By Anne McLaren
Staff Writer

Backup quarterback David Edgerton is experimenting with a new position in spring football practice.

Edgerton, a senior, has been the No. 2 quarterback behind starter Drew Brees for the past two years. But with several new athletes vying for backup quarterback positions, Edgerton has been practicing with the wide receivers this spring.

"It’s one of those things when you try to let the young guys get some experience at quarterback," said Edgerton. "At first I watched from the side, but I went and talked to the coaches and they talked about possibly moving me to receiver through the spring. It’s not necessarily a set thing yet, because we have to see how the backup issue pans out after spring."

Purdue coach Joe Tiller said the move is twofold.

"One, we just want to look at it," said Tiller. "Two, Edge has got a lot of reps at quarterback. And we’re down at receiver, number—wise. And he can certainly help us in the spring."

During his two years at Purdue, Edgerton has appeared in 10 games and thrown for 251 yards and four touchdowns. Before coming to Purdue, he spent one year at Garden City Community College, where he threw for 1,936 yards and 24 touchdowns.

"I’ve played quarterback since third grade — that’s all I have played," he said. "I haven’t played any other position. (Playing wide receiver) took some getting used to at first, but I’m getting the hang of it a little bit."

Tiller said that because Edgerton is a good athlete, the coaching staff feels it may be able to move him to other positions.

"We experimented with him last fall a little bit with playing in the secondary, and we felt like that was too big of a change for him," said Tiller. "Whereas at least now, him going from quarterback position to receiver position, quarterback has to know all the routes the receivers are going to run. So when he steps in there to run a route, he can fall right in place. So that’s kind of a little more natural move for us than trying to jump him from one side of the ball to another."

Edgerton said it is helpful to already know the routes. But he said he is struggling with his technique as a receiver.

"Getting off defenders is the one thing I struggle with most," said Edgerton. "It’s a lot different than just dropping back and throwing the ball. You’ve got to run off defenders and get off them and stuff like that.

"The footwork for a quarterback is totally different than it is for a receiver," he said. "That’s probably the one thing I’m working on the most."

Though Edgerton is now practicing with the receivers, he said he’s: "not sure how it’s going to pan out after the spring practice."

"I might be back at No. 2 (quarterback) after the spring. So I don’t know," he said. "Who’s to say what will happen till the spring’s over with?"

If the choice of position at the end of the spring is up to him, Edgerton said he knows what he will choose.

"I miss playing quarterback; I like playing quarterback," he said. "But also I’m competitive — I want to be on the field. If I had to choose, definitely it would be quarterback. But it’s kind of a tough situation to be in right now."