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Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 27, Digital 6

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 6 24 field to slot receiver. Jared Sparks, a backup quarterback, could just as eas- ily find himself lining up wide. Greg Phillips, the most experienced receiver, could end up in the slot or outside or could go in motion to take a jet sweep handoff. Whoever makes the most sense from a playmaking standpoint, Brohm will identify and line up appropriately. "He knows as much football as anybody I've ever (met)," Blough said of Jeff Brohm. "He communicates it well. He's creative, innovative." The innovation piece showed up in the spring, Jones said, when Brohm drew up a play in a huddle that Jones joked he just thought of. (Fake flea-flicker, anyone?) "And it worked," Jones said. "I'm like, 'How?' So it's cool. He's got the ability to get people who want to make plays in position to make plays. It's been cool to watch that." Though it's likely the offense will continue to evolve as the season progresses — maybe even considerably dif- ferent game plans for each opponent, center Kirk Barron said — Brohm hopes at least there are common threads to the offense. He wants to score a bunch of points. He wants to be creative. He wants to be aggressive. He wants an offense fans will enjoy watching. No matter if it ends up highlighting tight ends, run- ning backs or, even, receivers. Which players think it can. "This offense is like a three-headed monster," run- ning back D.J. Knox said. "You can switch it up. Run it down somebody's throat or throw it to the backs out of the backfield or (go) quick, hurry-up and throw it to the receivers. With it moving so fast-paced, you keep the defense in their base defense, which means they can't make a lot of checks and variations to what they have going on, which should keep them simple. And you can Tom Campbell After missing a year while recovering from a knee injury, junior D.J. Knox is back to provide not only experience and a capable skill set in the backfield, but also an important presence on the practice field and locker room. By The Numbers 2007 96 26 The last time Purdue had a quarterback (Curtis Painter, 2006- 07) throw for at least 3,000 yards in consecutive seasons. David Blough led the Big Ten in passing with 3,352 yards in 2016. Percentage of rushing yards returning from 2016 — 1,103 of the team's 1,154 total. Behind Markell Jones' team-leading 616 yards, then-freshman Brian Lankford-Johnson totaled 314. Total FBS starts at Purdue among the offensive linemen — between only three players. The most experienced is center Kirk Barron (13), followed by tackle Matt McCann (10) and Mike Mendez (three). Photos by Tom Campbell Text continues on page 27

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