GoldandBlack.com's Purdue player draft: No. 9 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 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.
Back to Clardie with the ninth overall pick, and she chooses ...
The obvious pick here, after Kyle selected David Blough and with us having a 25-man roster, would be to take the next-best quarterback. That’d be Elijah Sindelar. He’s an up-and-coming player with a fantastic arm who likely will be a starter at Purdue before he’s done here. Shoot, depending on how well Blough does this season, Sindelar’s time actually could be in 2016. Darrell Hazell has not been shy about yanking QBs before they were able to build any kind of momentum or establish any consistency, so if Blough struggles in the first half of the season ...
I personally like Blough and think he has some good tools — and really like the combination of him and Tim Lester, who will continue to develop Blough, and the simplified offense will help, too. He was going to be my pick here. But now he’s not — cuz he’s gone.
So, really, I should take Sindelar, right? Especially with my strategy of the biggest gap on the depth chart. The talent disparity between Sindelar to the No. 3 QB is significant.
And yet …
If I do that, take Sindelar, then Kyle gets Cameron Cermin and will have a center who would be capable. (As I said before, Cermin is a tackle to me, though he has the smarts and ability to play center as a secondary option.) And then I have to take Martesse Patterson to play left tackle just to maintain the offensive line advantage I started with my Kirk Barron pick.
If I don’t take Sindelar, then Kyle has to take Sindelar to wipe out the QB position for me, right?
But will he?
I want to find out.
So, after that incredibly long build up: I’m taking Cermin with my pick here, keeping Kyle from any legitimate center option — seriously, can’t rely on the rest of those guys to get the ball to the QB with any regularity — and then could come back and take Patterson with the next pick. And, shoot, maybe Jason King with my next pick. (Tell me which other skill position guy out there still entices enough to prevent an O-lineman run at this point.)
Plus, I like Cermin. I’m not concerned about his ability to come off shoulder surgery because, c’mon, dude is tough. He played late last season when he shouldn’t have, and he wasn’t too shabby. Healthy? He’ll be good.
And notice where he’s at on my offensive depth chart right now: Left tackle. And that’s where he’ll stay, regardless of who else I pick. I think he’s the best left tackle option the team has right now because of his athleticism, his savvy and his fight. I want a guy playing that spot who is going to go hard every single play because, obviously, at that spot, one play off could be disaster for a QB. Even if my QB is a guy who ends up being someone who’s never taken a college snap. Maybe especially then. If I get Jared Sparks or Aaron Banks or decide to have Markell Jones run the Wildcat, I’d like to feel good about my left tackle, ya know? I do with this pick.
Draft Ticker: 1. Kirk Barron | 2. Jake Replogle | 3. Markell Jones | 4. Ja'Whaun Bentley | 5. Da'Wan Hunte | 6. DeAngelo Yancey | 7. Cameron Posey | 8. David Blough
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