I feel like no matter what happens, this is going to be a team the likes of which many of us have never seen in 2020... that, to me, is equally true whether we go 5-7 and miss a bowl losing out last game, and it’s Chernobyl time, or whether we go 8-4 and we roll in a bowl game.
Stuff happens, players leave early, leave the program for other reasons, suffer injuries like worship, but you look at it unit by unit for 2020, and the difference in number of likely impact players and players for whom it will be “time” is staggering.
QB - Elijah Sindelar May go. If he stays great, if not, you’ve got Jack Plummer, the QB whom Brohm seems to see as his chosen one, waiting in the wings. Sipe may go and you have O’Connell (whom Brohm likes a lot), Piferi with 0 pressure on Alaimo to play.
RB - Worship and fuller go, but you’ve got Doerue and Hewitt either coming off redshirt or having played, a four star in Murphy coming in and Horvath as I believe a junior.
TE - Hopkins is a big loss, but again, Pittman will be a senior with Miller and Bilodeau coming off shirting.
WR - Moore will be a senior, the big three will have either shirted or played, and it’s likely two of them play, Sparks will be a senior, anything we get from the current RS freshmen will be a bonus and you likely see the addition of Carr, Moore and Sullivan will be here. We may not need any of them to play. And tj Sheffield and anthrop ... loaded.
OL - McCann departs but it will have been a year where players like Beach, Holstege, Stickford, Bramel, McKenna go through the growing pains. Jornigan will come off of shirting... you’d think by then Brohm will have at least a solid group here. Worth noting that criddle May play, play well, and he graduates.
DE - Karlaftis and Hunter will likely have played and be entrenched for big snaps. Higgins will depart but that shouldn’t register. Barnes will be a senior, Deen or Stokes May have seen some time
DT - Neal to me is the biggest loss, even more so than Bailey, because huge NTs aren’t easily replaced. Johnson stepping in and doing OKAY, or failing to do so, would be the biggest potential problem. Watts is a senior, Faucheux should be rotating in with him, and there’s a potentially huge recruit that I wouldn’t count us out for.
LB - Bailey to me is 2 or 2a as a loss along with Brycen Hopkins.. no denying that. Holt will be gone too, but Jones will return and you’ve got Alexander who will have played... they do need to figure something out between smith, wahlberg and whoever else. I expect to see a lot of Ball and Graham this year (if he’s not a starting S) up front. Conceivable to see Marvin grant up there in 2020 as well.
CB - again more riches than I’m used to seeing at Purdue. Major and Mackey will be juniors, smiley a senior, Cam Allen should see the field as a RS Fr.
S - Mosley will be gone, B. Thienemann will be a senior, and you’ll have Graham, Grant, Ball all with at least a year under their belt.
The moral of the story? It’s hard not to be as excited about that season as I was going into 05 LOL.
So, no matter the bumpy ride that 19 is sure to be, it may be the last time for a while ...
Stuff happens, players leave early, leave the program for other reasons, suffer injuries like worship, but you look at it unit by unit for 2020, and the difference in number of likely impact players and players for whom it will be “time” is staggering.
QB - Elijah Sindelar May go. If he stays great, if not, you’ve got Jack Plummer, the QB whom Brohm seems to see as his chosen one, waiting in the wings. Sipe may go and you have O’Connell (whom Brohm likes a lot), Piferi with 0 pressure on Alaimo to play.
RB - Worship and fuller go, but you’ve got Doerue and Hewitt either coming off redshirt or having played, a four star in Murphy coming in and Horvath as I believe a junior.
TE - Hopkins is a big loss, but again, Pittman will be a senior with Miller and Bilodeau coming off shirting.
WR - Moore will be a senior, the big three will have either shirted or played, and it’s likely two of them play, Sparks will be a senior, anything we get from the current RS freshmen will be a bonus and you likely see the addition of Carr, Moore and Sullivan will be here. We may not need any of them to play. And tj Sheffield and anthrop ... loaded.
OL - McCann departs but it will have been a year where players like Beach, Holstege, Stickford, Bramel, McKenna go through the growing pains. Jornigan will come off of shirting... you’d think by then Brohm will have at least a solid group here. Worth noting that criddle May play, play well, and he graduates.
DE - Karlaftis and Hunter will likely have played and be entrenched for big snaps. Higgins will depart but that shouldn’t register. Barnes will be a senior, Deen or Stokes May have seen some time
DT - Neal to me is the biggest loss, even more so than Bailey, because huge NTs aren’t easily replaced. Johnson stepping in and doing OKAY, or failing to do so, would be the biggest potential problem. Watts is a senior, Faucheux should be rotating in with him, and there’s a potentially huge recruit that I wouldn’t count us out for.
LB - Bailey to me is 2 or 2a as a loss along with Brycen Hopkins.. no denying that. Holt will be gone too, but Jones will return and you’ve got Alexander who will have played... they do need to figure something out between smith, wahlberg and whoever else. I expect to see a lot of Ball and Graham this year (if he’s not a starting S) up front. Conceivable to see Marvin grant up there in 2020 as well.
CB - again more riches than I’m used to seeing at Purdue. Major and Mackey will be juniors, smiley a senior, Cam Allen should see the field as a RS Fr.
S - Mosley will be gone, B. Thienemann will be a senior, and you’ll have Graham, Grant, Ball all with at least a year under their belt.
The moral of the story? It’s hard not to be as excited about that season as I was going into 05 LOL.
So, no matter the bumpy ride that 19 is sure to be, it may be the last time for a while ...