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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 13, 2011

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Hope. Coach, thanks for joining us.
COACH HOPE: Thanks for having me.
THE MODERATOR: Give us an opening statement and we'll take a few questions.
COACH HOPE: Well, we wrapped up spring ball early. We started early for a lot of reasons, had a lot of fun with it. Because we started early, we were indoors inside of our indoor facility the majority of the time. Did very well. I feel like we improved a lot as a football team in a lot of key areas. We had a lot of fun, did a good job of keeping our team healthy.
We had a handful of guys that were injured prior going into spring that missed. That's okay. Didn't really have any injuries during the spring that will have any impact on our team. So feel good coming out of spring ball healthy.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Let's go to questions.

Q. You mentioned that you made a lot of improvement in some key areas. What were some of those key areas? Were they on offense or defense?
COACH HOPE: I believe in all three phases. We had a lot of new faces on the team last year. We had a lot of injuries, a lot of young, talented players. When the season was all said and done, we had 17 freshmen that played. Those guys coming back, a lot of them started, played very well last year. But just from where we're at as a football team, we started off further ahead because we have some guys back on the team that played last year.
This is the first spring I've been at Purdue, or a fall practice for that matter, that I've had a quarterback that's played in a game. That's a big deal. We had Rob Henry play a significant amount last year and did some good things, was able to be out in the spring and did real well. First spring ball we started with a quarterback that played in a game.
Every area of our team I thought we did some good things in. Just having some experienced players back on the offensive line last year, we were brand-new. All those guys are back, played together before. It really showed in the spring.
Obviously at the quarterback position. We have a tackle back, some players that played really well last year that looked like they were stepping their game up to another level that could be special players for us.
Really felt good when spring was over that we'd gotten better in a lot of areas. But position-wise, offensive line, significantly better. The quarterback position, significantly better. The linebacker position, significantly better. Secondary, same way. So very encouraged by it.

Q. I know you talked about Rob Henry's improvement this spring. He's now a captain, co-captain. Do you look at him as the man to beat for that position?
COACH HOPE: Well, he was number one going into spring. Really he was the only quarterback that played a lot in the games that was healthy after the first day. We didn't get any reps at all hardly with Sean Robinson. He got injured the very first day of spring. Nothing serious, but it held him out through spring. Then Robert Marve was only able to do some of the throwing and catching parts. Rob started off number one. Caleb didn't play last year, TerBush didn't play in any games last year, although he's a very talented quarterback. So started off this spring as number one and really has improved a lot since last year. When spring was over, he was still number one. Encouraged about him.
Obviously there's some talent at the quarterback position at Purdue right now. Robert Marve is a special talent that can really throw the football. He wasn't able to compete as much in the spring as we'd have liked him do. He'll be ready when the fall gets here. There's some talent at that position. There will be some competition. But we went into the spring with Rob Henry at number one and came out with him as number one.
I really like the fact that Caleb got so many reps. It was good for him. He didn't get to play in any games last year. The fact that Robert couldn't get as much gave Caleb some opportunity. We've made some progress at that position.

Q. Is it a situation where someone needs to beat out Rob Henry when you resume practice in the fall?
COACH HOPE: Well, that's how the whole depth chart is. If you're number one on the depth chart, then obviously someone has to compete at that position. I think we'll have competition at the quarterback spot. But we went into the spring with Rob Henry as number one and we came out with him as number one. That's how we'll start off when the fall gets here. Other guys will compete for the quarterback position. There's competition there, good players. But we'll start the fall off with Rob Henry as number one.

Q. What are your expectations right now going into the off-season for Ralph? I don't know what you have been told from the doctors. Do you have reason to believe he'll be a hundred percent come fall?
COACH HOPE: Absolutely. Really he was cleared for spring. We could have went out there and tackled him. He could have done more.
Again, as a second knee injury, if you were to go out there and reinjure that knee, you'd say, Shoot, now we don't have him for the fall. What does it matter that he was really out there.
He went out there and did individual work. Towards the end of spring looked very fast, catching some passes, taking the handoffs, running behind the line some, running the plays against air. Never put him in there where a body could go into his knee or tackled him any. I don't have any problem with that.
He looked really good to me. I think he'll be ready to go in the fall. That's huge for us. I like our runningbacks. We had some guys that stepped up this spring. I think we have a chance to have some runningbacks that finish runs and play hard. Ralph is a really good player. Him coming back would make a big difference. I anticipate him coming back and being ready to go.

