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36 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 5 f q & A : j o h n s h o o p BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com J ohn Shoop likely won't ever be comfortable with where Purdue's offense is. That's just not in his job de- scription, he joked. But the second-year coordina- tor and quarterbacks coach did like the progress of the unit this spring, especially as the group showed more of a grasp of the concepts and got better, more consistent play from its quarter- backs. Shoop caught up with Gold and Black in late-April while on the recruiting trail to talk about mantras, personnel and more. Gold and Black: Where did the offense make the biggest strides this spring? Shoop: "We talked a lot about knowing what to do, knowing how to do it and then doing it. That's kind of been our mantra. For the most part, our guys know what to do and they know how to do it. They really do. Our mental er- rors were down dramatically at every position, (guys) just really studying their craft. There's peer pressure to not be the guy who has the mental error or let your guy make the play. It's been good for us." Gold and Black: Austin Appleby mentioned after the spring game that Akeem Hunt didn't have any mental mistakes as a running back. Did you notice that, then, that it was a trend across the offense? That guys were just getting it? Shoop: "Yeah, I think so. One of the things we really did last year was we didn't dumb it down and we're not going to dumb it down. These guys have to catch up and we keep the bar high just because we have a high stan- dard. I really think these guys work their tails off to meet that standard rather than us dummying it down to meet them. The tempo from this outfit is really set by the strong. I believe the guys will prepare, the guys who work their tails off, and we've got a very hard-working group. We have to get a lot better. We've got to get a lot better. But they're putting in the work. We've got a bunch of guys Purdue can be proud of." Gold and Black: You mentioned before the spring you wanted to get really good at a couple of things, and you talked about emphasizing the outside and in- side zone runs. Did you improve this spring? Shoop: "Yeah, I really think we did. (We track) our numbers as we go through the spring and each night — I'm still going through some of the spring cutups at the ho- tel each night when I get off the road recruiting — but our numbers, we're really pleased with. We're trying to identify the things that we're good at and keep accentuating those and maybe eliminate some of the things we're not quite as good at. We just have to keep doing those in as many differ- ent ways as possible, different formations and personnel groupings. We're pretty good at some concepts." Gold and Black: It would seem the biggest concern QB Improvement Guiding Offense Position making things go Tom Campbell With more players grasping John Shoop's offense, the unit was able to execute more consistently this spring.