All those newcomers Purdue football brought in after a 4-8 season appear to be an upgrade.

At least after one game.

The Boilermakers rode a record-breaking performance from quarterback Hudson Card to a 49-0 win over Indiana State at Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday.

Several new faces played a major part in Purdue’s season-opening victory.

Here’s three things we learned from the Boiler victory over the Sycamores.

Purdue football’s added weapons

Yes, it was Indiana State, a struggling FCS team coming off a one-win season.

But it’s hard to go 24-for-25 passing without a defense and that’s where Card’s Purdue-record day concluded when he left in the third quarter.

The Boilermakers said they’d get him more weapons. Card’s four touchdowns went to four different receivers, who all scored their first points at Purdue: Max Klare and Jaron Tibbs, who both returned, plus Georgia transfer De’Nylon Morrissette and Fullerton College transfer Leland Smith.

Room for improvement

It’s hard to nitpick in a game like this, but we will.

Purdue had some penalties that don’t cost you against an inferior opponent like Indiana State.

The shutout was also aided by an overthrow of a wide open receiver in the end zone and a missed Indiana State field goal.

The nice thing for Purdue is it has two weeks to get better before hosting Notre Dame.

Purdue’s defense dominates

Yes, Indiana State had a near-touchdown pass and was able to move the ball at times, namely with the scrambling ability of quarterback Elijah Owens.

But overall, the Sycamores were scoreless and totaled just 154 yards of offense.

OTHER TOPIC

4-star Ohio DB Dawayne Galloway chooses Purdue football from impressive list of suitors

Purdue football coach Ryan Walters made recruiting lockdown cornerbacks a priority.

On Friday evening, the Boilermakers landed one of the nation’s best in the 2025 class.

Columbus, Ohio’s Dawayne Galloway, a four-star cornerback by 247Sports, announced on his Instagram account he’s verbally “100% committed” to Purdue.

Galloway becomes the 11th known member of Purdue’s 2025 football recruiting class, and the second from Ohio in a span of three days.

Galloway is the highest ranked recruit in the class as of now.

What Dawayne Galloway’s recruitment means

Galloway was one of the most sought after cornerbacks in the 2025 class, having offers from 29 programs, an impressive list that included Michigan and Georgia, which have combined for the last three national championships.

The Boilermakers already have former five-star cornerback Nyland Green, an incoming transfer from Georgia. Green will be a redshirt junior this season. Purdue lacked experience at cornerback last season, especially after a season-ending injury to Marquis Wilson and without Stanford transfer Salim Turner-Muhammad last year.

Galloway, listed at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, will certainly be a boost for the future of Purdue’s secondary. He twice has finished second in the 100 meters at the Ohio Division II state track championships and was an all-state cornerback last season for Marion-Franklin High School.

Where Purdue’s 2025 class stands

Purdue has hit Ohio hard for the 2025 class. Galloway joins defensive lineman Drayden Pavey (Cincinnati) as commits from the neighboring state this week. Tight end Brian Kortovich and running back Ziaire Stevens also hail from Ohio.

They’ll be part of a still incomplete 2025 recruiting class that also includes four from Indiana and one each from Texas, Michigan and Tennessee.

OTHER TOPIC

Purdue football’s next defensive star stayed loyal to make a big move

Purdue football’s Kydran Jenkins often ends up at the last place you’d expect, in the best possible ways.

Bo Heard saw it during Jenkins’ freshman year at Jefferson County High School in Louisville, Ga. “Unbelievably freakish,” he called those moments. Like the time Jenkins lined up on the right goal post and leaped full extension to save a shot headed for the upper left corner, palming the ball one-handed and tucking it away like a wide receiver.

Oh yeah, Heard coached soccer, too. Jenkins said most Boilermakers are unaware of his past life as an all-state goalkeeper. He gives them other reasons to believe nothing will get past him.

Jenkins defied the usual path of players from his hometown when he ended up at Purdue. He defied other trends by sticking around after breaking through as one of the Big Ten’s best pass rushers last season.

Jenkins did, however, move to a new home — one he plans to make permanent. The undersized edge rusher became an inside linebacker over the past nine months. That projects as his best positional fit in the NFL. It also makes him a central figure in the turnaround the defense seeks in its second season in coach Ryan Walters’ system.

“He has a different set of versatility, being able to still look at the quarterback and now play sideline to sideline from the cylinder,” Walters said. “Guys feed off of his athleticism and the energy he brings, and so I’m excited to see what that looks like this fall.”

He saw it on opening day. When Indiana State quarterback Elijah Owens escaped a closing pocket in the second quarter, he created a 1-on-1 race with Jenkins to the edge on the far side of the field. Jenkins won, recording his first sack of the season with the range and open-field tackling skills of a Mike linebacker.

Jenkins keeps transforming, and keeps winning.

Small town star

Jefferson County football needed help. The previous graduating class depleted the return options on special teams. While the coaches stabilized the kickoff team, they struggled to find someone to reliably field punts.

So they sent Jenkins — standing about 6-0, 230 pounds at the time — back to field punts during practice. He looked like a natural. A week later, he took a punt back 50 yards for a touchdown

Jefferson County found a new primary kickoff and punt returner. Opponents encountered a brick wall rumbling downhill with velocity.

“I got that a lot: ‘For you to be that big, I don’t know how you could be that fast,’” Jenkins said. “I’ve been running my whole life.”

