15 Days To Purdue Football: Charlton Williams And Rob Henry
by BoilerTMill on Aug 19, 2011 7:22 AM EDT
in Football
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PrintToday is one of the first days where two players share a number and both will likely see plenty of playing time. Charlton Williams has been a solid reserve and part-time starter in the secondary for several seasons. Rob Henry, of course, is very likely the starting quarterback. While these guys aren;t the most famous players to wear 15 at Purdue, they both should make an impact this season.
Charlton Williams - Sr.
Hometown: Tamarac, FL (Coral Glades HS)
Cornerback
6'2", 200 pounds
2011 Projection: Contributor in the secondary
Williams is one of the very few players on the roster that knows what it is like to play in a bowl game. He played in all 13 games during the 2007 season as a true freshman before redshirting the next year. Since then, he has played in an additional 18 games. Last season he played in 10 of 12 games, started one, and had a modest 21 tackles with a sack.
Williams is big at 6'2" for a cornerback, and he will probably see the field quite often to give either Josh Johnson or Ricardo Allen a break. he can also play in nickel packages. While he may not start, he is a key reserve whose experience will be beneficial.
Rob Henry - So.
Hometown: Ocala, FL (Trinity Catholic)
Quarterback
6'2", 198 pounds
2011 Projection: Starter at quarterback
What a year Rob Henry had last year. He had his first career action at Notre Dame and showed he could move the offense with his legs. He then became the starter by default when Robert Marve went down and Caleb TerBush was ineligible. He led us to a decent upset of a good Northwestern team on the road, then nearly had the index finger on his throwing hand ripped off at Ohio State. Now he enters 2011 as the likely starter, his finger is messed up a little, but healed, and he is a team captain as a redshirt sophomore.
I have like Henry from the beginning. When I heard that he was a leader before coming to Purdue by contacting the Florida recruits in his class and keeping them on board I was impressed. He passed for 996 yards and eight touchdowns while rushing for a team high 547 yards and four more scores. I think he performed well considering the situation we were in at the end of the year.
I expect big things from Henry this year. We don't need him to go mad bomber on teams like Brees and Orton did. What we do need is a steady leader that can consistently move the football and keep our defense rested. Henry can do that either running or throwing. He's got next in terms of being in the Cradle.
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"nearly had the index finger on his throwing hand ripped off at Ohio State"
Seriously? I can understand trying to spice up your writing some, but this just isn’t true. He had a deep cut that affected his ability to grip the ball. Never once have I heard someone say he almost lost a finger.
I enjoy your blog, but just take it easy on the hyperbole, sometimes… Friendly critique.
sorry about that
I have heard too many stories about it. I’ve heard a laceration. I’ve heard a ripped off nail. I’ve heard a broken finger. I’ve heard all 3…
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
Actually TMills is pretty accurate...
His finger was badly mangled. In fact, he doesn’t have feeling in the tip of it because of the nerve damage from the injury. (Source) The laceration not only went down to the bone, but it also yanked off his finger nail.
It’s likely just a matter of samantics, but his injury was not just a cut. In fact, I’d speculate that it still impacts his throws to a minor degree.
- Contributor/Editor/ All-around embarrassment at Hammer & Rails
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Fair enough
Thanks for the further information. The nerve damage is something I hadn’t heard.
You’re right that it’s mostly semantics. A pet peeve of mine (which doesn’t apply only to this blog) is when journalists sensationalize material. You see it everywhere (TV news, newspapers, blogs) and I get irritated by it sometimes. Nothing personal and I look forward to your posts in the future, TMill.
Thx Froggr
for keeping the integrity on this site to report accurately, unlike some other Mizzou journalists (cough, Bernie). (BTW, I also think many TMill’s hyperbole is hilarious, thx)
To be fair...
“this just isn’t true. He had a deep cut that affected his ability to grip the ball.”
You stated it as a fact as though you knew for certain. I’m not entirely certain of the extent of his injury, but I’m not going to call someone out if I’m not certain.
Let's ease up, guys
we’re all friends here. let’s just agree that his finger was really, really hurt.
A futile crusade to prevent mass ignorance
HammerAndRails, SBNation's Boilermaker Blog
by BoilerTMill on Aug 19, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
please, please, please!
Can we call it a boo-boo? He had a boo-boo, ok people. On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the worst pain you’ve ever felt in your life, he said it “hurt real bad”. Doctor made it feel “all better now”.
>Hoosier by birth, Boilermaker by the grace of God
>Don't cry, MSU - It's just a game...
by sea.of.white on Aug 23, 2011 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the jury is still out on Henry's passing.
Sure, the injury affected his accuracy and effectiveness, but you didn’t see a lot of deep balls last season and I wonder if we’re going to just be reduced to short, 5 yard slants and Henry running up the gut like last season.
Like the kid, just want to see more of his skill set than a “running QB”. Our offense was way too predictable last year.
Nobody cares about your fantasy baseball team
by carmen_fanzone on Aug 19, 2011 10:20 AM EDT reply actions
This is a key issue with the offense
The spread isn’t just a horizontal offense, it must be able to stretch the defense vertically. If we don’t have a deep ball threat then every drive is basically a red zone situation, compressing the defense into a 15 yard box. I think Rob is capable he just needs some protected time in the pocket. I knew we were in trouble last year when the first 5 passes of the game vs Notre Dame were bootlegs. That just kills your ability to use the entire field and stretch it vertically.
Spread
We haven’t ran as much true “Spread” as we did in the early Tiller years. 5 wide outs, shotgun spread isn’t a big part of Nord’s offense.
Read option and more traditional I formation were used last year than previously.
Regardless, we still need to be able to strike vertically to keep the defense honest I agree. But that is not all on the QB. The OL and the WR play a big part in that as well and they need to get much, much better from where the were last year.
Dosvidaniya, bitches! BTFU!
by BoilerUpAT on Aug 19, 2011 11:09 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
the read option did not work well at all last year, mostly because the “read” part took too long, giving the defense enough time to figure out what was going on and shut the play down. but that’s understandable, given henry’s youth. i hope it’ll go better this season.
http://therailroadtie.com/
Boiler up!
by therailroadtie on Aug 20, 2011 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions
The read option worked well at Northwestern
But part of that was certainly due to it being Henry’s first full game and NU not knowing what to expect. Although they should have had an idea, since he did play multiple snaps and ran a lot during the previous games.
It did seem to fizzle out as the season went on, some of it was due to playing with an injury and a lot of it was because the other teams knew that is all they had to defend.
Manager at BT Powerhouse a Big Ten basketball blog
@babaoreally
Finger could still be an Issue
I wonder if Henry could not benefit from a vist to one of the Hand Center’s in Indianapolis?
Is it possible that he could have surgery to stabilize the nail?
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