Pick up any major college football preview issue currently on newsstands, and chances are they will be predicting Purdue to finish no higher than fifth this season in the Big Ten, and that’s being generous. (examples: Sporting News picked the Boilermakers fifth; Phil Steele predicted a three-way tie for seventh; Lindy’s picked Purdue to end up eighth; Athlon picked PU ninth).
This will be coach Joe Tiller’s final season in West Lafayette, and he will have one of the best quarterbacks he has had in his stay there in Curtis Painter. Prediction: the state of Indiana will have the two best QBs in the Big Ten this year in Painter and Indiana’s Kellen Lewis.
Yet if you look at most Heisman lists or top 10 lists in these national magazines, Painter is nowhere to be found. This despite him being a possible first-round draft pick in next year’s NFL draft.
“I’m not going to worry too much about that,” said Painter, who passed for 3.985 yards in 2006 and 3,846 last season. “It’s good to hear that you’re someone who can make it to the next level or are regarded as one of the top quarterbacks, but it doesn’t win games. You’ve still got to perform.”
Painter threw for 546 yards in a memorable duel with Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl, showing what the Purdue no-huddle offense can do. But the knock against Painter is he has had some interception issues in the past and has been criticized for not shining in the biggest games.
Painter will get to answer those criticisms this season, as the Boilermakers have a tough slate that sees them go on the road to Ohio State and Notre Dame and host Oregon, Penn State, and CMU in their first six games. The better Purdue fares in that stretch, the better it is for the Boilers’ chances to crack the top 25 at some point and for Painter’s chances of improving his draft stock.
He’ll have several new targets to throw to this season, so clicking early is a must. Dorien Bryant, Dustin Keller, Selwyn Lymon and Jake Standeford combined for 230 of the Boilermakers’ 369 receptions, 2,663 of the 3,993 receiving yards and 20 of the 30 touchdown catches in 2007. They are all gone. Greg Orton is the only proven wideout (67 catches 752 yards, 3 TDs a year ago) to return, leaving Desmond Tardy, Brandon Whittington, Roberto McBean, Joe Whitest and Aaron Valentin, a JuCo All-American, to pick up the slack.
Other than Orton, a senior who has 134 career receptions for 1,636 yards and eight TDs, the remaining returning wide receivers and tight ends have combined to haul in only 37 career catches for 417 yards and five TDs.
“We lost some guys, but we have veterans behind them,” Painter said. “Brandon Whittington, Desmond Tardy, Joe Whitest — those guys have been in the system as long as I have, they’ve just played behind some good guys and haven’t got a lot of game experience.”
Purdue opens training camp Aug. 10, and the season opener is Sept. 6, at home against Northern Colorado.
