GoldandBlack.com's Purdue player draft: No. 3 overall
This summer, the Boilermakers are being divided.
Reporters Stacy Clardie and Kyle Charters continue in GoldandBlack.com's Purdue player draft, a daily selection in which separate groups of 25 are 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 is back up with the No. 3 overall pick, and she chooses ...
Well, this isn’t who I’d thought I’d be taking with my second pick. But when Kyle surprised with Jake Replogle at No. 2 — Replogle is a great player but more "surprise" in terms of the strategy of the pick after center Kirk Barron going at No. 1 — it changed my thinking.
It’s interesting how there is strategy because of the makeup of this roster. For me, at least, so many of my choices may not necessarily be based on who’s the best player available but who you will get if you don’t take a guy. Does that make sense? When we’re dealing with a two-deep that has significant drop-off between 1 and 2, that plays a role. And I think that's been pretty clear in the top three picks.
And it's a major reason why Markell Jones is my pick at No. 3 overall.
Obviously, Jones had a phenomenal freshman season and appears to be everything you’d want in a true No. 1 running back. He’s ridiculously physical — which, honestly, scares me a bit in regards to his ability to stay healthy in a potential 25-carry-per-game role. (Does anyone know yet why his knee locked up last season?) He’s faster than people thought, showing an ability as a breakaway-type back. He has good hands to be a real factor in the passing game when Purdue gets him the ball in space. He’s picking up pass pro and should be even more reliable there in Year 2.
But if D.J. Knox did not tear his ACL in the spring game, Jones would not have been picked this high by me. I’ve been pretty straight-forward in my respect/admiration for Knox since he first stepped onto the practice field as a true freshman. In that first season, while he was redshirting, he practiced like he was the top guy, even though he wasn’t getting snaps on game day. You’d never know he wasn’t a starter by the way he played on the scout team. He was full-go on every rep. And that kind of work ethic is what landed him the starting job last season in Week 1. He may ultimately have been passed by Jones — in part, initially at least, because of injury — but he has all the tools to be a top-shelf starter, in my opinion.
If Knox was healthy, he’d be my RB pick. And that also would have allowed me to hold off and take other positions higher — like Cameron Cermin right here, the top cornerback or the next-best defensive tackle.
Now, though, this makes the most sense. And it's kinda crazy to think of a nearly 900-yard, explosive back as a "consolation." At some point, I probably will need to take a defensive player.
More: Kyle's first pick, Jake Replogle
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