and we’re going to build where every one of them can play. Because, you want to get a starter ready, but you got to have a backup ready, and you got to have a third guy ready. So we will do that, and we’re going to create competition, and every day is a competition in the weight room, everything that we do on and off the field. So I’m excited about that, and where we’re going with that.

Q: Are you concerned about the lack of experience among the portal QBs?

A: The one thing that when we were going through the portal, and I was looking at all the different situations, there was different ways you can go. But the one thing I wanted to do was to bring in guys I can mold and guys that I can train, and guys that I know that can throw the football and do what I want them to do. We had Tyler Bray at Tennessee start as a true freshman. I’ve been able to do that with young quarterback so I’m excited about molding these guys the correct way, the right way. I think all three of them that we brought in can play. And I’m excited about the quarterback room and where we’re going. Yes, we are inexperienced, but we also have the ability to be very, very good in that position.

Q: Do you hope that someone steps up and seizes this job by the end of the spring? Or is it something that’s going to have to play out into the preseason?

A: I’m not going to say right now. I’m just worried about installing the offense. If a starter just absolutely plays better than everybody, Coach Odom will make that decision if we want to announce a starter. So we’ll worry about that when we get there.

Q: You helped bring in QB EJ Colson. What’s he like?

A: I recruited EJ for two years. He was a valedictorian of his class, he went to the state championship every year, started as a freshman, went three years to the state championship. He won two of them. I knew he was a competitor. I know how he can throw the football. I know who he is as a person. And then on top of that, he graduated early from high school and skipped his senior year. So last year, he was 17 years old in college, and I know his best football is ahead of him, and I know what he can do, and again who he is as a competitor. As we compete for this job, I knew he would be a guy that could come in and we could win with.

Q: What’s the prototype QB for this offense?

A: Number one, he’s got to throw the football from point A to point B accurately. That’s recruiting, that’s mechanics. These guys have been throwing the ball 17, 18, 19, years. Motion is something I cannot change, but I can change their footwork. I can change everything, what they’re thinking in their brains, coverages, defenses, and then they’ve got to be able to be athletic. They’ve got to be able to stretch the defense. And I’m not talking about running the quarterback, necessarily, as much as it is using them as a weapon to pull defenders. That’s with RPO game, that’s with everything that we do offensively, to be able to stretch the defensive horizontally and vertically, to cause grief that helps our run game go, that makes our run game go and then to be able to take advantage of being able to throw the football and RPOs, and then being able to throw the football vertically down the field, because we are going to throw the football vertically down the field.

MORE: Offensive depth chart | Defensive depth chart | Special teams depth chart | 2025 roster distribution | Purdue official roster | Spring preview: QBs