OK- I've been told that Purdue, under Tiller, is a developmental program...We don't get blue chips and generally, players need a season or two before they are developed enough to play a serious role in the system. That said, hasn't this coaching staff done just the opposite of developing many players? Here's what I mean:
Curtis Painter was a mobile QB with a rocket arm out of high school who was marginally accurate and struggled early in games. Now, Curtis is an immobile QB with a rocket arm who still struggles with sailing the ball, especially if he's pressured.
Ryan Baker and Alex Magee both played right out of the box. Both were thought to be a little bit light early in their careers, but once they had weight on them, they would be able to see their full potential. Both players are big, solid Senior linemen now...neither seems to have reached their potential.
Fabian Martin came to Purdue the same year Dorien Bryant came in. Fabian was thought of as a player with a ton of potential since he was mainly a track star out of high school with little experience. Now as a Senior, he only plays special teams...and the way he over-persues, honestly looks like he hasn't been coached on how to use his speed...yet.
Dorien Bryant, John Standeford and Taylor Stubblefield all had great careers as Boilermakers. All put up huge numbers...and all seemed to have lost weight during their careers in West Lafayette. We all said it, at least once, "wait until these guys get a little weight/strength on them...then they'll be able to beat press coverage..." Never happened.
Royce Adams was forced into duty early in his career. He got picked on quite a bit too because he was so green...but we all saw great potential. Royce is now a Nickel Back and is barely in the two-deeps as a Junior.
Jerry Wasikowski played quite extensively as a tight end early in his career...both in passing downs and running downs, due to different injuries ahead of him. Now he is nearly-solely a blocking TE.
Eric Hedstrom and Garrett Miller were both solid recruits coming out of HS (Hedstrom being a bit more highly-touted). They both had good frames and seemed to be ripe for bulking up and becoming big time BT o-linemen. Years later, neither has been able to put on serious weight and despite being 6'6" & 6'8", neither is over 300 pounds and their lack of weight has been an issue versus bigger defensive fronts.
David Pender and Brandon King both come from the speedy South and were highly-rated (3-star) athletes exiting high school. Many thought that the two corners with good speed, height and builds would prove to be formidible as the '08 season began. Well, v. UND we saw a lousy quarterback throw up rainbows and telegraphed passes and neither seemed to be able to find the ball effectively...And UND's very young receivers looked like upperclassmen for the entire second half.
Frank Halliburton was talked about as the first true fullback recruit under Tiller. Frank started out early in his career as a special teams starter. After bulking up for a year, we heard that the fullback would be used more-regularly in '07. Coming into '08, we heard both he and Jared Crank would be used in short-yardage situations. Now we hear from Tiller that he's a halfback in a fullback's body...if only a coach would work with him on his ability to be a north-south runner with his shoulder pads low to the ground.
There are plenty more examples, these are just those off of the top of my head...
For those of you who have been around Purdue sports for a while, this is classic Mel McCants or Mike Robinson syndrome (to make a cross-sport comparison).
Keep in mind, I'm not pinning this on the players. It's not their job to create the schemes to play in, drills to help them work on technique or design the weight program in which they participate. It's their job to execute as they are told. I think they're doing just that.
Granted, there are the Dustin Kellers, Anthony Spencers and Craig Terrills of the Tiller era; but those seem to be less-frequent and harder to find.