Purdue Football News: QB Battle Boiling in West Lafayette
Back in December, Purdue QB Brady Allen dipped his toe into the transfer portal before quickly withdrawing. Fans weren’t sure of what to make of it, but it came to no one’s surprise that he re-entered the portal in April and finally left for good.
Former Mr. Indiana Football and 4-star recruit, packed up and left Indiana for Louisville. But why? What is going on in West Lafayette to make the Boilermaker heir apparent to move on to greener pastures? What made Brady Allen see Purdue’s pasture lose its green?
Exodus of a Mentor
After another mediocre season, the powers at hand finally decided they had enough and asked Jeff Brohm to step down. Exit Brom. Enter Ryan Walters. This was a major problem for Brady Allen as the new coach had no loyalty toward him. Walters didn’t recruit him so he’s going to be much less inclined to make Allen the No. 1 QB going into next season. Combining the loss of loyalty from the coaching staff and incoming talent at the QB position, Brady thought it best to follow Brohm to Louisville.
Too Much Competition
Back in October of the 2022 season, the Boilermakers had their first inkling of new talent come down the pipe: Ryan Browne. Ryan Browne went to a small prep school in Venice, Florida. His big arm and 6’4” frame are usually the first thing people notice. He comes into Purdue as a 3-star recruit and he’s so far under the radar that I had to dig to find tape on him on YouTube. Browne only had four other offers, two of which were from Kent State and Holy Cross, far from college football powerhouses.
The other new arrival at the QB position is Hudson Card. Card got his time in the national spotlight when he came in for Texas QB Quinn Ewers, who got injured against a stout Alabama defense. Card would take a while to get into the flow of the game, but soon he was moving the Texas offense down the field at an impressive clip…well…considering the circumstances. He didn’t try to play hero ball and simply took what the defense gave him. But against strong defenses that can quickly turn into a weakness and we saw that with Card, with him throwing well short of the sticks on most third down attempts. Hudson would end the game with just 128 yards and Texas would fall short of their upset against number one ranked Alabama.
The QB Battle
Neither Ryan Browne or Hudson Card blow the doors off any collegiate scout. What that means for the QB battle is that it could possibly go well into the summer. It’s more likely than not that Card will be the number one guy when the Boilermakers face off against Fresno State, but Card will have the understanding that if he struggles for too long at the beginning of the season, he has the Freshman in Ryan Browne ready to step in and take the reigns of the Boilermaker offense.
Of course the third option in this battle is Indiana native, Christian Gelov. But with him being a junior and not registering a single snap at the collegiate level, I don’t see Ryan Walters giving him much of a look when he has the chance to develop Browne to take over the offense after the departure of Hudson Card.
Either way, we are entering a very intriguing season for Purdue football and I am very excited to see how it all plays out.
