GoldandBlack.com Purdue player draft: No. 15 overall
This summer, the Boilermakers are being divided.
Reporters Stacy Clardie and Kyle Charters are going head-to-head in GoldandBlack.com's Purdue player draft, a daily selection in which separate rosters of 25 are being assembled over the next two months. In late July, we'll decide — based on GoldandBlack.com staff and member feedback — which team would win.
Clardie closes out the week with the 15th overall pick, and she chooses …
Kyle’s Evan Panfil pick surprised me — he’s right in that he could have waited at least another pick to select him — but I’m good with it.
Because it means I can take arguably Purdue’s best defensive back, Leroy Clark, at No. 15.
And a quick peek to the bottom of the page at my defensive depth chart will remind that I now have the top two DBs. Considering there isn't much proven talent at safety and cornerback on this roster, I feel good about that fact.
Here’s why Clark is valuable (and probably shouldn’t have dropped so low in our draft): He has starting experience, can cover out of the safety spot after having played corner previously in his career and is improving as a physical player who can come down in the box and make plays in the run game if Purdue puts him in that role in a one-high safety look.
Not that it means much in this draft, but Clark also is one of the most well-respected players on the team, and he's earned that distinction despite rarely speaking up. He's a lead-by-example-type who's considered one of the team's better workers. So there's that.
Of course going for Clark here means I’ve once again passed on Elijah Sindelar, leaving me quarterback-free going into the fourth week of our draft. That’s risky. But there’s also a part of me that doesn’t want to get too far behind on defensive selections, and if I’d grabbed Sindelar here, Kyle could have swiped Clark and Danny Ezechukwu, for example, with his next two picks. This way, at least I get Clark off the board. Kyle probably takes Ezechukwu on Monday, giving him the two starting linebackers in a nickel defense — although Kyle's decided to make his own rules and run a 4-3 — but that’s the one position on defense that has experienced, talented depth. If I don’t get Ezechukwu, it doesn’t kill me.
Draft ticker: 1-10 | 11. Jason King | 12. Jordan Roos | 13. Eddy Wilson | 14. Evan Panfil
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