Ryan Walters pleased with buy-in, want-to, as Purdue training camp hits home stretch

Ryan Walters is still getting used to the celebrity of being the head coach of Purdue.

“The thing that sort of catches you off guard when you’re not expecting is just being recognized,” said Walters. “Because, in my mind, I’m still the same person I was before I signed a piece of paper that said I was head coach at Purdue.”

All eyes will continue to be riveted on Walters as he steams toward his head coaching debut on Sept. 2 in Ross-Ade Stadium vs. Fresno State. The 37-year-old has been putting his first edition through the grind of training camp, punctuating practice No. 12 today.

“I’m very pleased with where we’re at,” said Walters. “We’ve gotten a lot of scenarios, situation football, that have kind of came up. What I like about our structure at practice, we just put the ball down and go play. So, there’s a lot of scenarios that come up that you kind of got to work through offensively, defensively and special teams.”

Purdue has had its share of bumps and bruises in camp but has suffered just two injuries of consequence. Florida Atlantic receiver Jahmal Edrine has been lost to a season-ending knee injury. The staff also saw Josh Kaltenberger–who was the No. 1 center with Gus Hartwig being eased back from a 2022 knee injury–hurt a knee.

“Kaltenberger got dinged up, but he should be fine,” said Walters. “We’ve had a couple of guys with some soft tissue injuries that will be ready come the start of the season. So, we’re fairly healthy.”

Walters has been pleased with the development of the offensive front, which has welcomed six transfers.

“The o-line has improved tremendously,” said Walters. “Coach (Marcus) Johnson has done an awesome job with those guys. Obviously, added a couple faces. And guys that were here did a great job in the offseason with Coach Ro (strength coach Kiero Small) in just changing their bodies and getting stronger, getting bigger. And they’re gelling.

“What we do defensively kind of puts pressure on that group in particular with one-on-one blocks, different twist games that we do. And so those guys are getting inundated fast with communication and playing with each other.”

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Has one side of the ball had an edge over the other in camp?

“No, I mean, it is back and forth every day,” said Walters. “One day, the offense will seem like it has the upper hand, but there is still back and forth. The next day, the defense seems like it has the upper hand, but it goes back and forth, which is what you want to see. That means the guys are competing.”

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What has Walters been most happy with as camp–which ends August 24–hits the home stretch?

“I think I’m most pleased with the buy-in and the want-to,” he said. “Guys are enjoying going to work, they are enjoying practice. We’re making practice hard, it’s difficult. We’re asking them to do things that they haven’t done before. So, just their willingness and commitment to striving to get better every day. That’s when I’m most pleased with.”

Purdue has held one scrimmage thus far in camp. And it will conduct a second on Thursday with plenty to work on.

“I think we have 18 days till game day,” said Walters. “So, all three phases, every scenario (needs work). Like I said at the start of camp, we got veteran guys, but not a whole lot of guys that have had experiences with each other. So, it’s just putting them in those adverse moments and trying to put as much pressure on them as possible now so that when we get to game day, they’ve done it before, they’ve seen it before, they felt it before so they can rely on their preparation.”