I was impressed with this redshirt freshman when I watched film of their game against Bowling Green.
MSU has faced some good, nationally-underrated QBs this year such as Zach Terrell of WMU and Cooper Rush of CMU. This guy is in the same category, in my opinion, although he is just getting started.
He is small, at 6-1. But he has good footwork. He gets set quick and zips quick, decisive passes. And he's not just a spread bubble screen guy. He'll throw intermediate passes. Impressive first start last week.
This is what I wrote about Blough in the Pre Snap Read:
11 QB DAVID BLOUGH (6-1, 202, R-Fr., Carrollton, Texas)
* This is a name I didn’t know, eight days ago. But we should know the name. He’s good. He’s a gamer. He’s not an eye-test guy, he’s an arm-test guy.
* Blough (rhymes with now).
* He was 15 of 18 for 148 yards with 2 TDs IN THE FIRST HALF last week in his first career start. And these weren’t “SYSTEM” numbers. He was dropping, setting and ripping nice intermediate throws from the pocket.
* He finished 29 of 39 for 349 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT.
* Watching this guy play excellent football last week in his first career start made me scurry back to the Rivals database to see what his deal was as a recruit. He was ranked No. 56 in Texas and was listed as the No. 19 pro style QB in the country. Excellent ranking despite the fact that Purdue and Memphis were his only scholarship offers. And he’s a 3.95 GPA. Purdue absolutely stole this guy. And Rivals did a good job of ranking him. This is a rare occasion of a ranking being correct and college coaches being incorrect in not offering him.
Why didn’t he have any offers? The only thing I can think of is the 6-foot-1 frame. He’s not tall. But he’s quick, has GREAT footwork in his getting set to throw quickly. He fires intermediate passes with a quick release and excellent zip.
* Saturday will mark his second career start.
* He was 3 of 7 for 11 yards two weeks ago against Va Tech.
My notes on Blough from last week:
* Got away with a mistake early in the BGSU game, forcing a middle screen pass attempt to a RB in the face of a blitz. It wasn’t there, on first-and-10, and put it up for grabs, nearly intercepted. Gotta throw that one into the ground.
* Missed WR low for a dropped pass on third-and-five angle route to the outside for six yards in the first quarter.
Then he got into a rhythm:
* Zipped a nice pass to the slot WR No. 5 (Domonique Young) on a post in the second quarter. (Young is out with an injury this week).
* Blough will vacate the pocket quickly for a scamper keeper. That normally won’t go far against MSU, with the way the Spartans keep linebackers home and square and eying zone responsibilities.
* He will mix in an occasional QB draw.
* Not a speedster but he has quick, nimble, young feet. Decisive with his feet. He goes.
* Critics say he didn’t notice open routes downfield last week. But he had a real nice day.
* Zipped a nice ball on a post route over the middle for a 45-yard TD pass vs cover-three zone. Drop, step, quick release, zip throw, let it rip. Nice job. Accurate, right on stride.
I’m not sure that’s where he should have went with the ball with middle of field closed and a free safety in the area loading up to hit. But he missed the hit (and BGSU might have been a little gun-shy after getting a safety ejected two plays earlier).
* In the second half, they started sprinting him out and throwing on the run. He was accurate with the short passes, making quick decisions.
“He took what the defense gives and didn’t make any mistakes trying to force it down the field,” said BTN analyst Stanley Jackson.
* Good poise is recognizing a blitz, making an audible to a sprint out pass to a slot out for a gain of 11 on a third-and-one in the second quarter.
* Play action, half roll boot, rip it on 22-yard deep comeback to No. 7 WR D’Angelo Yancey (6-2 ,223, Atlanta). Excellent pass.
* The only negative was that he didn’t show touch when he had WR Yancey open twice down the sideline on go routes. It was his first game, so I don’t want to say he lacks touch. But at this point he certainly (perhaps thankfully) can’t place it in a bucket downfield like Cooper Rush.
* Nice slot out route to No. 33 WR Danny Anthrop for about 20 yards to the 6-yard line in the third quarter. Anthrop didn’t have to wait for the ball. He made a nice release, cut to the outside, and the ball was there.
* 62-yard TD Pass to WR Gregory Phillips when the BGSU CB bit on a run fake and left Phillips open on a coverage bust. Good job by the QB to be aware of it and see it. That play tied the game at 28-28 with 7:00 left.
* Blough is good right now. Will he get even better? I suppose so. The only thing I would question is how high his ceiling of potential is. He’s not big, and he’s been well-coached in high school. He already has zip and accuracy, which Purdue will make good use of for the next four years. He’s a keeper.
* Purdue offensive coordinator John Shoop on Blough’s play last week: "He did some things really well. Early in the game, his eye level dropped and we thought he missed some big plays. But, in exchange for that he was finding his back and dumping it down. I think part of that was just wanting to get going.
"Overall, he did some really, really good things, but there's plays he wishes he had back for sure, just as there's calls I wish I had back. He's a competitive guy who has the ability to distribute the ball, and I thought ran the ball well, too.
“Three times we had DeAngelo (Yancey), we thought. That's been so much of what we worked on this offseason and, you know, already through four games, I think we have five touchdown passes of over 40 yards, where all of last year, the entire season, I think we only had four. So we're getting better at pushing the ball downfield, and we're doing it more often, but our percentages need to get higher.”
