Purdue Coach Barry Odom Bringing 'Aggressive' Style to Boilermaker Football
Over the last two years, it's fair to say that Purdue's football program struggled to find an identity. That doesn't sound like it will be the case for the Boilermakers under new coach Barry Odom, who knows exactly what kind of style he wants to bring to West Lafayette.
During his first appearance on Purdue Football Live last week, Odom was asked to describe what his offensive and defensive philosophies would be for the program. Multiple times, the new coach mentioned the word "aggressive" to describe how he wants the Boilermakers to play.
For the offense, that means running the football effectively while finding ways to move the ball through the air, as well.
"Offensively, we're going to be very aggressive in the run game and the throw game," Odom said. "We're going to be unique in some of the things we do schematically. We've got to be able to score points at the end of the day. It sets up by running the ball, but we'll be dynamic in the pass game."
Purdue enters the spring season with seven quarterbacks on the roster, three coming in via transfer portal. During that practice period, the Boilermakers will likely see battles between Malachi Singleton, Evans Chuba and EJ Colson for the starting job.
Odom likes what each guy brings to the field, saying they all have a unique skill set, but that they all have some level of dual-threat capabilities, too. That should really be a benefit to the Boilermaker offense.
When it came to the defensive side of the ball, Odom got slightly more specific regarding the schematics, but mentioned that word "aggressive" again.
"Defensively, we're going to be aggressive. We're going to play a lot of different things on the back end, from man coverages to some match zone concepts," Odom said. "We'll base out of a four- and three-down front, odd and even."
Last season, Purdue ranked 131st nationally in scoring defense and 124th in total defense. It wouldn't take much to see significant improvement on that side of the football.
While Odom has a specific plan for the future of Purdue football, he's really hopeful that fans notice a hard-working program that fans, alumni and students can be proud of on a weekly basis.
And he hopes that comes through early in his tenure in West Lafayette.
"More than anything, I hope sooner than later," Odom said, "the brand of hard, smart and tough will show up in all three phases."
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BOILERS RECRUITING PHILOSOPHY: Even though the transfer portal has become prominent in college football, Barry Odom says his primary focus is building the Purdue program through high school recruiting. CLICK HERE
