NU happy Purify didn't get chance with Trojans
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
If things had worked according to the original plan, Maurice Purify would be entering the Nebraska-USC game playing with Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, and the rest of the Trojans’ talented wide receivers.
Like USC really needs another 6-foot-4 target, anyway.
Things didn’t work out, and Purify, a junior college transfer from Eureka, Calif., is now making his name known in Nebraska’s receiving corps.
Next Saturday night, he hopes to show USC what it missed.
Purify had originally planned on going to USC out of high school, but “things happened,” he said, and he ended up at San Francisco City College. Only the Trojans didn’t offer him a scholarship out of junior college.
So he’s at Nebraska.
“There’s no bad blood,” Purify said. “I just want to go out there and compete. I want to show them they should’ve offered me.”
Purify hasn’t been used much in two games with the Huskers, but the few times he’s been on the field, he’s been hard to miss.
In Saturday’s 56-7 victory against Nicholls State at Memorial Stadium, Purify caught two passes, including one for a 42-yard touchdown, from quarterback Zac Taylor.
“After this game, I think he’s going to be keeping defenses on their toes,” Taylor said of Purify. “He’s a big-bodied guy, and he can go up and get it. He’s tough to bring down. He’s a threat to break a tackle and go the distance.”
Purify almost did exactly that on his first catch, a 19-yard grab on the second play of the third quarter.
“I thought I was going to break it for a touchdown,” he said, “but I got wrapped up.”
Purify took care of business, though, on his touchdown, when he beat cornerback Jamaal Simmons down the sideline.
“He was playing off, and Coach (Ted) Gilmore reminded me right when I was lined up to run him down at first before I faded out,” Purify said. “So I was just thinking, ‘Run him down, run him down, run him down,’ then faded out.
“The ball was a little short, but the ball was high enough out of reach that I could make a play on it and catch the ball.”
Reports from fall camp indicated that Purify, who’s 6-4 and 210 pounds, was an impressive hlete who would be an immediate difference-maker in coach Bill Callahan’s version of the West Coast offense. A physical receiver who could beat press coverage, and somebody with enough speed who could be a viable threat vertically.
Coaches, though, have been cautious, not wanting to overload Purify and possibly impede his progress.
“I learned from a year ago doing it to Frantz Hardy, and it wasn’t fair to the kid,” said Gilmore, the Huskers’ wide receivers coach. “We can control that from the sideline and the personnel, the way we call the plays. I want the kid to come out of each ball game with confidence, as opposed to not having confidence.
“He’s getting there. He’s come a long ways. We’ve increased his package a little bit this week, slowly putting more on his plate. He’s demonstrating he can handle it, which is a good thing. We’re a better team when he’s out there.”
Does that mean we can expect to see considerably more from Purify next week in Los Angeles?
“I think I can show a little bit more,” Purify said. “You’re going to see more here this week, hopefully.
“That’s what the coaches say. Coach Gilmore keeps on telling me that’s going to be my breakout game. That’s where I’m really going to be able to show off my stuff, at home.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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