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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 28 Digital 6

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 6 28 a plan in case one of them goes down. I think they'll both handle it well. "We have two guys who can play, so I'm not going to be afraid to play them both. Do we have to play them both like we did at the beginning of the year? I wouldn't say we have to. But I wouldn't be opposed to it, either. We'll see how close it is during fall camp, where they're at and adjust from there." Both players have become good at saying the right things — both specifically mentioning it being Brohm's call and they'll support whatever he decides while also making sure to say they want the job. "Every time we throw, I'm trying to make sure my throws are on point and I know my personnel," Sin- delar said of his summer work. "I'm just trying to show the guys my grit, my toughness, my leadership and making sure that they see I'm going to put in ex- tra effort, I'm going to do extra things and I'm going to try to lead the team best I can. "David is going to do the same thing. We're both preparing to be the guy, but if we're not or if it's go- ing to be another two-quarterback system, we're still on the same team. It comes down to Purdue winning games, whether that's with me behind the center, Da- vid behind the center, anyone who's behind center." Brohm did appear to make tweaks to the offense once Blough was the full-time starter, using more zone-read plays than with Sindelar. But Brohm also had to tweak the offense after Sindelar got hurt, be- ing mindful to keep the QB from getting hit or, ide- ally, having to move around too much on that bum knee. Still, Brohm insists either player fits into the sys- tem he'll call. "I think David's a good passer," Brohm said. "When he knows where he's going with it and he can see it, he does a very good job. When his vision is blocked and he's unsure, then he's not at his best, but he's gotten better. I think Elijah has got a big arm and isn't afraid to throw it up the field. "But I think we got better on offense as a team toward the end of the year. I think I got better figur- ing out what we could and couldn't do. So it doesn't mean if David was in there, he wouldn't have done the same thing. He could have. So I think we all got better. Playcalling got better. The offense got better. The quarterbacks got better. We understood what our guys could do more than we did early on." It'd seem unlikely with the experience of Blough (31 games, 25 starts) and Sindelar (17 games, eight starts) that Purdue would give any game snaps to its other quarterbacks. But redshirt freshman Nick Sipe and newcomer Jack Plummer have impressed coaches during practice and, based on Purdue's inju- ry history at the position, certainly will be preparing to play, if necessary. Running back If nothing else, Chris Barclay got a great grasp on the talent in his position group last season. Injuries forced Barclay to shuffle Markell Jones, D.J. Knox, Tario Fuller and Richie Worship, depending on who was healthy, and, ultimately, each back rose when given an opportunity. By the end of the season, though, two-time leading rusher Jones eclipsed Knox in the bowl game for another team-leading rushing total, 566 yards, compared to Knox's 561. With all four of those backs returning for 2018, Bar- clay will have an interesting dilemma again. Jones and Knox were healthy mid-summer, and watching them punch and counterpunch toward the end of the last season was nothing new: The pair did it in 2015, too. Maybe that'll be the best approach in 2018. Especially with Worship coming off an ACL injury and Fuller trying to overcome an apparent nagging foot injury that required surgery and came with sev- eral setbacks during recovery. It certainly will make for an entertaining camp. Jones and Knox are both seniors and have big goals to end their careers. Jones enters the season No. 11 on Purdue's all-time rushing list with 2,057 career yards, and he'd like to rocket up that list in Year 4. To crack the top five, he'd need 592 yards this season. He's finished with 566, 616 and 875 in his first three years. Jones is hoping an emphasis on being more ex- plosive in the offseason could pay dividends. He's al- ways wanted to be quicker and faster — that's been the knock on him, a lack of breakaway speed — and he may have been limited in that by carrying more weight during past seasons. This offseason, though, he was training at about 206 pounds, and he felt like

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