16 Days to Purdue Football: Jeff Panfil

Jeff Panfil may be the best player on the team that has yet to seriously contribute. The fifth year senior can to Purdue as a quarterback with a ton of athleticism, but despite a position switch and tons of mentions as a playmaker, he has struggled to have a major impact. Hopefully, that will change this year.

Jeff Panfil - Sr. (5)

Hometown: Ft. Worth, TX (North Crowley HS)

Tight End

6'5", 240 pounds

2010 Projection: Contributor at tight end

This is much more important than anything Panfil has done on the field.

At one time Panfil was going to be the 2010 starting quarterback. He was a solid dual-threat prospect that was team MVP in high school. He led North Crowley to its first ever district championship behind a 2,000 yard passing season. He threw 19 touchdown passes against 3 interceptions while running for over 400 yards and 12 more scores. That was good enough to get him rated as the #20 dual threat quarterback in the nation. At the time, it looked like he would take over in 2009 at the latest after redshirting and sitting for a few years behind Curtis Painter.

That never materialized. While he has used his scholarship to do a lot of good things, his impact on the field has been minimal. He is majoring in Sales management and he was part of the Purdue group that built houses in Haiti during the summer of 2009. He went down there with Kyle Adams and a bunch of other Purdue athletes. In 2008 he moved from quarterback to wide receiver, where he appeared in the beatdown of Indiana. He also appeared in all 12 games on special teams. He was projected to contribute at tight end last year, but a shoulder injury ended his year after two games.

Panfil has a solid football pedigree. He has a pair of cousins that played at Purdue, as well as brothers that played at TCU and Oklahoma State. His dad was drafted by the Saints, while his grandfather was head coach at Tulsa and TCU in the late 70's/early 80's.

Boilermakings Notes after the Jump

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