Purdue's Hazell sees improvement but questions remain

Darrell Hazell was upfront about what he wanted from the Boilermakers during the recently completed spring practice.

Play smarter, faster, with more confidence and finish.

"I think we got better at all of those," Hazell said. "Still not perfect on the finish part but we're better."

How much is the key question Purdue looks to take the next step and win more games. In his first two seasons, the Boilermakers won a combined four times. They have one Big Ten victory and are 0-8 at home in conference action.

"I think there is a world of, 'you know what, we've got a chance to be pretty good.'" I think that's the mindset right now," Hazell said. "There's certain positions you still have to figure out a little bit but I think they feel like we've got enough guys in the locker room to get things done. They really believe that. We'll find out and I think that too."

Hazell hasn't named a starting quarterback and won't until after training camp starts in August. Austin Appleby, David Blough and Danny Etling didn't separate themselves to earn the job through the 15 practices. What about freshman Elijah Sindelar, who is recovering from knee surgery but is expected to be 100 percent by mid-June?

Will Hazell give the Kentucky native a serious look in the fall?

"It will be hard, but you have to, don't you?" he said.

The offense is moving more uptempo and the commitment to push the ball down the field in the passing game remains strong. Hazell wants more from the defensive ends and spring practice didn't answer every question about the safety position.

Question: What did you think of the way the defense played this spring?

Answer: I think they're running to the ball much better. I think they're playing better team defense. The (two) things we struggled with a little bit that we have to get fixed – I'm going to have Greg (Hudson) do a study – how many times the ball got outside of us. That's the first study. The second study is how many times, not a scramble, but on a dropback did the ball go over our heads. If you can stop those two things and get turnovers, then you've got a chance to be really successful.

Q: Following up on what you said (after the spring game) about the defensive ends, what do you need from them?

A: I want them to protect the edge. The ball kind of slides outside too many times because they want to jump inside and make a play. That's a matter of discipline, it's a matter of being able to hit and separate and locate where the ball is. Gelen (Robinson) played a little better than I thought on Saturday. I'm not saying I thought he played poorly – that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying I was looking for him to show up but he started to show up on film and it's the same thing with (Antoine) Miles. We need Evan (Panfil) to take another step. That's the guy I was hoping would take that next step and he's gotten better but we need him to be somewhat more dominant. That's a guy that needs to have a great summer.

Q: What did you think of the safeties?

A: "I thought they were better in the second half of the spring than they were in the first half, which is what you want. I go back to our scheme; Robert Gregory, he's a different player when he's a low player than he is a high player. He's a much different player. He can be really good as a low player. We have to make sure we think about those things down the road. I think (Leroy Clark) is solid. I think he's really solid. I think he'll have a chance to be pretty good. I'm not worried about the safeties.

Q: Where is the quarterback depth chart leaving spring?

A: I thought for the most part that Austin and Blough were pretty consistent, but Danny had his good days. We need them all to have good days. There's no lineup right now with those three guys, but we have to figure it out pretty quickly. We can't go too long into camp not knowing who the guy is going to be. Without putting a date on it, try to figure it out as quickly as you can.

Q: Austin has the game experience and is that a factor?

A: It helps him but it's about how productive you're going to be when you're out there.

Q: Are you still a one quarterback guy?

A: Yes.

Q: No thought of playing two with the tempo you're planning to use?

A: Not at all. Whoever the guy is has to be able to do it all. There's some similarities with them but there's also some things that are different.

Q: Who is separating themselves at receiver and who would be first-team players right now?

A: (Cameron) Posey has quietly done everything we've asked him to do. He's not that guy that you see is really flashy, that can break you down after the catch but he's the guy that's in the right location all the time. There's always a place for that guy – finding the seams and sitting down and catching it. He's done a good job of consistency with catches. Trae Hart has shown us some things. I thought DeAngelo (Yancey) had a really nice spring which was good to see. There's still a couple of things, moreso in the run game that you would like to see him be better at but we need him to be a productive guy when the lights come on. That would help us immensely.

I thought Greg (Phillips) would be louder than what he was with his play. Not bad, but I thought he would be a little bit, perhaps noticeable. I thought he would be a guy that would have an off the charts spring. I just thought he was good, solid. I thought he would take that huge step. I'm not down on him at all. He works hard, he can make plays but we need him to take that next step going into camp.

Q: Did you push the ball down the field as much as you wanted? Do you like where that commitment is right now?

A: Yes. We can't do enough of that. We especially have to do it early in the season. Even if you miss some shots, I think you have to push it down the field. It's just a whole new world you live in when you do that. It's hard to cover, especially off play-action fakes. It gives our guys a chance to make some plays. I thought the quarterback – this is where I think we took a major step – the quarterbacks finally kept the ball on the playing surface to give our guys a chance. That was not the case the previous two seasons or the previous two springs where we're always trying to tight rope the sideline on the balls going out of bounds.

Q: Was there a message you left the team with for the summer?

A: I talked to them about all the work they have to do this summer. They can't feel like, 'you know what, we had a pretty good spring.' They've got to really crush themselves the next eight weeks, 10 weeks, however long it is to get themselves ready to compete at the highest level. That's what this summer is all about.