WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue football offensive coordinator Graham Harrell went from figuratively trying to get inside Hudson Card’s head to physically being in his quarterback’s ear on every snap.
College football’s new NFL-style helmet communication rules allow limited communication between coach and player. Harrell, though, won’t be able to talk Card through every situation.
That’s where the second-year starter’s fluency with the offense needs to pay off. Coming out of the summer into preseason camp, Harrell noticed a new perspective from his fellow Texan. Card is quicker to make suggestions and admit when he missed a read.
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“He does a really good job understanding what we're trying to do on each play,” Harrell said. “And I think he sees it through a similar lens as the coaching staff, and that's important.”
Just as Purdue’s defense sees benefits of beginning a second season in coach Ryan Walters’ system. Card and Harrell recognize the upside of a second year together. Card said he has already been entrusted with more freedom at the line of scrimmage. It’s an indication of a still-growing connection between coach and player.
“That’s where you make that big step into Year 2 with the coaching staff,” Card said. “It’s one of the details with the offense where you kind of gain each other’s trust and develop. Now I’m able to check runs and even check some pass plays. It’s been fun, and I'm just grateful to have coach Harrell to trust me and have that relationship with him.”
Card belongs to a small group as a returning Big Ten starter. Only five others can say that, although Aidan Chiles did start in coach Jonathan Smith’s system at Oregon State last season.
Yet continuity alone will only take Card and Harrell so far — especially in the increasingly quarterback-driven Big Ten.
Harrell and Card both came to the home of the Cradle of Quarterbacks. Even growing up in Texas, both were aware of the position’s legacy at Purdue. For players of Harrell’s generation, in particular, the Boilermakers football identity developed around Joe Tiller’s passing attack.
Historically, Purdue’s ability to produce NFL quarterbacks rivals or tops anyone else in the traditional Big Ten. Card and Harrell, though, live in the present and future of the conference’s quarterback evolution.
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Each of the four programs the Big Ten poached from the Pac-12 produces big quarterback talent on a fairly regular basis. Oregon had Marcus Mariota, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix over the past decade. USC gave the NFL Sam Darnold and Caleb Williams. Washington admittedly had a gap between 2016 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year Jake Browning and last season’s breakthrough for Heisman Trophy finalist Michael Penix.
And no, not all of those quarterbacks began their careers with those programs. But neither did Card. The quarterback picture in the Big Ten could change drastically every offseason.
Harrell knows better than to project what college football or even the Big Ten might look like even in the near future. The signs suggest, though, the abundance of quality quarterbacks will continue to increase.
The Heisman Trophy betting odds are currently topped by a Big Ten quarterback: Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel (in his first season after transferring from Oklahoma). Ohio State’s Will Howard — who transferred in from Kansas State last winter — is fourth. Penn State’s Drew Allar and USC’s Miller Moss show up farther down the list.
That doesn’t include Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, a former five-star prospect pushing to start as a true freshman, or Ohio State’s two true freshmen: five-star Julian Sayin and top-100 Air Noland.
“I think the entire game of football is evolving in the direction of you've got to have a really good quarterback, or you don't have a chance to win,” Harrell said. "I think that's why you see more and more NFL quarterbacks coming out of this league. Instead of putting emphasis on you’ve got to have a big, big back and just hand it off every down and hope that you can find a way to win that game.
"At every level, no matter where you are, the quarterback play is so important that everyone's putting such a high emphasis on going and finding another guy.”
Purdue found its guy when it convinced Card to leave Texas’ loaded quarterback room and travel the road Drew Brees once carved. Card played through injuries in a mostly solid first season. His counting stats looked better than his more analytical numbers: Quarterback efficiency (123.02, eighth in Big Ten), yards per attempt (6.5, eighth), completion percentage (58.9%, seventh).
On the field and in the film room, Harrell says Card consistently puts the ball where it’s supposed to go. A year ago, he was a newcomer adapting to a Big Ten with a better defensive reputation than the Big 12 he left behind.
For Purdue to be better than 2023’s 4-8 record, Card must improve as well. He said last week at Big Ten media days that’s a responsibility every quarterback seeks out.
"In the Big Ten, you're playing the best teams in the country every week,” Card said. "There’s no games that are going to be easy. We know that, and I think that's a challenge well all embrace.”
Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.
