We recognize the highest-impact players from the Boilers’ 49-0 victory over the Sycamores of Indiana State.
As discussed in the latest episode of Boiler Up Down South, we here at Hammer And Rails feel that, win or lose or tie (wait, that last one hasn’t been an option since 1995, never mind), we should hand out Player Of The Game awards in the three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams.
Purdue’s 49-0 win over Indiana provided a solid list of big contributors, but we’re going to have to narrow it down to one player each week. Honorable mentions will be mentioned horribly each week, as football is the ultimate team sport with so many cogs in motion, and gosh darn it, we love all our Boilers on the roster.
Without further preamble, the Players Of The Game for week one are…
Offense:
It’s hard to say any other name than Hudson Card for this week. The Boilermakers’ QB1 tied an NCAA record for completion percentage (minimum 25 passing attempts) that was established in 2015, matching a 24/25 for 96% set by former Virginia and Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert.
Good ol’ Huddy looked calm, cool, collected, crisp, and many other adjectives that start with the letter C. He went through his reads incredibly well, looked as decisive as a judge, and ultimately played a nearly perfect game en route to tallying four touchdowns and 273 yards with some relief from Ryan Browne when the game was well in hand for Purdue.
On a silly note, for those of us who colloquially refer to TD’s as “tuddies,” I could get used to four Huddy Tuddies per game. Wait, now I sound like an Ole Miss fan who just ate peanut butter saying “Hotty Toddy.” Whatever that means. Moving on.
Honorable mention here is Max Klare. The Card-Klare connection looks like it has the potential to be all-but-automatic this season when the chips are down. I’m excited to see how many yards the two combine for in 2024.
Defense:
Gotta give this one to Will Heldt. The sophomore edge rusher recorded six total tackles, two of which were sacks, and proved that Purdue can move on from transferred talent with younger guys.
Don’t get me wrong, the front three looked like total people movers (sort of like a train, one could say) and made the jobs of the four behind them a lot easier, but Heldt stood out both statistically and when one takes into account how fresh of a face he is. He did appear in all 12 games as a true freshman, but Heldt looks to be that guy on the edge going forward.
The young buck out of Carmel will be giving opposing offensive lines fits for years to come.
Special teams:
Sure, there were no field goals attempted, but freshman Spencer Porath quietly knocked in all seven of his extra point attempts. Kicking, even in PAT situations, was a bit of an issue last season, and it’s great to see a performance like that from a kid playing his literal first college football game.
It was kind of up in the air (like the footballs when they kick them) whether it was going to be Ben Freehill or the freshman, but it would appear as if head coach Ryan Walters is very comfortable with Freehill’s booming kickoffs and Porath’s placekicking.
Porath gets this one, but I loved what I saw in punt returns from Thieneman and Sowinski as well.