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BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 23, 2018

Jeff Brohm

Chicago, Illinois

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Purdue's head coach Jeff Brohm next.

JEFF BROHM: Good afternoon. It's great to be back and represent Purdue University. I'm excited to be here. It's a great time for everyone. Football season is approaching, and I know our team's excited to get things underway.

For us, last year was a success. I believe that we found a way to gain confidence as a team. I believe that we could actually win and compete against very good opponents. While we had our struggles in the middle of the season, without question we finished with a bang. At one point we were 4-6 looking at where do we go next, and our team found a way to win the last three games and win the bowl game in dramatic fashion, and it was a great ending to our season.

But it was a testament to our players and coaches who put in a lot of hard work, continued to believe that we could turn the corner, and without question we had momentum coming into this season.

We're happy with the fan turnout. And our Purdue faithful definitely represented us and came out full force and was a big difference in a lot of our games. And we're looking forward to everyone coming out again and supporting the team.

This year is a challenging schedule. Opening up with Northwestern is a great opportunity for our football team to play a team of that caliber, a team that beat us pretty good last year and is well-coached, outstanding players that play the game the way it's supposed to be played. And it will be a great challenge.

But I do like playing a tough opponent the first game. I think last year we played a Louisville opponent that was heavily a favorite against us. We found a way to keep it close coming in at halftime with the lead. And even though we didn't win, we gained a lot from that loss, and it helped us for the next couple of weeks for sure.

So first game's important. We have a four-game home stand to start the season. But our guys have worked hard. I know the expectations are higher. But our players are looking forward to it. And they've worked hard. Our players and our coaches understand that for us we've got to be ready game one.

It's important to start the season the way we finished. And sometimes that's hard to do. But there's got to be great focus. There's got to be great leadership amongst our team in order to get that done.

I know today we're represented by three of our great players on our football team. On defense, Markus Bailey, a great leader for us, on offense David Blough and Elijah Sindelar too. Great competitors competing for that top spot, improved as the year has went on, and they did a great job helping us win football games.

The makeup of our team, we did lose some key guys on the defensive side of the ball, but we have four starters coming back -- Markus Bailey, Lorenzo Neal on the "D" line, Jacob Thieneman, secondary, and Navon Mosley, safety as well, and I think those guys will be a steady anchor to the defensive side and young talent. You may not know the names, but I do think we have more depth, and they just have to gain experience.

Offensive side of the ball, we have more starters coming back, but at the same time we need to get a lot better. And I do feel good about the progress we made, but we've got to find some playmakers, some guys that can stretch the field and find ways to make big plays. And hopefully we can get that done.

Special teams were solid with long snapper and kicker and punter coming back, and I feel good.

This is exciting time for us to be up here. Purdue football is excited to be in the mix, and we're excited that the expectations have risen. But I think our players will respond, and every game is going to be important to us. But we're looking forward to game one.

Q. What's one or two things maybe you know about the Big Ten going into this year that as a first-year coach last year you just didn't know and learned over the course of the season about the league and the way teams play in the league?
JEFF BROHM: Well, I tried to do a good job last year of studying our team when I got the job. I've been studying all the opponents. I think I had a pretty good read on it.

I think for the most part it came true. Without question, the Big Ten is known for very physical, tough players on each team, but very good on defense, very solid defenses. And I think the best team's not only good on defense, but they find a way to create some plays on offense.

So for us we made improvements on the defensive side of the ball. But we needed to find ways to make more big plays. And I think for us it's about getting more speed by finding ways to get them the ball.

But there's about four or five elite teams in this league every year that are going to be right at the top, and it's up to us at Purdue and other schools to try to inch up that gap, shorten the gap a little bit, and hopefully we can get that done.

I know last year we were competitive in games. Hopefully this year we can find a way to win a few big games, but our home schedule is going to be difficult for us, which is good it's at home, but we have some good opponents with Northwestern and Boston College, Missouri, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa. And we've got our hands full.

Q. First four games are at home, a really tough schedule. How do you balance starting strong with the chance that there could be a 4-6 start, that kind of thing repeating from last year?
JEFF BROHM: Well, for us, I think we're in a little bit different boat than some of the other teams. We actually have 11 Power Five teams on our schedule.

