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f o o t b a l l : d e f e n s i v e p r e v i e w 'Southeast Of Disorder' Hudson thinks defense can be good if it plays together BY KYLE CHARTERS KCharters@GoldandBlack.com G reg Hudson has seen the projections. And they aren't pretty. Prognosticators for the BTN and Lindy's think that 1 By The Numbers Linebackers drafted into the NFL since 2004, when the trio of Niko Koutouvides, Landon Johnson and Gilbert Gardner were selected. Stanford Keglar was a fourth-round pick in 2008. Players who have started at least 20 games for the Boilermakers, including Ricardo Allen (36), Bruce Gaston (32), Ryan Russell (24) and Will Lucas (20). Both Allen and Gaston will be fourth-year starters this fall, while Russell is starting for the third consecutive year. Lucas started two games as a freshman, then 11 as a sophomore before his seven in 2012. The number of defensive coordinator combinations Purdue has employed the last five seasons, starting with Donn Landholm in 2009. In, 2010, he shared those duties with Gary Emanuel. A year later, Emanuel was the sole coordinator. In 2012, Tim Tibesar spent a season as the defensive boss, and now Greg Hudson is in his first year as coordinator. The rank of Purdue's red zone defense in the Big Ten in 2012, as it allowed opponents to score on 46 of their 52 trips (88.5 percent) inside the 20. Wisconsin had a worse percentage, but that tells little of the story: The Badgers only allowed teams inside their 20-yard line 32 times, giving up 30 scores. Of those, just 21 were touchdowns. By comparison, the Boilermakers allowed 33 TDs. Points allowed per game by the Boilermakers, the worst average since the 1994 season, in which Jim Colletto's squad gave up an average of 31.5. 4 5 11 31.2 34 • Gold and Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 6 Tom Campbell Ryan Russell is Purdue's leading returner in sacks, having collected four last season. But the Boilers are looking for much more pass rush this year. Purdue's defense isn't very good, both ranking its defensive line as the eighth-best in the Big Ten. Perhaps that should be considered a compliment — although not a very good one — in comparison to projections of the other two units. Both publications put the Boilermakers' secondary at ninth and their linebacker corps in double-digits: BTN at No. 11 and Lindy's lower, dead last in 12th. "I say every unit that is ranked on our team starts with a one. The problem is that there is a number behind it. It's a zero, a one or two," said Hudson, exaggerating only slightly. "We're a double-digit group right now. Oh yeah, I looked at all of that. I'm going to hang it on their locker, too. I'll put it on the scoreboard if they can light it up big enough or put it on a plane overhead at the first practice. Those things are important. "Why do you think I'm the worst linebacker group in the Big Ten? It's not personal, but here's why: Teams score a lot on you." Indeed, that was the case for Purdue in 2012 when the Boilermakers allowed 31.2 points per game, thirdworst in the conference; they were second-to-last in GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com