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76 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 f Q & A : D E F E N S I V E C O O R D I N A T O R G R E G H U D S O N Buying In Defense played more physical, but more needed BY KYLE CHARTERS KCharters@GoldandBlack.com T he numbers show the story of the Purdue defense in 2014. They show that the Boilermakers were better, allowing 33.1 points per game in '14 compared to 38.0 the year before, ranking No. 11 in a 14-team league rather than second-to-last. They also show Purdue has plenty of room for improvement. "I guess if you had to make a cut and dried yes or no to whether we played better, we did," defensive coordinator Greg Hudson said. "We were better from Year 1 to Year 2, and we felt like going in to every game, for the most part, that we could hang in there physically too. That was the thing, would you get pushed around and worn down? And that was not the case. We felt like we could hang in there physically, for the most part, not all the time." The next step, perhaps, is consistency, af- ter the Boilermakers were solid in some games in 2014, like against Notre Dame and Iowa, but struggled in others, like vs. Wisconsin and Northwestern. Following is Gold and Black's interview with Hudson about two weeks after the end of the season. Gold and Black: As far as scheme, was it pret- ty close to what you envisioned it being here? Hudson: "It's getting pretty close, yeah. I think with the a d j u s t m e n t s we made in the spring and with Taver (Johnson) on Tom Campbell Defensive coordinator Greg Hudson says Pur- due needs to continue to develop players, and that starts in the offseason. our two deep are coming back — we'll be better around these guys as well. Our quarterbacks look a lot better when Danny Anthrop goes up and grabs a ball 50-50 or grabs on a scram- ble and runs another 80 yards with it. You can go to the dance at night and say, 'I threw an 80- yard bomb.' Doesn't matter to me (how far the pass is) — 80 yards is 80 yards." Gold and Black: I would assume coming out of Year 2, you would have hoped to have an established quar- terback, but it seems still like an unsettled position. Are you firm on who your starting quarterback is go- ing into 2015? Shoop: "Coach (Darrell) Hazell will talk about that." Gold and Black: I knew you would say that. Had to ask. Shoop: "I'll say this, in my mind, if you're ever on a foot- ball team that there's not going to be competition in spots … that's what football is all about. There's going to competition. These guys know that. It'll bring out the best in them." Gold and Black: Etling told me it wouldn't matter if one of those guys was a Heisman candidate, you'd still say it's a competition at quarterback. Shoop: "(Laughs). That's right. There's no tenure in football." j