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GoldanDBlack express • volume 25, express 3 • 19 D arrell Hazell was driving home from his office Sunday night wondering how Purdue could get more athletic on defense. His answer: Play more nickel. In the Boilermakers' first two games, they lined up in a nickel package only seven times. So expect a drastic change for Saturday against Notre Dame. The switch isn't only in hopes of better handling Everett Golson, the Irish's accurate, strong-armed quarterback who has success out of the spread offense. It's about the Boil - ermakers getting one of their most experi- enced players back in the mix and trying to put their best options on the field at once. For Week 3, at least, that means Frankie Williams will make another move, sliding into the nickel back role, with safety Taylor Rich- ards back after serving a two-game suspen- sion for an arrest in the winter. Another option Hazell had was to bench one of Purdue's starting cornerbacks from the first two games — Antoine Lewis and An- thony Brown — and put Williams back into his cornerback spot and put Richards back at safety. But Lewis and Brown have played too well to bench them, and in having them with Williams, Richards and free safety Landon Fe- ichter on the field together, it gives Purdue an added speed element as well. And that's a potential upgrade for a unit that already has played pretty well in the first two games. "It's going to be great, just because all of us have so much experience," Williams said Wednesday. "You've got a veteran group, and us being on the same page, we've got the drift of how everything goes, route concepts, things like that. "(Richards) gives us some maturity, phys - icality, poise, experience. (He is) just more comfortable. We've got probably six guys that have a year under their belt and that's going to help us a lot." Richards never was a given to return to his starting safety spot after the suspension, especially with how well Williams played in the season opener with an interception re- turn, two PBUs and seven tackles. But it has been the play of the corner- backs that has allowed Richards to slide right back in. And the fact Lewis and Brown have been holding up is impressive, considering it's the most significant action they've gotten in their careers at their current respective positions. Both spent the early parts of their careers bouncing around from safety, cornerback and nickel back, only to ultimately find their homes on the outside. "Our corners have done a good job," Ha- zell said. "Everybody needs to do better, but they're doing a nice job back there. I have no issues with our corner play the first two games. They're staying locked up in man-to- man coverage. We're asking a lot of man cov- erage out of those guys, and they're doing a good job locking those guys down outside." Brown's makeup really is best-suited for cornerback — the coaches realized that after he was forced to start 10 games in Feichter's place last season. He has good length, nice balance in his cover skills and also is a bigger player who can run. Brown doesn't lack confidence either, dramatically declaring himself the fastest player on the team, which, of course, is saying a lot with Big Ten sprint champion Raheem Mostert on the roster. But Brown's physicality is crucial, too, es - pecially considering Purdue's penchant for playing man and the fact he's required to play some in the boundary because the Boiler- makers don't switch sides with their corners. "He can be much more physical as a cor- ner, coming up and taking on receivers and ballcarriers outside as opposed to a guy in- side that's got to take on tight ends and some f o o t b a l l f e a t u r e : s e c o n d a r y Tom Campbell Purdue's secondary generally has shown versatility, but Anthony Brown is happy to be stuck at cornerback in 2014. And he's showing it with solid play. a new look Nickel defense will be more prevalent BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com