Fresh faces and new competition highlight Purdue’s first spring practice

Purdue football is back. Day one of the 15 practice slate in West Lafayette this spring commenced in Mollenkopf Athletic Center on Tuesday morning, with Barry Odom and the Boilermakers kicking off spring practice.

The Purdue head coach was pleased by what he saw on the practice field, as the program set a starting mark for the 2026 season, which is set to begin on September 5, against Indiana State.

“I thought our coaching staff did a nice job organizationally getting the team ready to go execute practice one. The number of snaps, the number of reps. I thought we elevated our game in a lot of ways from where we left off in December. And I think that’s a very strategic, direct, and select approach to how we wanted to attack practice,” Odom said.

When Purdue inked its portal class in January, Odom was vocal about having the entire team together, with no spring portal window to worry about, as was the case last off-season. The vast majority of the 2026 iteration of the Boilermakers are in West Lafayette, but a handful have not yet made their way to campus.

That group includes freshmen tight ends Cooper McCutchan and Ar’Mari Towns, freshman wide receiver Jojo Johnson, junior college receiver Ricky Sampson, Penn transfer receiver Bisi Owens, freshman defensive end Max Carmicle, and freshman kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano.

Odom also offered health updates on several notable Boilermakers who were sidelined or limited for day one of spring practice.

Defensive tackle TJ Lindsey, who tore his ACL against USC last September, was limited during practice. Odom shared that he expects Lindsey to be active for “at least parts” of practice after spring break. Returning starting left tackle Joey Tanona had off-season surgery and is able to do through walk-throughs, but has not been cleared for 11-on-11 situations yet.

Virginia Tech transfer EDGE Keyshawn Burgos and returning wide receiver Chauncey Magwood were limited participants on day one.

Tight end George Burhenn and wide receiver De’Nylon Morrissette were full-go after both missing significant time last season. Burhenn played the first four games before going down against Notre Dame, while Morrissette was sidelined for the entirety of the year.

Aside from those seven absentees and players on the mend, the roster is intact this spring and will allow the Boilermakers to develop the team without fear of losing talent upon the conclusion of spring ball.

“There’s great positional battles across the board, which is exciting. There’s real competition at most every spot, which is fun. I thought our recruiting department and personnel staff did a nice job with the additions that we’ve made. Our high school class, the freshmen, the mid-year freshmen, they’re an impressive group. And then I certainly think that we hit on a number of transfer portal guys that will have an immediate impact,” Odom said.

The offensive line and backfield are two groups in particular that will be full of competition, with only Joey Tanona returning as a full-time starter along the trenches, while Devin Mockobee’s replacement is somewhere in West Lafayette, between Fame Ijeboi, Jerrick Gibson, Antonio Harris, Travis Terrell, and Izaiah Wright. The secondary will also be headlined by fresh faces, including Jaden Mangham, Justin Denson, John Slaughter, Mister Clark, Dax Noles, Dee Newsome, Don Saunders and Ta’Vari Hampton.

One would expect a lot of mixing and matching across the roster throughout spring practice as the Purdue coaching staff looks to solidify potential difference-makers at each position.

Getting bigger, stronger, and faster was a priority for Purdue from a roster upgrade standpoint this off-season, and Odom feels that was achieved, between the cast of returners they were able to retain, a top 25 transfer portal class, and a promising high school class.

“We’re a much bigger, stronger, faster, more explosive football team today than we were last year. Last year is not the measuring stick. We understand that. That’s just a point that I’m trying to make with our team. You learn from your lessons, and you apply them and find areas that we need to get better, and you address them and go. And I thought our guys did that,” Odom said.

That will be the test for Purdue heading into 2026. Putting a 2-10 season in the rear view mirror, and moving forward with another new-look roster that was overhauled this offseason.