Saturday Roundtable - Favorite Football Player (Non-Drew Brees) Edition

If it’s Saturday, no matter how late, it’s the roundtable. Where I pose a question to the staff and share their answers with you. Today’s question:

Who is your favorite Purdue football player of all time (non-Drew Brees edition)? Everyone loves Drew so he isn’t eligible. So tell me who is your favorite and why.

Jumbo Heroes:

This one is so easy for me. He’s the reason I became a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan oh so many years ago. The one and only Mike Alstott. He was one of the first players I can remember watching play growing up. My brother had his posted up on his door. And as I was just getting into football, Purdue was really the only choice in my family, Alstott was just about the only good thing Purdue had going for them. Plus, I remember reading stories of him pulling his Jeep up the hill by the stadium as part of his training regiment and that just seemed so crazy intense. Hard not to like the guy. Years later when he came to the Spring Game I was able to get his autograph on a card of his I had. I still cherish that to this day. My sister-in-law also took a quick picture of him signing it with both of us in it.

Gabi:

Oh there’s been so many fun ones. I love the whole Mockobee story from walk-on to starter and then staying despite a coaching change. David Bell was one of the most exciting receivers to watch. But I’m going to go with Ryan Kerrigan. Watching him destroy QBs was a thing of beauty and a bright spot during really bad times of Purdue football.

Jed:

I have a whole host of players to choose from considering my fandom started in 1988 with my family moving to West Lafayette but mine is going to go even before that. I never got to see him play but the stories he and others told and watching film of his games at Purdue were amazing. My choice has more to do with who he meant to me as a friend long after his playing days though. And

Leroy Keyes was the consummate Boilermaker during and after his career. He was a two way player and is one of the program’s best all time and I don’t think I need to echo his accomplishments that we all are so familiar with. He is probably my favorite for what he meant to me far after his playing days were over when he was a volunteer parent at Harrison High School and we developed a close friendship.

For those of us who knew Leroy personally you know he never missed an opportunity to share his wisdom and that was often about things far from the football field. For myself, after losing my father at 19, his advice was often about being a father and working through the adversity that came from a difficult divorce and being a single father to two very young boys.

There is a reason why, while playing at Purdue, the fans would clamor ‘give the ball to Leroy!’ Flat out, he was the best ever to put on the Old Gold and Black.

Ryan:

I have to go with Rondale Moore. His very first game against Northwestern was one of the best performances a non-QB has put up as a Boilermaker. But even before he stepped foot on the field, we knew he was special when he squatted over 600 lbs. He and Carsen Edwards gave Purdue sports two of the most electric players in the nation at the same time. Not to mention, he helped spark Purdue’s recent uptick on the football field. I’m glad I still get to see him on Sundays now, providing playmaking for the Cardinals. #4Moore