Purdue Football - A Look at the QB Position

Mar 30, 2023 - 1:04 AM

As we go through the offseason we are taking a look at the Purdue football roster position group by position group. Today is QB day. Purdue is well known for their QBs. You might’ve heard of that before. There’s a whole cradle involved. However, under the last three coaches, Hope, Hazell, and Brohm, the QB position has been in flux for a vast majority of their tenures. Whether that was because of a strange desire to play more than one QB, an inability for players to be used effectively, players not meeting their potential, or injuries. The QB position really wasn’t settled until the emergence of Aidan O’Connell during the tail end of Jeff Brohm’s tenure. Even then, there was debate about AOC vs. Plummer with Plummer initially winning the job only to be ineffective and replaced by AOC.

Well, now AOC is off to the NFL draft and Purdue has to recreate the QB position with a new signal caller as well as a new coaching staff. There’s a belief that new head coach Ryan Walters wants a more mobile QB than Purdue has used as of late and that’s one reason that Coach Walters hit the transfer portal after he arrived on campus and grabbed the first player we will talk about.

Hudson Card - 6’2” 201 lbs. Redshirt Junior

Hudson Card is the first QB truly recruited by the new coaching staff, but apparently a Facetime from Drew Brees helped. Card was previously at the University of Texas. A little school you might have heard of. He never was able to get the traction there though. Coming out of HS in Texas Card was a two time all state honoree and an All-American. He played in the UA All-American game. He chose Texas as the #3 ranked dual threat QB according to ESPN.

During his redshirt freshman season at Texas he started two games, completed 61% of his passes, threw 5 touchdowns versus just 1 interception, and had 590 yards. Overall it was an excellent showing by the young man and gave a good look at what Texas might have next year when he largely was expected to take the wheel. Enter Quinn Ewers. Depending on which story you believe, Card was either a causality of boosters pushing Ewers after an NIL investment, Ewers getting the job because he won it outright, or some other backroom politics impacting Card in the negative.

Card still managed to start 3 games for the Longhorns in his Redshirt Sophomore season and appeared in 12 games total. Card completed 69% of his passes to go along with 6 TDs and just 1 interception. Those are good numbers and I think any Purdue fan would be happy with that transitioning right to Purdue.

Card is largely considered to the early frontrunner to take over for AOC this season. He was brought in specifically by Coach Walters and has the ability to run and pass which is something Walters and his offensive staff have expressed an interest in. Barring something unprecedented I would expect to see Card taking the first offensive snap for Purdue in the 2023 season.

Brady Allen - 6’6” 210 lbs. Redshirt Freshman

The four star QB is a home grown Indiana product. Allen was a highly coveted recruit and was the 2021 Mr. Football in the state of Indiana. Allen threw for over 4,000 yards during his senior season which is simply incredible and truly shows you what he’s capable of.

Thanks to the redshirt rules Allen was able to appear in a game last year without burning his redshirt but we didn’t get much of a look at him. During the Indiana State game Allen was put in and threw three passes, completing just one, for 8 yards. Not much of a debut but he was there in a caretaker role as Purdue was already way ahead and just hoping to keep everyone healthy.

In the offseason Allen briefly entered the transfer portal. Anytime you have a coaching change you can expect some defections and Brady Allen was the centerpiece of the future of Brohm’s system at Purdue so it made sense for him to test the waters. Fortunately for Purdue, and hopefully for Brady Allen, he was talked into coming back to Purdue and will likely be the main backup when the season begins. He’s a heck of a talent and I look forward to seeing him grow.

Kyle Adams - 6’1” 180 lbs. Redshirt Junior

The local boy from West Lafayette may be sliding into the number 3 spot this spring. Following a standout career at West Lafayette he was lightly recruited and wound up at James Madison.

Unfortunately it’s hard to get a good read on what he did at James Madison as he only appeared in two games and retained his year of eligibility for one of those. During the 2020-2021 season he threw just one pass. He had one carry for 19 yards. Not a lot to go on there but it’s clear from his high school career that he has a lot of talent. Reports from camp say he’s getting reps with the number two offense so far. It’s always a good idea to have multiple guys ready and with a new system being put in place everyone is sort of starting on the same footing.

Ryan Browne - 6’4” (no weight listed) - Freshman

Hayden Timosciek - 6’7” 240 lbs - Redshirt Freshman

Christian Gelov - 6’0” 170 lbs - Redshirt Junior (transfer from TCU)

Unfortunately at the QB position (unless you do something crazy) there’s only one spot on the field. That means a lot of talented players have to wait their turn and may not truly be given the opportunity they deserve. These three are going to be in that boat this year. Purdue has a solid three at the top of their depth chart and, no offense to these three, but I hope we don’t have injuries or failures of all three of the main guys at the position. AOC was the exception at coming up from the 5th place spot on the depth chart. I don’t expect that to happen again.