Five takeaways from Barry Odom’s press conference on Monday coming off Purdue’s season-opening 31-0 win vs. Ball State.
• In the aftermath of Saturday’s win, Odom cast a critical eye toward his team’s tackling. Today?
“I was a little quick to judge on some of that, I think,” said Odom. “But, also know that we’ve got to be a great tackling team as the season continues to go on. And there’s ways you do that fundamentally, obviously, schematically and then getting hats to the ball and trying to populate the balls as much as you can.”
Pro Football Focus had Purdue for 15 missed tackles vs. Ball State. S An’Darius Coffey had four, while LB Mani Powell had three.
• The offensive line came under some scrutiny on Saturday. How does Odom assess that unit?
“Good at times, not near consistent enough on what we need to be,” he said. “Some of that was what we were trying to establish in the throw game. And then other times, (it was) what they were giving us. But I would like for both sides of the ball in the line of scrimmage to play more consistent. And we will. We’ve got the people to do it, and the understanding schematically of what we’re trying to do. We’ll get where we need to be.”
Per PFF, Bradyn Joiner and Ethan Trent were the highest graded o-linemen who played more than 15 snaps.
• Purdue remains in pretty good health as it prepares for Southern Illinois (7:30 p.m. ET, BTN).
“Jalil (Hall) will be out for a significant amount of time,” said Odom. “I can’t put a timetable on it yet. (De’Nylon) Morrissette is getting really close to making the next step in his rehab process. Did not practice today. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow.
“(Winston Berglund) did not practice today. And at three o’clock, we got a staff meeting, and I’ll get an injury report on where we are going into tomorrow’s practice.”
• WR Michael Jackson was one of the stars on Saturday, leading the team with six receptions.
“Anytime as a quarterback, you can have somebody, you know, groups of guys, or maybe one or two as you start here, that you count on and understand and be dependable. That’s a great feeling. I think Mike has provided some of that, because he does it every single day in practice. He’s consistent, and he works extremely hard. We’re counting on him in the return game, and then offensively, you can see more and more how he’s going to continue to earn opportunities just the way prepares and practices.”
• No one arguably played better on Saturday than P Jack McCallister, who averaged 50.3 yards on three punts with all three downed inside the 20-yard line.
“He did a great job,” said Odom. “Obviously a big part of the game. You look at average starting field position for us, that’s one of our big measurables, and we had almost 10 yards difference in where we started compared to where they started. And that’s all three sides playing complimentary football. But certainly he did a great job on placing the ball where we needed it to play, hang time, and then field location was exceptional.”
McCallister was Washington’s No. 1 punter from 2022-24. He transferred to Nebraska but left for Purdue after spring ball when the Huskers changed special teams coaches.