Q. You're returning nine starters on defense. Talk about how Joe Holland has improved since last year.
COACH HOPE: I think all of our linebackers have made some real progress since the season last year. We have everyone back, all three starters back. Warner graduated, but Will Lucas played quite a bit anyway. We have three linebackers back that played a whole bunch last year. Joe has a ton of starts under his belt. I believe last year throughout the course of the season he had more starts than anybody on our football team. He still has a year of eligibility left. He's very experienced. He moved down from the safety position into the box as a linebacker three seasons ago. Had to grow into the position, learn how to play the position.
I think he's athletic and very smart. I think he's really connected with his position coach, really understands what we're trying to get done. Has become a lot more true to his reads. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. I think he can become a heck of a player. He had a lot of tackles last year, made a lot of plays. I think he improved his game significantly from the end of last year to this point in the season.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, we appreciate the time.
COACH HOPE: Thanks for having me.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Rob Henry. Rob, thanks for joining us.
ROB HENRY: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
THE MODERATOR: Talk a little bit about how spring football is going and then we'll take some questions.
ROB HENRY: It went great. I thought it went great for us all around as a team. I think we went out and worked hard and improved day in and day out.
THE MODERATOR: Let's go to questions.

Q. What are you trying to improve upon the most with your game, rushing or passing?
ROB HENRY: Both. Just trying to improve as a quarterback and being able to sit back and throw, then escaping and making plays with my legs when I have to. But, yeah, just trying to improve my overall game, my overall skill set as a football player.

Q. I'm interested in all the running quarterbacks around the league now. Do you think this is just a coincidence that there are so many in the Big Ten now or is it kind of an evolution of the game?
ROB HENRY: I think it's kind of been an ongoing thing in college football as far as having athletic quarterbacks. You can see, you look all over the country, look at the two teams that played in the national championship last year, both of those teams have athletic quarterbacks. I think it's a trend you're seeing. People are just looking for ways to score points, spreading defenses out and just letting play-makers make plays, I guess.

Q. Have you ever had to play in just a pocket, stay contained kind of offense, or have you always been mobile?
ROB HENRY: Well, in high school I didn't run that much. We were pretty fortunate to have some good players around me. A lot of them are still playing at the Division I level. I didn't run that much in high school. But when I got here and got faster and whatnot, I guess I kind of went from there.

Q. Did you throw with a glove in high school? If not, how has the adjustment been to throwing with a glove?
ROB HENRY: I started throwing with a glove because of my finger, when it got hurt against Ohio State. Now I use the glove during spring as a precautionary measure. The finger is still healing, I guess you would say. We'll see how it goes this summer.
But before spring, I was actually throwing without a glove. You know, if I had to stay with it, I will. I'm pretty comfortable with it, throwing with a glove. If I have to stay with it, I will. If things progress during the summer, then I'll go back to without a glove.

Q. You're returning the majority of the offensive line this year. Talk about the guys up front, how they played in the spring.
ROB HENRY: Played great. We moved Justin Kitchens over. He played some at tackle. He's been good overall. Everybody up front played great this spring. I'm really excited about where we're at at the offensive line spot.

Q. You started last season with the injury to the quarterback. How excited are you to have the starting job possibly for the full season this year?
ROB HENRY: I'm excited about going to work. We've got Coach Carlyle who came in as our new strength coach. He's a real high-energy guy, got us going right now. So I'm excited about working with him right now and improving as a football player, just doing whatever I can to get us to a bowl game and to win a championship.

Q. How important would it be just to play in a bowl game? Probably watching bowl games sitting at home. How important is it to get to a bowl game for Purdue?
ROB HENRY: We definitely want to get to a bowl game. We know we have enough talent to do that. At the same time I know everybody on our team didn't sign the scholarship and come to Purdue hoping to just go to a bowl game. We want to do something special. We're working hard toward that goal.

Q. Defense is returning nine starters. Talk about how tough it was to face them this spring.
ROB HENRY: They're definitely very talented and very experienced. It wasn't easy sometimes. It wasn't easy. They won some, we won some, as you would expect. Yeah, I'm excited about watching our defense. They're going to be really good this year. I know all those guys are hard workers. They're all good-character guys.
So, yeah, I'm excited about the opportunities they have this season.
THE MODERATOR: Appreciate you taking the time. Have a great spring.
ROB HENRY: Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 13, 2011

Rob Henry

Danny Hope