Purdue Football: Creativity and patience the key for young defense
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind — When you lose a game 35-7 and drop to 1-4 on the season, it’s often difficult to find a bright spot. But the 35 points allowed to Penn State last Saturday doesn’t do justice to the way Purdue fought on defense.
After falling behind 28-0 in the first 16 minutes of the game, Purdue's defense played well, limiting Penn State to just one score in the final 45 minutes of the game.
That’s a credit to the changes head coach Jeff Brohm and defensive coordinator Nick Holt made with the defense along the way.
“We started to mix in a few things, show some blitzes, back out of it occasionally, bring it and get them a little bit on their heels,” Brohm said. “I think we made progress, and I do think our guys played hard, which was good to see.
"We’ve just got to continue to coach this thing up and make changes.”
Those changes to the defensive schemes frustrated a Penn State offense that had been scoring at will and was averaging 50 points per game. With the early 28 points against Purdue, Penn State had scored 87 points in just over its last five quarters of game time after beating Maryland 59-0 the week prior.
Complacency may have played a small role in the struggles by Penn State, but credit is due to the way Purdue responded.
“I liked what we did and how are guys played hard in the second half, but it's got to be a constant,” Brohm said.
Along with those changes, the Purdue coaching staff believes they have some special guys on defense that can make a difference. That all begins with defensive end George Karlaftis, a true freshman and West Lafayette native.
Karlaftis has been a force for Purdue all season long. Through five games, he has 27 tackles, eight tackles for loss, four sacks and one interception. Last game, after the changes were made to the defense, Karlaftis finished with 8 tackles — a season-high— three tackles for loss, and one sack.
Performances like that show why the coaching staff is so high on him.
“In our opinion, George has been outstanding. He has been the standout player on the defensive side of the ball,” Brohm said. “If we could have 11 Georges, we’d be sitting pretty good.”
Even as just a freshman, Brohm has high praise for the way that Karlaftis competes.
“I do think that it rubs off on the others. I think he’s a good leader by example,” Brohm said. “He has been outstanding for us and I’m very proud of the production that he’s had.”
Purdue also needs to see similar improvement in the secondary, and Brohm thinks they have the pieces in freshman Cory Trice and Jalen Graham.
The two newcomers are still learning how to be productive at the position, but Brohm believes that they have bright futures. Trice has been playing cornerback, while Graham has been seeing action at the nickel position.
Brohm believes that Trice’s size — he's 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds — and fearlessness are what can make the redshirt freshman from Hopkinsville, Ky., a great player.
“Because of his length, he’s able to recover at times and I think he played hard.” Broom said. "He didn’t play scared which is what you want to see at corner. We need guys to play aggressive and with confidence, and I think he did a good job of that.”
Graham a high school quarterback, is still becoming accustomed to playing nickel.
“Jalen is a young player, he’s going to make a few mistakes and learn on the job,” Brohm said. “He has a big athletic body. His size (also 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds) and toughness are his strengths.”
“I do think he practices hard, and he’ll continue to improve.”
