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s p r i n g f o o t b a l l r e v i e w 'A Lot of Good Work' That's the expectation of new defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, who has said he wants his unit to be "fanatical" when it comes to being aggressive and swarming. The Boilermakers showed glimpses on Saturday, coming on blitzes up the middle with linebackers or off the edge with cornerbacks. Normondo Harris beat tight end Justin Sinz off the corner to get to Rob Henry's blind side, strip the ball and scoop it. Will Lucas came up the middle to nail the QB for a sack — the quarterbacks were live for much of the scrimmage. But the leveling hits weren't only on sacks. They came from nearly every position. Defensive back Frankie Williams made his presence known, up-ending tight end Gabe Holmes after a catch and crunching another player in the chest to knock him off his feet. Though defensive tackle Bruce Gaston said Tom Campbell he thinks this defense still Quarterback Danny Etling is up to No. 2 on Purdue's QB depth chart, and may challenge Rob Henry for the starting job in the fall. needs to find its identity, there have been signs of Purdue productive in scrimmage, early spring BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com this spring, Purdue Twice coach Darrell Hazellfirstyear has put his Boilermakers through scrimmages. Both came down to the final play. In its first practice outdoors at the Bimel Practice Complex, Paul Griggs had a 49-yard field goal doink off the right upright before going over the crossbar to lift his team to a one-point victory in the kick scrimmage. Then, on Saturday, Austin Appleby found tight end Sterling Carter in the back of the end zone on fourth down to push the offense to a one-point victory in the "Jersey" scrimmage. And, in both, Hazell got exactly what he wanted: Competition. "That was the biggest thing for me — to see how hard they were going to compete, and right down to the last play, they were battling each other," Hazell said after watching the offense win on Saturday in Ross-Ade Sta- dium. "That's what you want to see. "I thought there was a lot of good work out here. A lot of good hitting. Guys running around, playing hard. Obviously (we) have to take care of the ball better. But I thought there was a lot of good play. It's one of the better ones I've had. A lot of times they start off sluggish, but I thought we did a lot of nice things, (on) both sides of the ball." The offense earned the right to wear black — the color of the team's home jersey — during practices until the next scrimmage next fall. That's a change. For years, the defense has worn black, the offense white. And the defense nearly kept the honor by being active, forcing four turnovers and getting four sacks. improvement this spring, starting with Hudson's emphasis. "We'll do extra conditioning if coach thinks we're loafing," Lucas said. "You have to want to run to the ball and you can fix everything else later. "I liked how physical we were. Everybody was getting to the ball. There were a lot of jerseys around the ball. It's always a good sign, people swarming to the ball. When you swarm to the ball, you force turnovers. Cause chaos and that looks good." So, too, does executing on offense. Purdue showed flashes of that in the "jersey" scrimmage, using a variety of formations and personnel groupings. Offensive coordinator John Shoop utilized mostly sets with the quarterbacks under center — about 80 percent of the time — and had one- and two-back sets. But he also spread it out and went empty in the shotgun with four and five receivers. He mixed up three-step drops with seven-step and showed a lot of misdirection play fakes and play action plays. The only screen passes were to running backs. GoldanDBlack express • volume 23, express 28 • 6