Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/97804
f o o t b a l l b o w l p r a c t i c e Change In Approach at Purdue or elsewhere — but mostly it's because he wants the players to have a great experience, he said. "Regardless of our situations, it still boils down to the kids," Higgins said. "We want to help the young men that are going to be graduating and are going to be juniors that are going to be into their senior year next year through a coaching transition to enjoy the bowl game as much as they can and to win that bowl game. Fewer reps for young players in bowl prep BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com excited. AustinAllAppleby was freshman of his older teammates were telling the quarterback that he'd love Purdue's bowl practices because it would be time for him to really showcase his skills and improvement to coaches by getting live reps against the top units. That'd been the standard approach to the extra 15 practices awarded to teams that finish the season in a bowl. But, this year, with the Boilermakers, that won't be the case. "It changes because of the coaching situation, if we're going to be brutally honest," interim head coach Patrick Higgins said after the first day of bowl practices earlier this week, referencing Danny Hope's dismissal and the current staff being in limbo. "Right now our main focus for the coaches on this staff is to put our best foot forward for the bowl season. I could give you the line, 'Yeah, we want to "We're going to go down and win that game, do everything we can." Purdue is preparing for the game short-handed. New coach Darrell Hazell won't be involved in the planning — though he'll be traveling back and forth from Purdue to Kent State, as he's coaching the Golden Flashes in their bowl game. The Boilermakers also are down an offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach with Gary Tom Campbell Freshman quarterback Austin Appleby was hopeful he'd get more live practice reps — he worked exclusively with the scout team during the season — during bowl prep. But because of the coaching change, that won't be the case. work the young kids.' But, to be greedy, that doesn't help the staff try to promote themselves to get more work. "(The young players will) get some work, yes. Will they get the work they would normally get? No." The main focuses in practices, then, will be stressing fundamentals for every player while also preparing the two-deep guys to play Oklahoma State in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Higgins said he's intent on players getting better over the next month to produce the best results on Jan. 1. Some of that is because he knows all the coaches are auditioning for jobs — to stay DISCOVERY IS OUR MISSION FINDING A CURE IS OUR GOAL www.cancerresearch.purdue.edu GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 14 • 10