Injury-plagued senior not sure yet about applying for sixth year of eligibility
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/20/2009
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Though he has had an outstanding senior season, one Purdue linebacker may be doing it all again next year.
Jason Werner is enjoying the first entirely healthy season of his Boilermaker career and would seem like a good candidate to apply for a sixth year of eligibility. This season, Purdue benefited from an NCAA decision that allowed safety Torri Williams to come back for a sixth season after a similarly injury-plagued career. Though he is an eligible candidate, Werner insists the decision of whether or not to apply has not been made.
“I haven’t made the decision,” Werner said. “I’ve looked into it though. I’m going to take some time and see what my options are, see how the whole process goes. In the next two weeks I should know more after exploring my options.”
The return of Werner would certainly be big for the Purdue linebacking corps, which would also return starting sophomores Joe Holland and Chris Carlino, as well as consistent contributor freshman Dwayne Beckford. Werner leads the Boilers in tackles with 72 total stops, and only sophomore defensive end Ryan Kerrigan tops Werner’s 14.5 tackles for loss. His sure tackling has also been a boost to a young unit that has struggled with tackling at times.
Werner’s inability to shake a nagging back injury over the past few seasons caused many to doubt the former Indiana Mr. Football and give up on his vast potential. Even Werner himself admits it was a rough period in his life.
“It was a tough time because I came out of high school thinking I could play,” Werner said. “Then something like an injury, which you have no control over, takes you off the field. It’s extremely disappointing, but you try to turn a negative into a positive and just get out there and contribute and try to enjoy all the time you have left.”
For his part, head coach Danny Hope would relish the chance to get his leading tackler back, saying Purdue would not hesitate to bring him back should the NCAA allow it.
“I would love to have Jason Werner back,” Hope said. “He’s a heck of a football player. He’s made our team a heck of a lot better in 2009, and he certainly would in 2010, that’s for sure. We’ll see how that goes; that would be his decision, but if he wants to do that, we’d love to have him back.”