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There were plenty of surprises to come out of this year’s college football season, which included the fairly unexpected success of the program at the University of Illinois. Sportsbooks expected the Fighting Illini to win around five games before things kicked off, but the unexpectedly competitive team got off to a 7-1 start and was ranked as high at No. 16 midway through the year.
While they may have been unable to sustain that momentum in the second half of the campaign, Illinois was still able to finish second in the Big Ten West and punched its ticket to the ReliaQuest Bowl after wrapping up the regular season with an 8-4 record.
However, the team will be without the services of defensive coordinator Ryan Walters when they head down to Tampa Bay to face off against Mississippi State on January 2nd. Purdue wasted no time launching a search to replace Jeff Brohm after the head coach announced his seemingly inevitable decision to take his talents to Louisville, and it found its man in the form of (now former) Illinois DC Ryan Walters.
On Tuesday, Walters was officially introduced as the head coach of a Boilermakers team that walked away with a 31-24 victory over the Fighting Illini when they faced off in Champaign on November 12th. Purdue didn’t have much trouble moving the ball against their new skipper’s defense during that game, as QB Aidan O’Connell threw three touchdowns and racked up 237 yards in the air while running back Devin Mockobee grinded out 106 yards and a TD of his own on 28 carries.
Walters clearly respected what the RB was able to achieve based on one of the first moves he made as Purdue’s new head coach. He wasted no time calling out Mockobee in his first team meeting on Tuesday, and he presented the walk-on with a scholarship as a de facto reward for his performance against his old school.
First order of business, @Coach_Walters had an announcement to make 👀 pic.twitter.com/0m5BeWvm3x
— Purdue Football (@BoilerFootball) December 14, 2022
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