Jim Young became the new Purdue head coach, a former Schembechler
assistant at Michigan who had revived a sagging Arizona program. He
successfully recruited QB Mark Herrmann, an Indiana schoolboy hero who
had led his Carmel, IN High School to the state finals in football and
the state championship in basketball. Herrmann was so impressive that
the conservative Young changed his offense to suit his abilities when he
showed up for fall practice. The strategy worked as Herrmann debuted as
second in passing and fourth in total offense in the NCAA and was the
Big Ten leader in both. Eighteen TD's and 2453 yards later, Herrmann
proved that the Boilermakers had a lot more potential than the 1977
record of 5-6. Big freshman TE Dave Young caught twenty-eight of the
balls and Bart Burrell, Herrmann's high school battery-mate provided
another inviting target. DE Keena Turner was 210-pounds of butcher
knives at defensive end. Young made a minor alteration in the helmet
design, maintaining the old gold helmet shell with the black one-inch
center stripe and black "P" on each side, but removing the rear player
numerals.
It came together in '78 as Herrmann, Young, and Burrell lit up the
skies, making Herrmann, after two varsity seasons, the number-four
career passer in Big Ten history! The 9-2 record included a 41-21 Peach
Bowl stomping of Georgia Tech and was powered by Herrmann's 152
completions and fourteen TD passes. RB's John Macon (913 yards) and Mike
Augustyniak provided the inside pounding. Linebackers Turner and Kevin
Motts again led a defense that recorded sixty-eight QB sacks, All Big
Ten LB Turner in on twenty-five of those QB take-downs. MG Ken Loushin,
known as much for his bench press prowess as his Big Ten nod at middle
guard, solidified the line. Young maintained the high-flying passing
offense for 1979 and Herrmann responded with another huge year, 10-2
that included a thrilling 28-22 defeat of Notre Dame and a Bluebonnet
Bowl victory over Tennessee 27-22. The "Carmel Connection" of
Herrmann-to-Burrell was the key to the offense despite the QB's penchant
for throwing interceptions, 19 in '79 and 56 total in his first three
seasons. Burrell pulled in forty passes and TE Dave Young another
fifty-five, ten of those resulting in touchdowns. The backfield rotation
of Wally Jones, John Macon, Mike Augustyniak, and Ben McCall were good
enough to hold off the play of Jimmy Smith, the most highly recruited RB
in the country who left school at mid-season. Center Pete Quinn and Long
Island's top high school tackle Henry Feil provided line protection.
Corner Bill Kay had seven INT's while DE Keena Turner was named to a
number of All America squads and then went to the Forty-Niners as their
number two choice, becoming a key linebacker on their Super Bowl teams
over an eleven year career.
