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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 3 30 doesn't track hurries, but Purdue has been at the bottom of the league in sacks the last four seasons. It was tied for 12th in 2016 (with only 21 sacks), 11th in 2015 (21), 13th in 2014 (20) and last in 2013 (14). Part of the responsibility of disrupting the QB falls on the line, obviously, and it hasn't had enough of dominant ends to collapse the pocket and its best lineman, Jake Replogle, too often was able to be double-teammed because others couldn't make opponents pay. Depth certainly plays a role as well. And Purdue hasn't had it — or at least the coaches ap- parently haven't valued rotating players up front to keep them fresh. In 2016, that was evidenced by two of its line- men (Gelen Robinson and Evan Panfil) leading the de- fense in snaps. It was evidenced by Panfil, who had only played end, being moved inside to take nearly 50 percent of his total snaps at tackle when injuries knocked out Replo- gle, Eddy Wilson and Lorenzo Neal.The coaches didn't feel they had a young D-tackle ready. There's reason for optimism with the projected start- ing front four for 2017 in Robinson, Wilson, Neal and end Austin Larkin. But there's not much proven depth behind them. And those four need to get better this offseason, too. It'll be imperative Wilson and Neal toughen up and mature mentally in order to reach their full potential, for- mer teammates said, and if they do, the future in the mid- dle could be bright. The better the front holds up, the more active and pro- ductive Purdue's linebacking corps can be — and it could be pretty good. Markus Bailey had a breakout season in 2016, using keen instincts, athleticism, toughness and savvy to pro- duce a team-high 97 tackles and a team-best four inter- ceptions. He'll be a stud. Combine that with returning starter and captain Ja'Whaun Bentley, who's looking for a bounceback season after being slow to return from ACL surgery and other injuries that nagged him during the season, and that's a solid 1-2 punch. Danny Ezechuwku's role was decreased in 2016, but he's a guy with tons of experience in games, starting 22 over his three seasons and being productive at points. He was especially effec- tive in 2016 when standing up at the line and being used as a pass-rusher. Perhaps that's an area where he can be utilized even more in the new defense. There still are questions in the back half of the defense — just like there were entering 2016 — but at least there are guys who earned experi- ence in games this season, whether it be Da'Wan Hunte, Tim Cason, Myles Norwood, Navon Mosley or C.J. Parker. There could be young talent, too, to de- velop with rookies Josh Hayes, Brandon Shuman and Simeon Smiley. j THE HILL GROUP O'HARE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT hillgrp.com We're Illinois' largest mechanical contractor, and we're proud to have 39 outstanding Boilermakers on our HVAC / Plumbing team. Warren Hill, ME '63 Jim Hill, MET '95, MBA '03 Jim Billard, LA '90 Brian Teyema, ME '87 Scott Dierking, IM '77 Russ Nelson, BCM '00 David Pikey, PH '97 Rhonda Orange, BS '03, MBA '07 Bill Silfies, MBA '03 Nick Muscolino, MET '06 Matthew Crawford, MET '05 Bob Hill, BCM '06 Anthony Camasta, MET '04 Deborah Toth, MET '07 Daniel Gasser, BS '04 Jason Jones, MET '08 Nick Johnson, BCM '09 Bryan O'Neill, BCM '09 Steven Sitkowski, BCM '10 Isaac Townsend, ME '10 Don Wunderlich, ME '13 Taylor Spaulding, ME '12 Jessica James, BS '13 Robert C. Krier, MET '13 Joseph Schraffenberger, ME'13 Michael Rish, BCM '13 Brandon Goldstein, ME '14 Jared Schreiber, MET '14 Dan Schmidt, BCM '04 Grant Fillipitch, MET '12 Chaz Usher, BCM '17 Dan Dobbins, ME '89 Andrew Swibes, ME '15 Chris Spesia, MET '15 Phil Treely, BCM '16 James Gradowski, ME/EE '19 Ryan Kissane, ME '19 Vito Anzalone, ME '18 Sam Belliel, ME '17 The Hill Group currently is installing four 4500-ton chillers at O'Hare International Airport as part of a larger infrastructure improvement project. GB_Illus_2016Glossy_HillGrp 8/19/16 1:40 PM Page 1