Nebraska at Purdue: Depth Charts

After going 0-2 away from the friendly confines of Ross-Ade Stadium the margin for error is even thinner when it comes to reaching a bowl game. Purdue still needs three victories and it has three winnable games left at home, but it will have to perform better. The red zone woes must be solved and the Boilers need to get past a loss that, until Saturday afternoon, was one that we did not think would happen.

So let’s see how the depth chart looks this week:

Offense

QB: 1. David Blough 2. Elijah Sindelar 3. Jared Sparks

RB: 1. Richie Worship 2. D. J. Knox 3. Markell Jones 4. Brian Lankford-Johnson

WR1: 1. Anthony Mahoungou 2. Corey Holmes 3. Jared Sparks

WR2: 1. Jackson Anthrop 2. Terry Wright 3. KeyRon Catlett

WR3: 1. Gregory Phillips 2. Isaac Zico

TE: 1. Cole Herdman 2. Brycen Hopkins 3. Darius Pittman

LT: 1. Eric Swingler 2. Michael Mendez

LG: 1. Shane Evans 2. Michael Mendez 3. Peyton Truitt

C: 1. Kirk Barron 2. Shane Evans 3. Bryce Brown

RG: 1. Matt McCann 2. Bearooz Yacoobi

RT: 1. Dave Steinmetz 2. Ethan Smart

Here we have the official change that starting left tackle Grant Hermanns is out. It wasn’t a huge difference on Saturday as Purdue’s ground game was dominant and the quarterbacks were mostly kept clean, but Hermanns has been strong all year. Swingler played mostly against Rutgers and is okay, but Hermanns is better.

Also, the real story is who will start at QB. Here is what coach Brohm had to say, as he does know who will start, but the public will not know until Saturday:

“If that person (who starts) does well, we’re fine with riding that out, but the other guy has got to be ready. We’re not going to hand over the position to anybody quite yet. We want to make sure they earn it.”

It is possible Tario Fuller might return as well, and that would give Purdue a fourth quality running back.

Defense

DE: 1. Austin Larkin 2. Antoine Miles

DT: 1. Lorenzo Neal or Eddy Wilson

DT: 1. Gelen Robinson 2. Keiwan Jones

DE: 1. Danny Ezechukwu 2. Kai Higgins

WLB: 1. T.J. McCollum 2. Derrick Barnes

MLB: 1. Ja’Whaun Bentley 2. Garrett Hudson

SLB: 1. Markus Bailey 2. Rob Simmons

CB1: 1. Josh Okonye 2. Tim Cason

CB2: 1. Da’Wan Hunte 2. Kamal Hardy

FS: 1. Navon Mosley 2. T.J. Jallow

SS: 1. Jacob Thieneman 2. Antonio Blackmon

A few surprises here. Keiwan Jones is still listed at defensive tackle, but he is out for the season. Tim Cason makes his first appearance on the depth chart this season at cornerback. Antonio Blackmon shifts to safety to back up Theineman.

T.J. McCollum has not played the last two weeks and Garrett Hudson started in his place at Rutgers. Derrick Barnes then took his place and did well, notching three tackles and half a tackle for loss. Barnes is the future at the position, but McCollum is the present and needs to come back soon.

Specialists

Punter: 1. Joe Schopper 2. Jake Herr

Placekicker: 1. J.D. Dellinger and Spencer Evans

Kickoffs: 1. Spencer Evans 2. Myles Homan

Long Snapper: 1. Ben Makowski 2. Ryan Sadkowski

Holder: 1. David Blough 2. Elijah Sindelar

KR: 1. Brian Lankford-Johnson 2. D.J. Knox

PR: 1. Jackson Anthrop 2. Isaac Zico

No changes here. Purdue continues to rotate kickers and both made a field goal at Rutgers. On the critical 4th down stop at the Rutgers 30 it would have been Evans’ turn had Purdue chosen to kick. It was one of those moments where I wanted to go for it until we came up short, then I wish we had kicked as a made field goal (and Evans has more range) takes the last second two-point conversion out of the equation.