By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

Heading into spring practice, Purdue coach Joe Tiller liked the fact that he had only two players — linebacker Jason Loerzel and defensive end Warren "Ike" Moore — who are unable to play due to injury.

Then several days before practice started, offensive lineman Joe Webster broke a bone in is foot — a bone that had been broken and healed once already. Webster is expected to miss all of spring practice.

On Friday, the first day of practice in full pads, linebacker Craig Terrill went down with a shoulder injury.

"Hopefully he'll be back before the end of spring ball," said Tiller.

Offensive lineman Rob Turner missed Saturday's practice with a minor foot injury and should be back today.

Tight end Nick Mangosing was not at practice Friday or Saturday because he was, according to Tiller, attending the funeral of his aunt. He is expected back this week.

Although the spring is supposed to be a time for working out in warm weather, this season has been rather frigid.

The high temperature Saturday was 43. Tiller, however, said he likes the cold.

"I told the guys I hope it snows because I think that there are things in the game you can't control," said Tiller.

Tiller said the weather, the surface and the stadium are among the most uncontrollable factors. He said he doesn't want a repeat of last year, when Purdue lost 38-12 to Michigan on a rainy day in Ann Arbor, Mich. He said the Boilers lost that game in part because of a lack of concentration.

"We got distracted by a lot of things that were irrelevant to the game," said Tiller.

The cold weather produced a negative effect though — fumbles.

Several players had trouble holding onto the ball while being tackled, and Tiller said the most noticeable fumbles came from running back Montrell Lowe.

"The first time he put it on the ground was just lack of concentration," said Tiller.

On another play, someone stepped on Lowe's hand, which, according to Tiller, made Lowe fumble once again. After the play, Lowe's hand swelled, which caused him to miss the rest of the scrimmage.

Blocked kicks and missed field goals were prevalent during the scrimmage, but Tiller sounded optimistic.

"I'm not concerned at all because we've spent so little time on it," said Tiller. "As the spring goes on and we continue to put emphasis on it then we're going to become more critical."

Tiller said the main cause of the shoddiness is the abundance of new personnel. The Boilers have a new long snapper, a new placeholder and a new punter.

"All that throws your timing off," said Tiller. "I just told the coaches I'm not gonna worry about the kicking game (right now)."

Despite all of the injuries, fumbles and poor kicking during the weekend, Tiller said he was pleased with the team's attitude.

"Our enthusiasm (Friday) was good and it carried over to (Saturday)," said Tiller.

Tiller liked the high energy level. He was most impressed with the intensity of the Boilermaker defense, even at the end of practice when the Purdue offense attempted to work on scoring from the red zone — the area 20 yards from the end zone and in. During the red zone drill, the Boilers never got in the end zone and Tiller thought that was good for the defense.

"Football's an emotional game, but I think even more so defensively than offensively," said Tiller. "I think if our defense can sustain that, that's gonna help them."