Walters begins Purdue tenure by promising points, defense

New Purdue coach Ryan Walters first flexed his muscle by giving walk-on operating again Devin Mockobee a scholarship.

Then he promised to maintain the Boilermakers’ popularity intact — because the Cradle of Quarterbacks and the Den of Defensive Ends.

The 36-year-old Walters mentioned Wednesday that he envisions placing collectively a program that scores in bunches, stops the run and routinely harasses opposing quarterbacks.

“On offense, we will be creative,” he mentioned in his introductory news convention. “We will be explosive in the air and on the ground. We will be strategically aggressive, and we will put points on the board and we will put them up in bunches. On defense, you already know how we get down. It’s going to be organized chaos from whistle to snap.”

Walters’ deviates from Purdue’s conventional observe of hiring offensive-minded coaches. He’s the first defensive coach to steer the Boilermakers since Leon Burtnett in 1982.

The former highschool quarterback and Illinois defensive coordinator actually understands the college’s legacy. He dreamed of following Drew Brees, from Rose Bowl parade to the NFL.

When these plans modified, the 25-year-old Walters joined the Arizona workers because the youngest Power Five place coach. He shortly rose via the ranks with stops at Oklahoma, North Texas, Memphis and Missouri earlier than Illinois coach Bret Bielema employed him as defensive coordinator in 2021.

Now the architect of one in all this season’s high defenses plans to construct on the momentum Jeff Brohm created earlier than taking the job at his alma mater, Louisville, final week. The college’s board of trustees nonetheless should approve the proposed five-year contract for the fifth-youngest coach within the Bowl Subdivision.

Meanwhile, the Boilermakers’ bowl plans stay unchanged. Brohm’s youthful brother, Brian, and co-defensive coordinator Mark Hagen will likely be calling performs within the Jan. 2 Citrus Bowl towards No. 17 LSU whereas Walters watches practices, hires assistants, recruits and begins getting ready for subsequent season with gamers equivalent to Mockobee, the record-setting freshman runner.

Athletic director Mike Bobinski and outgoing college president Mitch Daniels imagine it’s a home-run rent.

“Seven days ago, I didn’t think I could feel worse,” Daniels mentioned. “As of the last 72 hours, I couldn’t feel better for all the reasons Mike just outlined and you just personified.”

Still, questions stay.

Bobinski famous that Walters prefers to maintain the traits of his trademark defense as secretive because the recipe for Coca-Cola, and Walters did nothing to dispel the notion by even declining to explain the scheme he prefers. And whereas he does intend to rent a defensive coordinator, Walters plans to be making the play calls.

And now, for the primary time in his profession, his choices would be the remaining phrase.

Mockobee is the primary to revenue from that remaining say.

“I thought he was in the upper echelon of the running backs we had faced or were going to face this past season,” Walters mentioned of Mockobee. “I found out he was not on scholarship, and you know, now I’m like, ‘Shoot, this guy needs a scholarship’ and I’m reminding myself like, ‘Well, yeah, you’re the head coach, so you can do that.’”

___

AP school soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s school soccer publication: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2