Purdue Notebook: Moore, Neal Still Not Ready To Play
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue got back to work on Monday after its second bye week of the season, and now all the focus is on taking care of business at No. 14-ranked Wisconsin on Saturday in Madison.
The week began with Purdue coach Jeff Brohm’s weekly news conference where he discussed injuries, evaluating freshman, having multiple bye weeks and more.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
Injury news still isn't good
With the off week, Purdue's staff was hoping that wide receiver Rondale Moore and defensive tackle Lorenzo Neal would be healthy enough to play against Wisconsin. That wasn’t the case with either of them. Neither is ready to return to practice yet, so Brohm isn't optimistic that they’ll be able to suit up on game days any time soon.
Neal has missed the entire season recovering from a torn ACL suffered last year. Moore is still suffering from the effects of a leg injury suffered in late September in the game with Minnesota.
“We’re hopeful that at some point both of those guys will be back. It’s still at the point where we’ll see if they can practice this week,” Brohm said. “As we get going on Tuesday, we’ll see what they can do and how they feel, and until they truly happens, I can’t be optimistic.”
Wide receiver Jared Sparks, who has been out for most of the season with a high ankle sprain, is in the same situation. Until he is able to begin practicing, Brohm doesn’t expect to see him back.
It wasn’t all bad news on the injury front, though. According to Brohm, some banged-up players on the defensive side of the ball were able to get back to near full strength during the off week.
Defensive end Semisi Fakasiieiki and cornerbacks Cory Trice and Jalen Graham all benefited from the off week. Fakasiieki has been unable to practice the past few weeks, but was still playing on Saturdays, and he got as healthy as he could over the break. Graham and Trice had both been banged-up as well, but were able to use the bye week to get back to as close to full health.
Evaluating freshman
Brohm and the coaching staff used the second off week to take a good look at some of the freshmen on the team. Although many have already been forced into the starting lineup due to injuries, there are still some who have yet to see playing time.
While some are close to playing, like offensive lineman Cam Craig, who Brohm refers to as the “next guy up,” others are struggling and need to improve. Brohm took the off week to stress that to some of the guys, and urged them to get better if they want to see playing time. Until they show improvement, Brohm doesn’t expect to see any of the freshmen who have yet to play on the field the rest of this season.
“I do think that they’re going to be good players for us, but they’re not ready yet. While it’s important to develop them, it’s important to let them know, no, you’re not ready yet,” Brohm said. “We had to have a little wake-up call with some, and we need more out of them. When they work hard, I think they can do some things, but what we wanted to stress to some guys is, if you’re not playing right now, you need to get better.”
Two bye weeks
Almost every college team had two bye weeks this season because of the way the calendar falls in 2019, It's something that Brohm isn’t used to — and isn’t a big fan.
Purdue had its first off week back on Sept. 21, following the third game of the season against TCU, and now had their second off week this past week. Brohm acknowledged that there are some benefits to the second bye week, such as getting players healthy, but he would prefer to continue playing, especially when his team had won back-to-back games.
“Personally I do not like it. I like to play the season and get it going,” Brohm said. “When you’re actually playing a little bit better football, it’s good to keep playing, so I would rather keep playing.”
