Kevin Kane, the new defensive coordinator for the Boilers, but the Boilers are not new to
Kevin Kane. He was the DC for Ryan Walters during his brief tenure here. Obviously, didn't
go great, but had a good track record prior to that. Part of a defensive revival at Illinois.
Had an SMU team that led the nation in sacks earlier in his career as well. Kane now with
Jerry. Coach, you were at Purdue in 2024. You left for a year and you came back. Why did you
come back? Shoot, it was, uh, the opportunity to come back to, to, to this place is, is a
pretty special place to me, you know, my family, you know, I was at the University of
Minnesota last year and I had a great experience with Coach Fleck and crew, uh,
during that time, my family remained here, you know, in West Lafayette, so. Uh, when the
opportunity, when Coach Odom gave me a call, uh, it was something that just, all the signs
pointed to come back, you know, so it was, it was an opportunity to, to, to run, run the
defense again, um, and, and, and take the reins and, and do it my way, which is, which is
what, it's been fun to do that since I've gotten back. Uh, scrimmage today, we watched it
without watching the tape, some impressions about defensive play. You know, we played a lot
of the young guys today, which, which, you know, I think they needed to get some reps in
live situations, which is, I think was a good thing. You know, I think we saw some great
effort, you know, obviously, You know, we strive on, on, on playing hard and tough, you
know, and then we'll fix the, the, the other things along the way, but as long as we're
playing hard and tough, you know, it's gonna give us a chance to win the game. So I was, I
was happy to see these young guys get out there and do some reps. You know, we always got
to clean some things up with, with the older guys as well, but, you know, up to this point,
camp has been very, very productive for us, I think. How about some of the new portal guys
that are right in the thick of things with the first defense? Yeah, you know, I think, uh,
well, for us, it all starts with, with Charles Correa. You know, I think, at linebacker, he's
kind of the, the heart and soul of this defense right now. And, and I think everybody
looks at him and respects him for that, for, for that role. Uh, but Curt Neal, you know, he
transferred from right down the road, has come in and, and taken a leadership role, uh,
upfront as a defensive tackle for us, and it's been awesome. Um, but shoot, I mean, this is a
roster that, Two years ago, there's, there's not many people left from 2 years ago, so
that's, that's the transfer portal, that's the way it is. But, you know, I think that like a
guy like Jeremy Lewis, uh, you know, Jojo Hayden, uh, Curt Neal, I've already mentioned,
you know, uh, on the back end, Jayden Mangum, uh, uh, Jordan Slaughter, uh, uh, um, Don, Don
Saunders, you know, so we've got some length in the back end, we've got some length up front.
We're, I think we, we got some depth up front, which I'm really excited about, you know, where
I keep those guys fresh, uh, so there's been a lot of new faces, but they're, they're gelling
well. What do you have left undone before you break camp? Shoot, I think, uh, you know,
there's certain situations we still got to get in, you know, I think, uh, you know, all those
crazy fun formations, we always got to practice those, you know, with, with somebody,
but I, I think we've, we've, we've figured out who our identity is as a defense, um, you know,
in, in terms of, you know, what's gonna work for what we do, uh, and who we have. So now
it's just getting the, the continuity and, and just cleaning up the fundamentals, like
everything with fundamentals and, and, and, and effort, and we just gotta keep pressing on
those. Have you seen any changes in the Big 10 offenses? You know, I, I, it's, I do
believe that this conference is, is loaded with, with great offensive minds and, and, and,
and, and each week presents its new problems, you know, and, and, and you, you play an Oregon
team this week that's doing this type of offense, and then all of a sudden you're
playing Iowa with the two backs and, and doing that type of offense, and then you go to, uh,
Illinois, that's a different type of offense. So, like your, your, your scheme has to be
structured, uh, structurally sound enough where you can go up every week against these
different, different types of offenses and, And they're gonna challenge your rules every
week, you know, and, and they're gonna try to find Waldo and, and, and attack those guys. So
you have to do a great job of, of, of scouting yourself, in my opinion, every week, and then
figuring out how can we, how can we protect ourselves against every scheme. How do you get,
uh, the portal guys when they first come in to simulate with the rest of the team? So I think
Coach Odom's done an unbelievable job, you know, we did a lot of crossover dinners. You
know, uh, every position coach had to go two or three different dinners with guys from all
different positions, and, and within those dinners, you know, we got to know each other,
you know, and simply like, where are you from? Uh, uh, you know, how did you get here? Tell me
something about you we don't know. Uh, you know, my, I always took my guys bowling, so we,
we find out who's competitive, you know, who can throw a ball a little bit, and, uh, and I
think the guys really opened up and, and, and, and, and took together, and I think. A
connected team is a hard team to beat, and you've seen that from, from years past. And,
and I think our guys in a short period of time have, like, there's no egos in our locker room
right now. Uh, there's, and, and guys are enjoying playing with each other, which in a
short time, you know, I think our strength staff has done an unbelievable job of getting
these guys to buy into what's going on here with Coach Odom, uh, and Coach Odom is an
unbelievable job of, of, of giving these guys opportunities to meet each other and hang out
with each other, which has been fun. Well, it's great to have you back at Purdue as a
defensive coordinator. It's great to be back, boiler up.