And we enjoy that aspect of it. I think we need that. It's important for us to play great competition. And while we may not win as many as we would like, it will help our team get better. So we're excited about the schedule we have. We know each and every week it's going to be a tough opponent. It's going to be a challenge.

But we've got Northwestern at home, which is going to be a great challenge for us. A team that beat us, like I said, very handily the first game or last year. And then Eastern Michigan. But nonconference of Missouri and Boston College, that will be a test, both bowl teams, and into conference play.

For us it's about getting better and hopefully finding a way to get over that six-win threshold and see if we can build on that. But we're encouraged by the schedule we have, and I know our fans will come out and enjoy watching those games.

Q. Pretty unique to bring two quarterbacks. In fact, I can't remember that happening in this event. But could you talk about the strength of both in their second year with you in the program?
JEFF BROHM: I really feel that while it is uncommon to bring two quarterbacks, I thought it was the right thing to do. I think both guys are great ambassadors for our university. They've done a tremendous job to work extremely hard to get better.

And quite honestly, they helped us win football games towards the end of the year. David Blough unfortunately came down with severe injury that required surgery. Sindelar fortunately, again, when he came in, he played in some meaningful games and meaningful minutes and played lights out the last four games, especially the last three and a half, torn ACL, played outstanding football.

Both guys, I believe, were playing their best football at the end of the year.

David is very cerebral. He's an accurate passer. Played a lot of football games. He wants to win. He's a great teammate. I think all of our players respect him and know that if he's on the field we have a chance to win. And Elijah a little bit different. He's got a big arm. Can throw the ball vertically, can fit it into tight windows. He's not bashful to do that. And he had great numbers the last four games and helped us win.

So both young men, to handle this position of two quarterbacks, I couldn't ask for two better people to do it with. So it's made that aspect of it much easier. They both bring it every day. They compete. I do think that competition brings out the best of both of them. I do think that the competition that they have lets the other positions know that that's what we're looking for and they need to raise their level of play.

But I couldn't ask for two better people. They do things the right way off the field, and I know that while it is a problem, it's a good problem to have.

Q. Last year, you had to get your team to believe it could compete, it could win at the highest level. Is there a baseline now where you've cleared that hurdle, and have you seen that confidence throughout the summer in the offseason where you can get past that and move forward on other things?
JEFF BROHM: It was important to get our guys to find a way to have confidence and believe. And last year was a process, throughout spring practice, summer practice, fall camp, while we made some strides, really, in scheming situations that didn't carry over as much as we would like, it wasn't until halftime in the first game against Louisville where we came in with a lead, came into our locker room, you would have thought we won a Super Bowl. Our guys were happy.

You could see that belief that: You know what? Maybe we're a little better than we thought. Maybe we can compete against these teams. While we didn't finish the game, it was something we built on.

So now that we've been able to go through a little struggle through the middle of the year find a way to win, our guys are feeling more confident if they do all the small things right, they work hard, they play together, that we can compete. We can win.

So our margin for error is not big, so we understand that, we get it. That's why coaching has to be great, our players have to not beat themselves. But I do think our guys are looking forward to this season. I think that they believe that we have improved. I think they firmly believe we've made strides. And I know that they're encouraged with the progress we made, and I think they worked extremely hard to this point.

I'm excited to watch them play and see it unfold, but the hat's off to our players because to see a lot of our seniors experience success last year and to see the gratitude they had and how much it meant to them, it was a rewarding season that we all got to build on.

Q. Question about the quarterbacks. Last team when the teams were healthy, you settled into a rotation -- one played the first quarter, and the other played the second. Do you expect a similar kind of rotation, or do you hope to settle that battle maybe in training camp or throughout the season?
JEFF BROHM: We're going to let the quarterback position play out. It's hard to say at this point. At this point I'm not opposed to playing two guys if we feel it's a close competition, they can bring value to the team. If one guy emerges, I'm okay. I do think both young men have improved. I do feel confident that if we have the right pieces around them, those two quarterbacks are good enough to win with, as long as they're doing the small things correctly and I feel good that whoever is in there will have a chance to win.

So we'll let this thing play out. Hopefully about a week and a half before the first game when you start to concentrate on your first opponent, we'll maybe have a starter ready to go, the other guy on deck ready to step in when we need him.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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