Jenkins also ran as the featured back in Jefferson County’s single wing offense as a senior. His defensive potential, though, enticed college coaches. Purdue defensive line coach Brick Haley remembers an explosive talent — nimble on his feet and quick to diagnose plays.

Haley extended Jenkins’ first scholarship offer — when he served as an assistant at Missouri. Jenkins reminded him of former Tigers star Nick Bolton, now starting for and winning championships with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“His instincts were off the chart,” Haley said.

The Tigers made a familiar recruiting pitch to a southern prospect. Come play for an SEC program and you’ll play a lot of games in or near your home state. Haley believed a commitment might be imminent.

In the meantime, former Purdue assistant Greg Brown caught on to Jenkins, too. The university’s more rural environment and smaller scale can work against it when battling the SEC for recruits. Here, it became a decisive factor in the Boilermakers’ favor.

Jenkins carries himself with a small-town persona straight out of Louisville — pronounced LEWIS-ville — a town of about 2,300 in central Georgia. He wanted to move far from home, but did not seek glitz and glamour.

“Not a lot goes on there, and once you’re down there, you can easily get stuck down there,” Jenkins said. “My mom, she fought so hard every day to put us in a good spot. Going somewhere far would really help me and get me away from this.”

His official visit to West Lafayette became the only one he took anywhere. He confronted some culture shock — and some climate shock — but quickly embraced a new family.

Staying loyal

Haley said Mizzou saw Jenkins as a “true inside linebacker.” Purdue quickly saw a difference-maker off the edge.

He matched George Karlaftis for the team lead in sacks with five as a redshirt freshman. He earned honorable mention all-conference honors with four sacks and seven hurries in 2022, helping Purdue’s push to the Big Ten championship game.

Then came the breakthrough. While Nic Scourton challenged for the Big Ten sack lead, Jenkins complemented him from the other edge with 7.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.

Proven pass rushers draw a premium on today’s name, image and likeness open market. Texas A&M lured Scourton to finish his career as an Aggie. Jenkins could have made the jump, too. Cyrus King, one of Jenkins’ assistant coaches at Jefferson County, said four ACC schools contacted him to see if the burgeoning prospect might be interested in returning to the South.

Purdue Making 'Great Strides' Defensively Following Rough 2023 Season

Asked what level of concern Purdue had that someone might poach Jenkins, Haley said. “A lot.” Jenkins, though, said he never seriously considered transferring.

A more serious discussion involved whether he should leave for the NFL draft. The feedback he received gave him a Day 3 grade — which could mean anywhere from the fourth to the seventh round.

One factor in that lower evaluation: Jenkins’ lower center of gravity. Coming off the edge in the NFL would mean the 6-1 Jenkins facing off against offensive tackles routinely standing 6-6 or taller. Of the 10 edge rushers selected in the first three rounds of last season’s draft, only one — Utah’s 6-2 Jonah Elliss — stood below 6-3.

As Jenkins continued his investment in Jenkins, Purdue demonstrated its investment in his future. The coaches wanted him to stay, and even better, they wanted him to move.

“It goes back to just being that loyal kid, upstanding kid,” King said. “Many of the kids would have probably tried to look for greener pastures elsewhere. KJ stayed loyal to Purdue; stayed loyal to the vision coach Walters had.

“The transition to inside backer was icing on the cake.”

A new home

Heard’s memories of Jenkins on the footall and soccer field remain vivid. So too are his memories of the Algebra student who used to pull his chair up to Heard’s desk in the back of the room.

The teacher used Jenkins’ “towering presence” to maintain order in the classroom. The student in turn peppered Heard with questions.

“KJ is just someone who loves to go in and learn,” Heard said.

Jenkins completed his degree in selling and sales last December. Then he went to work learning a new position.

Walters said he had no qualms about Jenkins absorbing the more cerebral aspects of Mike linebacker. He needed reassurance he could handle the wide-ranging physical responsibilities.

Purdue ranked 12^th in the Big Ten last season in third down defense, 11^th in red zone defense and last in allowing plays of 30-plus yards. It needed more security in the middle of the field, not less.

That confirmation came before the end of the spring.

“He makes the easy play, but he also makes the play that he shouldn’t make,” rush ends coach Joe Dineen said. “We’ll go up and watch film after practice, and he’ll be somewhere that you wouldn’t think he’s gonna make the play. And then by the end of it, he’s making a tackle for a 2-yard gain.

“He does things on film that are pretty fun to watch. He’s kind of like an eraser back there. I tell my guys, if we can do our job consistently, that guy’s gonna run sideline to sideline and eliminate mistakes.”

Dineen did not dismiss the idea of Jenkins occasionally lining up off the edge. That may not be necessary, though, for him to maintain the pass rush presence which led him to 16.5 sacks over the past three years.

Walters’ attacking defense brings pressure from every angle, which will include Jenkins firing right up the middle. That often will force opposing running backs to pick him up in the backfield.

Purdue loves that matchup. Fellow linebacker Winston Berglund said it plainly: “Nobody can guard him as a running back if he’s blitzing up the middle.” Some gave it a try during preseason camp.

“He’s a really shifty guy, but obviously very big and very athletic, so he can kind of do as he pleases, in a sense,” running back Devin Mockobee said. “So you really have to get up there and hit him first before he can get to you.”

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