Penn State Football: secondary facing an early test vs Purdue

In just a few short weeks, what projects as one of the team’s best position groups will be tested right out the gate when Penn State Football hits the road to take on the Purdue Boilermakers in a Thursday night, Big Ten matchup to open the season.

For the second consecutive campaign, the Nittany Lions’ secondary could be among the best in the country and will certainly be a strength of the team. However, that’s all just speculation at this point, but we will get an early indication of just how good this defensive backfield will be, as they will be tested against Jeff Brohm’s Boilermakers in week one.

Led by sixth-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell, Purdue’s offense is one that leans heavily on a solid passing attack. Last season, the Boilermakers ranked fourth in the country in passing attempts per game at 44.3.

Additionally, O’Connell completed 71.6% of his passes last season for 3,712 total yards with a touchdown to interception ratio of 28 to 11.

Now, he won’t benefit from the services of first team All-Big Ten wideout David Bell this season–as he has moved on to the NFL–but Purdue still has plenty of solid options at receiver.

All three of the projected starters are good, experienced wideouts.

Charlie Jones is a veteran grad transfer from Iowa, TJ Sheffield hauled in five touchdowns a year ago, and Broc Thompson is a senior who averaged 15.2 yards per catch last year.

At tight end, Purdue will be led by redshirt senior Payne Durham. In just 10 games last year, Durham caught 45 passes for 467 yards and six touchdowns.

The Boilermakers figure to struggle on the ground, so don’t expect there to be much of a difference from last year in terms of their pass happy approach.

Will this be the best passing offense that Penn State Football will face in 2022? No, that would be Ohio State by a healthy margin, but this is still one of the best and quite possibly the most high-volume passing offense they will see.

We know what to expect out of Ji’Ayir Brown on the back end, and although he needs to clean up the penalties, we know that Joey Porter Jr. is a first-round talent at corner. Plus, Daequan Hardy is expected to once again thrive in his role as Penn State’s nickel corner. However, some other members of the secondary, while talented, are still relatively unproven.

Cornerback Kalen King, and safeties Keaton Ellis and Jaylen Reed will be the ultimate x-factors in determining whether or not this secondary can be among the nation’s best. If that trio lives up to expectations, it’s certainly a possibility.

Purdue will put the ball up quite a bit come September 1st, so we should know right away what we can expect from the Nittany Lions’ secondary in 2022.