Odom: Purdue football to hold "spring showcase" in place of spring game

Purdue football is back in the full swing of things as spring practice resumed in West Lafayette on Tuesday morning. The Boilermakers had nearly two weeks since their last on-field practice due to spring break and got back out onto the field for the first of ten remaining practices this spring.

Head coach Barry Odom hit on a myriad of topics on the heels of the practice, including a change to the spring game, using the basketball team's success as fuel, assessing where the team is and more.

Another spring game change, this time in West Lafayette:

A recurring trend across college football has been the cancelling of traditional spring games, with dozens of power conference programs doing away with the annual tradition in favor of another practice.

The Boilermakers are creeping toward that wave with some changes to its previously scheduled April 12th spring game. Odom revealed on Tuesday that Purdue will hold a "spring showcase", featuring individual drills, practice elements and scrimmages.

"Well, I think for us, we're going to move it a little bit more here, call it a spring showcase, because it's not just going to be a four quarter game. We're going to have practice elements. We're going to do some individual drills. There's some things that we have to, from just the number of reps that we want to get, maybe in a red zone, seven on seven. If we don't use that day for some of those scripted things, then we're going to come out of spring and not hit exactly the rep count that I need to hit. But and then there'll be some scrimmage situation that day as well," Odom said.

Still, while the Boilermakers are going away from the traditional spring game model, Odom wants the day to remain a prevalent part of the spring in West Lafayette, particularly for the fan experience.

"The traditionalist in me is we're gonna, open the showcase up for fans, and I want them to be invested in a program. I want them to see our coaches, coach and teach. It'll be a big recruiting day for us. And then I want to see our players have the ability, even though we've got a number of people to come to practice now, I want them to perform in the arena, in either a scripted, 11 or 11 situation, or a live, you know, put the ball down on the five yard line, see how good our offense can go score, and defense can hold them. So it'll be a different day. There'll be practice elements and also, certainly, some scrimmaging."

Purdue basketball providing fuel for Odom and company:

All eyes are on Matt Painter and the Purdue men's basketball program this month, as they prepare for a Sweet 16 matchup against Houston on Friday in Indianapolis. Barry Odom has taken notice of the Boilermakers' success on the hardwood and how it can be contagious for the heights he aims to take the football program in West Lafayette.

"It all carries over. It's contagious, in my belief. So can't say enough great things. And what they've done, how open they have been to me since I've been here, and that's a standard set by our athletics director, Mr. Bobinski, and his approach to the way he has done things. Certainly we need to follow up and do our part," Odom said.

Odom spoke to his relationships with other coaches at his previous stops, Eric Musselman at Arkansas, Cuonzo Martin at Missouri and Lindy La Rocque at UNLV, and how they worked together to raise the level of the athletics department as a whole, as well as one another's programs. You can add Matt Painter to that list now.

"In the game of sport, you forever have had opportunities to collaborate with guys in the profession, maybe in a different sport, that do things and win at a high level. There's a process for him, I'm sure that he believes in very strongly. There's some carry over to in our short conversations that we've been able to have about how to sustain success, on how he's done it. I think for me, everywhere I've had a chance to be, we've had relationships with other sport coaches. I believe that you help each other, you build off their successes, and then when, when our season rolls around, hopefully we can provide something for their teams to be able to want to follow through with," Odom said.

Assessing where the Boilermakers are at after spring break:

As of Tuesday, Purdue is now over a third of the way through its spring practice slate. While Odom didn't have a vision in mind for what he wanted his team to look like at this point in time, but has been pleased with the progress of the group thus far.

In particular, Odom pointed to the offensive line and defense as a whole as two pleasant surprises through six spring practices.

"I think each position group has made progress. I don't know if I sit there and thought after day six, this is exactly where I want to be. I think we've gotten better in a lot of spots. I think, the offensive line group, to me, they've come together with all the moving parts a little bit faster than maybe I anticipated. The quarterbacks, we're rotating all the guys, so it's, there's not a lot of continuity with one group," Odom said. "Defensively, I think we've been able to add a few more schematic wrinkles early, a little bit further along in that process than I maybe thought we would be."

Odom credits the assistant coaches with effectively teaching and implementing things in the meeting room, as well as the players soaking it in and showing the desire to have it translate to the practice field.

The Purdue head coach did admit that while he's happy with the progress, the Boilermakers are far from being ready for a game setting.

"I think our assistant coaches have done a great job teaching and coaching. And this team that we've either inherited or brought in, in January, they have been hungry for structured discipline, and then everything that we put out front of them, they've tried to attack. And we all know we've got a long ways to go leading up to the spring showcase and the number of limited practices we get between now and then, and what that'll look like, but we've made progress. I'm glad we're not playing Saturday. We're not anywhere close to getting ready for a game," Odom said.

We call this drill...

The Boilermaker pic.twitter.com/ujwuD1FTh5
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) March 25, 2025

Spirited end to practice:

The end of Tuesday's practice featured a very spirited drill in which an offensive lineman, tight end and running back lined up to go against three Purdue defenders at the goal line. The drill was dubbed "The Boilermaker" by Odom after practice.

Odom spoke to the importance of having a high energy and competitive closing period for each spring practice, which he believes will help the Boilermakers thrive moving forward.

"Everybody around the country that does it calls it something different. For us, it's the Boilermaker. And we're looking for the elements of foundation of football, blocking, getting off blocks, angles and then a tackle component to it. Running tough, take care of the ball. Emotion, energy, part of our bottom line, as we see players compete. Every single practice in spring ball, we're gonna end up with some sort of competitive or two minute drill, end of game situation, something like today. I just believe, the more that you can put your players in position to compete, then they start thriving," Odom said.

Through the first two weeks of practice, we saw several 11 on 11 scenarios and two-minute drills to end practice, but Tuesday featured the competitive drill surrounded by the rest of the roster.

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Odom: Purdue football to hold "spring showcase" in place of spring game

Another spring game change, this time in West Lafayette:

Purdue basketball providing fuel for Odom and company:

Assessing where the Boilermakers are at after spring break:

Spirited end to practice:

Boiler Upload is now a partner with Seatgeek. Use Discount code is BOILERUPLOADRIVALS to get $20 off your first purchase at Seatgeek.com

Topics

Related

VIDEO: Barry Odom speaks after Purdue returns to spring practice

Is it already time for Notre Dame football to be back on the field for spring practice?

Georgia Bulldogs football spring practice injury report

Texas football spring practice observations: Notes on Arch Manning, Christian Clark and more

FSU football DB Edwin Joseph out for the rest of spring practice with an injury

Kirby Smart, Bulldogs opened spring practices Tuesday

Solid 1st Day In Pads For 3rd Spring Practice

Jimmies football working with new changes in spring camp

Spring practice continues, but difficult decisions ahead

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