The Wide World of Dirt

Due to living in a market that clearly doesn’t care about my Miami Dolphins, I finally got to see them play on national television a few weeks back against the 49ers.

When I saw Jimmy G go down, I was upset. You never want to see a guy get injured, and there a good team that I’m neutral on. This crushes their Super Bowl chances.

As a football enjoyer, it was disheartening to see yet another strong NFC team lose a key member of their program.

Enter Brock Purdy.

Purdy took a few snaps before I started to figure out where in the hell I knew his name, and it all came rushing back like a bad memory.

That’s because it was!

I am an alumnus of West Virginia University, and I attended the school in the late 2010s when Dana Holgorsen’s high-powered offense was helmed by Will Grier.

Coming into the matchup against 2-3 Iowa State, the Mountaineers climbed their way up the polls after a 5-0 start, sitting at No. 6 nationally.

WVU were legitimate contending for a spot in the College Football Playoff, the first time the program had ever sniffed the Playoff since its inception.

Iowa State looked like even more of an easy game as they trotted out true freshman quarterback Brock Purdy.

Starting the year as the third-string QB, day 1 starter Kyle Kempt got hurt, and his backup Zeb Noland proved inadequate as his replacement.

Head coach Matt Campbell decided to make the switch to the freshman out of Gilbert in the middle of the Oklahoma State matchup.

Facing the No. 25 team in the nation, Purdy went 18/23 for over 300 yards while adding another 84 yards on the ground. In total, Purdy amassed a whooping five touchdowns in his impromptu debut, knocking off the Cowboys.

Back in Morgantown, the Mountaineers hadn’t faced much opposition, beating all but Texas Tech by more than two scores.

Seeing a potentially weak opponent in Iowa State, perhaps Holgorsen and the team looked past the Cyclones in pursuit of higher aspirations.

The swarming Iowa State defense got two straight stops to open up the game, but an interception from Purdy on Iowa State’s second drive put the vaunted Mountaineers offense in opposing territory.

Three straight running plays from Kennedy McKoy opened up the passing game for Grier, who threw a dart to senior receiver David Sills in the end zone for a touchdown.

Purdy rallied his troops and threw an equalizing 4-yard TD to Hakeem Butler before a WVU 3&out gave the ball right back to the Cyclones.

Purdy again took his team down the field, and right before the end of the quarter, current Chicago Bears runningback David Montgomery plunged into the end zone to give Iowa State a lead they wouldn’t give up.

Another stalled West Virginia drive setup Purdy for another drive where he found Charlie Kolar with a 19-yard strike to extend the Cyclone lead.

WVU’s only solace was a blocked field goal that the special teams returned for a 72-yard touchdown as the end of the first half approached.

The game stayed gridlocked at 20-14 for the entirety of the 3rd quarter as WVU’s defense adjusted to hold Purdy and the Cyclones in check.

Unfortunately, the Iowa State defense had the Mountaineers’ number all night, putting Heisman contender Grier on the ground seven (7) times.

Grier’s usual heroics were rendered useless, only slinging 15 passes all night, and while he completed 11 of them, he could only gain 100 passing yards in the contest.

Purdy took command of the game again in the fourth quarter, throwing a 32-yard touchdown to Deshaunte Jones with 12min left in the 4th quarter.

Playing from behind and looking to make something, anything happen, Grier took a sack on 2nd down before heaving the ball into Iowa State territory where a Cyclone came down with the pick.

The Mountaineers got the ball back with 7:22 to play in the 4th, but the game was already out of reach, with WVU’s last play resulting in a safety due to a holding penalty on 3rd and 24 from their own 5-yard line.

From there, Purdy and Montgomery played keep-away, combining for 228 yards on the ground on 40 carries, and Purdy’s electric arm stayed accurate, completing 18 of his 25 attempts for 254 yards and 3 TDs.

That night, I watched that whole game, expecting WVU to wake up and start beating the daylights out of ISU, and it never happened.

In my mind, it was all because we didn’t have enough film on this three-star recruit out of Gilbert, Arizona.

I knew Brock Purdy had some insane natural talent that night, and though I trailed off in my viewership of college football as my college days came to a close, I figured I’d hear more about him in Heisman discussion in his next few seasons.

Needless to say, that didn’t happen either.

It wasn’t like Purdy was bad by any stretch; quite the contrary. He was a gifted passer who got more accurate with every year he was in school, and he was fast and elusive enough to get out of the pocket and make something happen with his feet.

It must also be stated that Purdy did all of this in the Big 12, which is notorious for awful defense, so maybe pro scouts doubted his ability to get it done in the league.

(Granted, this didn’t stop them from praising Zach Wilson, but you know.)

Purdy’s final season in Aimes wasn’t as alluring as his junior campaign where he led the Cyclones to a Fiesta Bowl victory over Oregon.

He was more efficient than ever, improving his completion percentage by five points while throwing 40 more passes, but his other counting stats were pedestrian.

The 2022 NFL Draft saw Purdy fall and fall and fall all the way to the bitter end of third day. A solid, but not great college career plus mediocre measurables in the combine looked to send Purdy down to the undrafted ranks.

Fortunately, with the very last pick of the draft, the 49ers called his name.

Chosen 262nd overall in the 7th round of the 2022 NFL Draft, Purdy became the NFL’s newest Mr. Irrelevant, but few can say he’s far from relevant now.

Purdy gashed an aggressive Dolphins defense in Garoppolo’s stead, throwing for 210 yards and two touchdowns.

After first-year starter Trey Lance went down with a broken ankle early in the year, Garoppolo stepped up his game, making many wonder why they bypassed him.

With Garoppolo losing time to his new foot injury, it meant that Purdy would assume the starting QB role as the 49ers made a playoff push.

He made his first career start last week against the Buccaneers, and in tandem with the ferocious 49ers defense, Purdy shined, scoring three touchdowns on the day in a rout of the 2020 champs.

Just last night, Purdy took the field in a pivotal matchup against their NFC West rival, the Seahawks. Having not thrown all week due to rib and oblique injuries, the rookie went 17-26 for 217 yards and 2 TDs, leading the Niners to a 21-13 victory.

The win granted Purdy and the Niners their second NFC West crown in four seasons, and puts them in good position to clinch home-field advantage in the first two rounds of the postseason.

The sky is currently the limit for Purdy, and with a guaranteed postseason berth in-hand, head coach Kyle Shanahan will continue to develop more of a rhythm and chemistry with his young QB in the remaining regular season games.

A guy who was once seen as a first-round prospect fell down to Mr. Irrelevant, but as I saw on one October night in 2018, he’s now grabbing headlines.