Purdue Boilermakers

Head Coach

Joe Tiller	12th year
07-08	8-5
Big Ten	3-5
FCR	43

Previous Season Wins

Head Coach - This will be Joe Tiller’s 12th and final season at Purdue, the torch has been passed and O-Line coach Danny Hope will be the head man starting in 2009. Tiller has a solid career and has consistently been able to make the Boilermakers competitive in the Big 10; they posted eight wins each of the last two seasons. Six starters return on each side of the ball but the success of the team will be placed upon the right harm of Curtis Painter, who is on pace to graduate as the conference's All-Time leading passer.

Quarterback - Senior Curtis Painter enters his final season at quarterback and will look to improve on last seasons numbers, where he threw for 3,846 yards and 29 TD’s. Painter has NFL size and skills and is agile enough to take off when needed, for the Boilermakers to contend he needs to be better against the top tier teams this fall.

Running Backs - At running back Purdue has two seniors in Jaycen Taylor and Kory Sheets who’ll both contribute. Sheets is dual threat back who led the team with 859 yards rushing, caught 30 passes for 216 yards, and he found the end zone 13 times. Taylor is more of a breakaway back who had 560 yards despite missing time.

Receivers - Graduation hit the unit hard and the only returning starter at wide receiver is senior Greg Orton who had 67 receptions for 752 yards and 3 TD’s. Looking to step it the other spots will be speedy senior Joe Whitest and JUCO Aaron Valentin who participated in spring drills and has locked down the starting assignment with his performance. Junior Kyle Adams will be the new tight end, he’s got good size and will be a useful outlet over the middle.

Offensive Line - The line returns three starters led by senior left tackle Sean Sester, he has matured into an excellent player but has had to battle injuries in his career. Also returning will be juniors Zach Jones at right tackle and at left guard Zach Reckman. The newcomers will be Cory Benton at center and at right guard, Justin Pierce. This is a mature group who did an excellent job in the run game, and allowed only 25 sacks in an offense that attempted 413 passes.

Defensive Line - Purdue’s defense is led by the unit upfront where three starters return. In the middle are seniors Ryan Baker and Alex Magee and on the outside at one end junior Keyon Brown returns and he’ll be joined by sophomore Ryan Kerrigan. The unit was good speed and is adequate against the run, Brown had 3 ½ sacks last season and should improve. Two redshirt freshman, Nickcaro Golding and Gerald Gooden have the athleticism to be playmakers off the edge.

Linebackers - It’s a relatively young and inexperienced group at linebacker for Purdue where only senior Anthony Heygood on the strongside returns. Taking over in the middle will be sophomore Kevin Green and on the weakside will be junior Jason Werner. Heygood is the teams leading returning tackler with 81 and Werner appears to be poised to become the playmaker on the defensive side that the Boilermakers need.

Defensive Backs - At cornerback junior David Pender return, look for fellow junior Royce Adams or sophomore Charlton Williams on the other side, Pender has good size and excellent speed. At free safety junior Brandon King returns and senior Torri Williams will man the strong safety spot, King is solid while Williams is gifted physically but has yet to reach his potential.

Special Teams - Chris Summers will handle both duties this fall, he was 18 for 22 on his field goals and displayed good range last season and will now be asked to assume the punting duties as well. Look for Royce Adams to assume the punt return detail and handling the kick returns will be senior Desmond Tardy; he averaged 28.6 yards in spot duty for Purdue last fall.

Schedule - Joe Tiller’s final campaign has seven home matchups, but after opening with Northern Colorado the next five games are a minefield. Included in the mix are Oregon Central Michigan and Penn St at home and road encounters with Notre Dame and the Buckeyes, if they can get through with a 3-3 record they will be well on their way a winning season. Too many tough games early, they’ll rebound but the Boilermakers will only manage to win 6 games this fall.