Deep Dive: Purdue camp practice No. 1
Purdue’s first training camp practice of 2023 is in the books. In all, the Boilermakers will have 19 practices in camp under first-year coach Ryan Walters. Today, the first seven periods of practice were open.
Let’s take a Deep Dive!
1 – Good energy at the first training camp practice. Players running between periods, lots of chatter, encouragement. The weather cooperated, as well. It was warm, but not hot and muggy. CB coach Sam Carter is always handing out fist bumps.
2 – Walters says players will vote on permanent captains at the end of camp. How many will there be? Walters says it depends on who gets the most votes.
3 – Walters said FAU transfer WR Jahmal Edrine made some plays today.
4 – No. 23 Mondrell Dean catches your eye. He’s BIG for a running back, listed at 6-3, 240. It will be interesting to see if the true freshman stays at running back. Dean was a formidable defender in high school, earning linebacker of the year honors in West Virginia last year.
5 – Speaking of RBs, Walters likes the make-up of the room.
“Tyrone (Tracy) is really embracing that move (from WR), has changed his body,” said Walters. “And he looks comfortable. He looks like a running back. To add him to that mix with Mock and Dylan (Downing), I’m excited about what those three bring to the table.”
6 – Some key guys we not full-go: C Gus Hartwig, TE Garrett Miller, DB Ethon Cole, CB Salim Turner-Muhammad, OLB Khordae Sydnor, OT Daniel Johnson, OL Andre Oben, DE Prince Boyd. Hartwig, Miller and Johnson are coming off knee injuries. Cole was out all spring with injury after enrolling early. Not sure what’s up with Turner-Muhammad and Sydnor.
MORE: Ryan Walters ‘liked the energy, liked the communication’ of first training camp practice
7 – Several players were taking part in drills but wore red jerseys: DE Sulaiman Kpaka, LB Clyde Washington, OLB Scotty Humpich and walk-on OL Drew Woodruff.
8 – Myriad players fielded punts from the Jugs machine, as the search is on for return men. T.J. Sheffield, Andrew Sowinski, Curtis Deville and Addai Lewellen were among them. It was a cavalcade of players. Stay tuned.
9 – K Ben Freehill showed a nice leg on a handful of field-goal attempts. Speaking of kickers, I noticed Iain Ramage is on the roster. If you recall, the Purdue student caught the attention of special teams coach Chris Petrilli during a specialists camp this summer when he earned top punter honors. Ramage just signed up online for the camp when he saw Petrilli’s tweet about it, with the hopes of putting on a good enough performance to get attention and earn a walk-on spot. He did just that.
10 – Cam Allen was asked about Purdue being picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten West in the Cleveland.com poll: “We love it. That’s all I’m saying. We love it.”
11 – Marcus Mbow cites his footwork and athleticism as reasons why he’s a good fit to move from guard to offensive tackle, a spot he played in high school. He also says he’s improved his strength. As for adapting to a new blocking scheme, Mbow says there hasn’t been much of a learning curve. “We block. That’s all we do.”
11 – Purdue will be back at it on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
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