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WEST LAFAYETTE — Charles Clark was comfortable at Memphis.
He was the Tigers’ associate head coach and Memphis won four bowl games in five seasons during his tenure coaching the program’s defensive backs.
Clark gave up that post under Ryan Satterfield to join Barry Odom’s Purdue football staff.
He now leads a group that has no returning starters, but is not void of experience.
The Boilermakers added six defensive backs from the transfer portal. Their most experienced returnees — sophomores Hudauri Hines and Smiley Bradford —each played in three games.
More: Barry Odom says Purdue football’s 2025 roster ‘not anywhere close’ to complete
Three questions with Purdue football’s defensive backs coach
Q: You were at a program that won a lot at Memphis. What intrigued you about coming to Purdue and rebuilding a program that has struggled the last couple years?
A: Purdue and the tradition it has had before. One of my high school teammates played here. Cliff Avril (former Purdue defensive end). He and I played on the same high school team. Going back even before then, it had a lot of great tradition and won a lot of games here. Just a couple years ago, they were in the Big Ten championship game. I think we have all the resources needed to do that. We have the facilities. We have the fan base. And we have the coaching staff and now we just have to go out and get players to return back to that.
Purdue Boilermakers defensive back Hudauri Hines (16) celebrates after a defensive stop Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, during the NCAA football game against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Penn State Nittany Lions won 49-10.
Q: How important was not just adding players at your position from the portal, but getting experienced players?
A: That’s one thing we can not substitute for. I don’t care how much we…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/resources-needed-purdue-football-succeed-175921441.html
Author : Journal & Courier
Publish date : 2025-02-20 17:59:00
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