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Indiana and Purdue Football Teams Get Ready for Season Openers
STATEWIDE--The Indiana Hoosier and Purdue Boilermaker football teams begin their seasons this Saturday.
Purdue opens up with Fresno State at home at noon EST. Indiana battles 3rd ranked Ohio State at 3:30. For Indiana, they’ve been trying to sort out the starting quarterback position. Redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby and Tayven Jackson spent the the entire offseason competing for the starting job.
The Hoosiers have decided not to reveal the starter until the day of the game. Their offensive coordinator Walt Bell did, however, speak Wednesday about what he’s expecting from the starter.
“I think first and foremost with any young guys is eliminating error, and how does that happen? That’s your entire pre-snap process. Eliminating issues at the line of scrimmage, if a guy is not right, can you get him right, your at the line of scrimmage communication, your communication on the sideline when we do huddle. But number one is just minimizing error. Number two is after the snap, can you drive your eyes where your supposed to early in the downs, and can you be smart with the football late in downs. Those two things are completely different things. But they both manifest themselves in completions or balls in jeopardy. And then number three, I would think just comfortability, leadership ability, do you create confidence in the other ten guys on the football field when you’re out there? To me those three things, especially with younger guys, are kind of the lynch pins in how you’re going to make a decision,” said Bell.
Sorsby completed three of six passes for eight yards in Indiana’s 45-14. Jackson, a former four-star recruit, won two state championships at Center Grove High School and is the younger brother of Indiana basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis. Jackson transferred to Indiana after one season at Tennessee. He appeared in three games for Tennessee in 2022 in a backup role. In total, he completed 3-of-4 passes for 37 yards and rushed four times for 10 yards and one touchdown.
Purdue has a new football coach this year in Ryan Walters. Walters was the defensive coordinator for Illinois last season. He led Illinois to having the top scoring defense in the nation (12.3) and was the 2nd ranked defense nationally in yards allowed per game (263.8). Behind Walters’ defense, the Illini recorded five wins holding their opponents under seven points and seven wins at 10 points or fewer.
“We’re really just excited for our guys who have put in the work to be ready and go play a game,” said Walters in a press conference Wednesday.
After having game-by-game captains for the past three seasons, Purdue will have season captains for the 2023 campaign. Quarterback Hudson Card, center Gus Hartwig, defensive back Sanoussi Kane, linebacker Nic Scourton and wide reciever TJ Sheffield were voted captains by their teammates.
“It’s an honor. I’m not trying to think too far ahead though. At the same time, I’m just going day by day. The work I’m putting in with the guys day in and day out, that will get us the results we want as a team,” said Card.
Card transferred from Texas to Purdue. Last year with Texas, Card played in 12 games and started three times. He completed 69% of his passes for 928 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.
Purdue enters the 2023 season as the reigning Big Ten West champions, capturing the division title for the first time in school history. Indiana is coming off a season where they went 4-8.
