Purdue Football: So, Your Favorite Team Drafted Cory Trice Jr...

I always feel like I should address these articles to non-Purdue fans because we already know Corey Trice after watching him (or at least seeing him on the sideline) over the last 5 seasons. If you’re new here, welcome, and I hope you come back when your favorite teams drafts a Purdue player next year. Hopefully with the new regime and better recruiting, there will be more of a selection over then next few seasons.

Stats/Lack of Stats

I like to keep it real at Hammer and Rails, and that means giving you the good and not so good. I try to keep the sunshine pumping to a minimum. For Trice, it’s all about the 2022. Before last season, the oft-injured corner/safety wasn’t a blip on the NFL draft radar. Physically, he was fine when he was on the field, but he’s only made it through one full season during his stint in West Lafayette. Trice played in 30 games over 5 seasons and 13 of those games came in 2022.

We finally saw Trice healthy in 2022 and he looked great. For Corey, it’s not a question of physical talent, but of health and production.

Physical Traits

As wide receives look more and more like NBA small forwards that got lost on their way to the gym, having a 6’3”, 205 pound corner with extendo-arms isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Even though Trice looks like a safety, don’t get it twisted, he’s a corner. He’s physical in the pass game, but that doesn’t necessarily carry over into run support. Put him on an island in press coverage, and he’s good. Ask him to break down and attack a screen pass, and he’s in trouble. He can come up and tackle, but it’s not his strong suit.

In coverage, I wouldn’t consider him the most instinctual player, he’s better in press man than zone. He’s at his best when he can get his hands on an outside receiver, smother them at the line, and then ride their hip down the field and break up passes using his long arms. That’s a valuable skill, and if that’s what your team needs, that’s what Trice provides. If you need him to provide something else, you’re S.O.L.

He can get a grabby when the ball is in the air. On a few occasions this season, he was in position to make a play, but took a P.I. instead because he couldn’t find the ball and grabbed shoulder pads or arms at the last moment. Some of that can be coached out of him at the next level. He has solid speed, especially for his size, but can struggle to start and stop with guys that can get low and cut hard. Double moves can also be problematic if he stops his feet it takes him a step or two to get back in gear. I see his long speed questioned on some draft reports, but what I saw during his Purdue career was less a long speed issue and more of a recovery speed issue. He can run with the vast majority of receivers down the field as long as he doesn’t get beat early.

Does He Have That Dawg in Him?

Depends

No one is going to confuse him with a physical corner like Joey Porter Jr. despite his size. He’s not a big hitter. He doesn’t flash other places on the field. At the same time, he is physical when he’s doing corner things, and luckily for him, he’s a corner. If he’s tasked with battling big receivers down the sideline, he has sufficient dawg to get the job done.

Overall

Trice is the definition of a high upside, low floor player. I could either see his physical traits translating into a long, productive NFL career in press man coverage, or I could see him out of the league after his rookie deal because of injuries.

He needs to go to the right scheme because he’s not a versatile as you think. At the same time, if he lands in the right spot, he has CB2 potential. In a league of giant receivers, drafting a guy with the physical upside of Trice Jr. makes sense. He’s a gamble worth take in the middle rounds.