Radio Show Nuggets: Three takeaways from Jeff Brohm’s weekly appearance
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue grabbed its biggest win of the season, a 31-27 win over Nebraska last weekend. A final minute touchdown run by wide receiver David Bell gave Purdue the lead and sealed the victory, Purdue’s third of the season.
Next up, Purdue travels to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats with kickoff set for Noon ET on Saturday.
Purdue coach Jeff Brohm talked about his new quarterback Aidan O’Connell, his defense, Drew Brees and more during his weekly radio show live from the Stacked Pickle on campus.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the show:
Aidan O’Connel
Brohm discussed what fans can expect to see from new starting quarterback Aidan O’Connell. The former walk-on will take over as the starter going forward after it was confirmed that Jack Plummer will be out the remainder of the season with a broken ankle. O’Connell has appeared in three games so far this season, completing 15 of 22 passes for 133 yards and one touchdown. After the injury to Plummer, O’Connell came in and lead the Boilermakers to two scores, including the game-winning score, in the win over Nebraska. Saturday’s matchup against Northwestern will be his first start of the season.
“He’s somebody that came in, has earned his spot, works extremely hard, and his teammates love him. So it’s great when you see guys like that do well,” Brohm said. “That’s (poise) one of his strengths. He’s not an extremely emotional guy, he is even keeled. He’s got a great personality, very respectful of others, comes from a great family and those are all great qualities to have as a quarterback.”
Red Zone Defense
Brohm discussed the play of his defense on Saturday, and how he believes they kept the team in the game early on. After turnovers by the Purdue offense, the defense was able to hold the Cornhuskers out of the end zone, allowing a field goal and then intercepting a pass inside the 10-yard line. Brohm alluded to the fact that he thinks that has been the strong point of his defense all season. They’ve been able to bend, but not break when teams get in the red zone.
“Our defense did a great job of tightening up once they got inside the 4-yard line. Our defense held strong and did a very good job,” Brohm said. “Really, I think that’s kind of been the strength of our defense. When things get in tight, we’ve been prepared and have done a pretty good job of limiting them to at least field goals.”
Drew Brees’ Pregame Speech
Another key thing that Brohm talked about was the impact that Drew Brees had on Saturday's game, along with the impact he has on the program overall. Prior to the game, Brees came and talked to Brohm’s team. It was a speech that seemed to fire up the team, and helped them get the victory on Saturday. Brohm discussed how important it is and how thankful the team is that Brees uses his bye week to come to a game and talk to the players.
“It was absolutely outstanding what he said and the message that he gave. It was a lot of fun,” Brohm said. “Any time you have an ambassador like him that represents the program, bleeds Purdue gold, wears it on his sleeve and is very proud of it, it’s awesome to see.”