MSU has faced some good, nationally-underrated QBs this year such as Zach Terrell of WMU and Cooper Rush of CMU. This guy is in the same category, in my opinion, although he is just getting started.
He is small, at 6-1. But he has good footwork. He gets set quick and zips quick, decisive passes. And he's not just a spread bubble screen guy. He'll throw intermediate passes. Impressive first start last week.
This is what I wrote about Blough in the Pre Snap Read:
11 QB DAVID BLOUGH (6-1, 202, R-Fr., Carrollton, Texas)
* This is a name I didn’t know, eight days ago. But we should know the name. He’s good. He’s a gamer. He’s not an eye-test guy, he’s an arm-test guy.
* Blough (rhymes with now).
* He was 15 of 18 for 148 yards with 2 TDs IN THE FIRST HALF last week in his first career start. And these weren’t “SYSTEM” numbers. He was dropping, setting and ripping nice intermediate throws from the pocket.
* He finished 29 of 39 for 349 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT.
* Watching this guy play excellent football last week in his first career start made me scurry back to the Rivals database to see what his deal was as a recruit. He was ranked No. 56 in Texas and was listed as the No. 19 pro style QB in the country. Excellent ranking despite the fact that Purdue and Memphis were his only scholarship offers. And he’s a 3.95 GPA. Purdue absolutely stole this guy. And Rivals did a good job of ranking him. This is a rare occasion of a ranking being correct and college coaches being incorrect in not offering him.
Why didn’t he have any offers? The only thing I can think of is the 6-foot-1 frame. He’s not tall. But he’s quick, has GREAT footwork in his getting set to throw quickly. He fires intermediate passes with a quick release and excellent zip.
* Saturday will mark his second career start.
* He was 3 of 7 for 11 yards two weeks ago against Va Tech.
My notes on Blough from last week:
* Got away with a mistake early in the BGSU game, forcing a middle screen pass attempt to a RB in the face of a blitz. It wasn’t there, on first-and-10, and put it up for grabs, nearly intercepted. Gotta throw that one into the ground.
* Missed WR low for a dropped pass on third-and-five angle route to the outside for six yards in the first quarter.
Then he got into a rhythm:
* Zipped a nice pass to the slot WR No. 5 (Domonique Young) on a post in the second quarter. (Young is out with an injury this week).
* Blough will vacate the pocket quickly for a scamper keeper. That normally won’t go far against MSU, with the way the Spartans keep linebackers home and square and eying zone responsibilities.
* He will mix in an occasional QB draw.
* Not a speedster but he has quick, nimble, young feet. Decisive with his feet. He goes.
* Critics say he didn’t notice open routes downfield last week. But he had a real nice day.
* Zipped a nice ball on a post route over the middle for a 45-yard TD pass vs cover-three zone. Drop, step, quick release, zip throw, let it rip. Nice job. Accurate, right on stride.
I’m not sure that’s where he should have went with the ball with middle of field closed and a free safety in the area loading up to hit. But he missed the hit (and BGSU might have been a little gun-shy after getting a safety ejected two plays earlier).
* In the second half, they started sprinting him out and throwing on the run. He was accurate with the short passes, making quick decisions.
“He took what the defense gives and didn’t make any mistakes trying to force it down the field,” said BTN analyst Stanley Jackson.
* Good poise is recognizing a blitz, making an audible to a sprint out pass to a slot out for a gain of 11 on a third-and-one in the second quarter.
* Play action, half roll boot, rip it on 22-yard deep comeback to No. 7 WR D’Angelo Yancey (6-2 ,223, Atlanta). Excellent pass.
* The only negative was that he didn’t show touch when he had WR Yancey open twice down the sideline on go routes. It was his first game, so I don’t want to say he lacks touch. But at this point he certainly (perhaps thankfully) can’t place it in a bucket downfield like Cooper Rush.
* Nice slot out route to No. 33 WR Danny Anthrop for about 20 yards to the 6-yard line in the third quarter. Anthrop didn’t have to wait for the ball. He made a nice release, cut to the outside, and the ball was there.
* 62-yard TD Pass to WR Gregory Phillips when the BGSU CB bit on a run fake and left Phillips open on a coverage bust. Good job by the QB to be aware of it and see it. That play tied the game at 28-28 with 7:00 left.
* Blough is good right now. Will he get even better? I suppose so. The only thing I would question is how high his ceiling of potential is. He’s not big, and he’s been well-coached in high school. He already has zip and accuracy, which Purdue will make good use of for the next four years. He’s a keeper.
* Purdue offensive coordinator John Shoop on Blough’s play last week: "He did some things really well. Early in the game, his eye level dropped and we thought he missed some big plays. But, in exchange for that he was finding his back and dumping it down. I think part of that was just wanting to get going.
"Overall, he did some really, really good things, but there's plays he wishes he had back for sure, just as there's calls I wish I had back. He's a competitive guy who has the ability to distribute the ball, and I thought ran the ball well, too.
“Three times we had DeAngelo (Yancey), we thought. That's been so much of what we worked on this offseason and, you know, already through four games, I think we have five touchdown passes of over 40 yards, where all of last year, the entire season, I think we only had four. So we're getting better at pushing the ball downfield, and we're doing it more often, but our percentages need to get higher.”
