(Whoa, that pic is big.)
Q: The GBI staff have consistently mentioned that there probably won't be noticeable results in the wins column this season — 3-4 is probably the highest reasonable expectation. However, are there any quantifiable improvements (outside of fun football and effort) that you're specifically looking to see once we get past the Louisville game?
A: Thanks for the question. There are quite a few areas on the field, specifically, that I'll be watching over the course of the season to gauge improvement. Here are a couple:
Offensively: It's been an apparent challenge for receivers to line up consistently in the right spots and grasp the sideline signals. So we could see a bunch of alignment issues in Week 1 — especially depending on tempo — but that would be something that should improvement as the season progresses. And that's just one example of players understanding the offense. I think as they get more games in, they'll have a better grasp of how Brohm calls plays and how the receivers run the pass concepts/ID defenses/get on the same page with QB reads. With it being a new system, I think it's still going to take time to truly find a rhythm with it. So, as the season goes, we should see fewer mental mistakes. Brohm has talked a lot about doing the small things and how much that goes into winning, and there's such little margin for error right now that fewer penalties, alignment issues, etc., could mean Purdue competes more this season.
Defensively: I suppose I could say the same thing here, in terms of adapting to a new scheme. But more specifically, one thing that will tell me Purdue's players/defense is better by the end of the year than in the first week — Can it actually not get beat deep? Playing primarily Cover 3, there should be no excuse to allow a receiver down the field without anyone around. But that was an issue all spring and in the first three days of camp and beyond that, even, per coaches. It simply cannot keep happening. ... Holt's scheme is supposed to be geared, in part, to stop the run, too. Purdue has been very, very bad at doing that lately. (A decade lately?) So one would hope that we can at least tell by the end of the season that there is reason for optimism there moving forward.
Kyle brought up a good point, too, when we were talking about this: One would hope to have built confidence in the coaching staff by the end of season in terms of believing they can scheme/motivate/coach-up to have the team compete. Jeff Brohm has said on more than one occasion how important the staff is going to be toward the team's success in terms of putting guys in the right positions to succeed and relying on outscheming other coaches (because Purdue just doesn't have enough talent right now). Perhaps by the end of the season, we'll see some evidence this staff can do that. That'd be encouraging.
And I know you said not to include effort — I personally think that's tough to quantify, anyway — but that's going to be the No. 1 thing, probably, the coaches look for in terms of improvement. Both Brohm and Nick Holt have talked about that a lot. They want their team to be defined as one that will fight until the end, regardless of the score, and both guys said they didn't see that watching the film from last season's team.
Thoughts?
