Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 14, 2024 35 GAME PREVIEW: PURDUE ters was looking for in a complete offsea- son overhaul of the wide receiver room. Five freshman wideouts arrived at Purdue in the class of 2024. The high- est-ranked among them? Leland Smith of Houston Strake Jesuit College Prep. He stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 219 pounds. Again — an intentional type of roster addition for Walters and Co. "I wanted big guys that can run and catch contested balls," Walters said. "We didn't have a lot of length last year. We had one guy that had some speed. I feel like we got a lot of length and a lot of speed out on the edge." Smith caught 2 passes for 47 yards and a touchdown against Indiana State. He had chances to stay in the South with scholarship offers from Mississippi State and Miami, according to On3, but he found a home in West Lafayette after a memorable recruiting trip. "The culture was unlike any other place that I had ever seen," Smith said. "Understanding what was being built and the vision that they had for this program and being able to see it come to fruition every day as we continue to buy in just as a whole team and continue to put in the work day in, day out and continue to build that brotherhood and strive for greatness." Purdue has a running game that took a giant leap forward in Walters' first sea- son, from No. 103 nationally in yards per game in 2022 to 54th last year, and ju- nior Devin Mockobee continued to lead the rushing renaissance in Week 1 with 11 carries for 89 yards. Those were team highs for a Boilermakers squad that put up 248 yards and 3 touchdowns on 8.0 yards per carry against the Sycamores. Purdue led the Big Ten in rushing yards per game in league contests last year with a mark of 184.6. The Boiler- makers also put together back-to-back 300-yard outings for the first time since 1968. Those came against Minnesota and Northwestern. Passing is always going to be Purdue's preferred form of attack, but don't sleep on a Boilermaker wrecking crew that'll try to run right at Notre Dame on the ground, especially with someone as meticulous as Walters overseeing the operation. He wasn't fully satisfied with the 49-0 drubbing of Indiana State. Senior quarterback Hudson Card connected on 24 of 25 throws for 273 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in the Boilermakers season-opening 49-0 win over FCS foe Indiana State Aug. 31. PHOTO COURTESY PURDUE