Purdue Football: Is This Our Rebuilding Year?

We were spoiled.

No one expected a bowl victory last year, but it happened.

Expectations soared, even though, the roster depleted.

Gone is the defense that held teams to 20 points per game, good for 24th out of 130 teams nationally. Robinson, Bentley, Ezechukwu, Hunte, Okonye, Larkin, Miles, Wilson, Hudson and McCollum - all seniors, besides Wilson that contributed. They were a talented bunch that were mislead their first few years on campus.

Now, we have this defense - young and undisciplined. This is what we expected last year, with an older group.

The offense was a work in progress last year. Now, it seems as if both the quarterbacks have regressed. Elijah really doesn’t look healthy still, not mobile what so ever. Blough doesn’t appear to be able to throw passed 15 yards downfield.

So, what the hell?

Welcome, to the rebuilding year. You know, the one we skipped last season.

It was bound to happen, the roster was purged and seniors graduated. We are young and surprisingly, we are undisciplined. Something I never thought I would say with a Jeff Brohm team.

Penalties have mounted, especially late in the game. So what is there to do?

Accept the rebuild. I did back in June. I was asked, “How many wins this year?”. I responded, “4”. I was attacked, saying no way, 6 to 8 again. I said, “2-4”. All you have to do is look at the roster. Embrace the rebuild.

It is a tough pill to swallow, but I do believe it is true. We are young.

11 Offensive Positions: 7 freshman or sophomores are listed on the 2 deep.

11 Defensive Positions: 9 freshman or sophomores are listed on the 2 deep.

Embrace the rebuild.

Help is on the way. Purdue still has a top 25 class for 2019 and the 2018 class was not bad either. The front 7 will be fixed with the 2019 class and the 2018 class. Including all of our linebackers being a year older and Lorenzo Neal Jr. being back next year.

The secondary has athletes, but they are just young currently. Mackey, Ball, Trice and Major are all guys that will roam back there fore years.

On Offense, Rondale will be a 4 year starter, Jackson and Sparks are still only sophomores, Sindelar has one more year with Plummer behind him. There are up and coming offensive lineman.

So, it is a time to rebuild. Yes, we can freak out, complain and be upset we won’t win much this year, but in the end this is part of the process that we all knew would happen at some point. The roster is young and has lost a lot of upper class men to graduation or being ran off.

So, my words are, just embrace the process. In the long run it will all be okay. But this year won’t be fun.