Purdue Finishes 10th Practice of Fall Camp

August 12, 2025

Interviews: Coach Clark | Tony Grimes | Crew Wakley

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue Football completed its 10th practice of fall camp on Tuesday morning (Aug. 12).

Purdue's most experiences position group is the defensive backs room that features eight seniors added through the transfer portal. Defensive backs coach Charles Clark joined head coach Barry Odom's staff after he spent five seasons at Memphis and brought three defensive backs, two that are seniors, with him from Memphis. In total, the Boilermakers added 11 transfers at defensive back this offseason.

“The one thing you can’t practice is experience,” said Clark. “Those guys have a lot of experience. I love it because it allows us to do a multitude of things.”

Crew Wakley is the oldest member of the backend and appeared in 27 games with 16 starts at BYU. He is one of nine defensive backs with at least 27 career games played on Purdue's roster.

“That’s the good thing that comes with experience is that people understand what game day is like,” said Wakley. “That’s been the vibe of it all, that urgency of knowing what’s at stake.”

Tony Grimes, one of the most experienced newcomers having played in 50 career games, praises the competative nature of the 24 players in the defensive backs room.

“I see a lot of competitors, a lot of dogs and a lot of people that are willing to work,” said Grimes. “As camp keeps going, we’re going to keep getting better and keep coming along. This right here is going to be a great secondary.”

Purdue is set to return to the practice field on Wednesday morning (Aug. 13).

“I love the fact that it’s true competition day in and day out. You don’t have clear-cut starters right now, it’s actually true competition.”

- Defensive Backs Coach Charles Clark on the Positional Depth

Experience is Key

Purdue's secondary is set to feature experienced transfer additions in the 2025 season. The defensive backs room of 24 players consists of eight seniors and four juniors and has eight players with at least 27 games played at the FBS level.

Tony Grimes leads all 2025 Boilers in collegiate games played (50) and starts (40) and is one of six players on the team with at least 40 appearances. Grimes played 37 games at North Carolina from 2020-23 and played 13 games last season at UNLV.

An'Darius Coffey brings five years of experience from Memphis where he appeared in 45 games. Tahj Ra-El appeared in 40 games between Memphis and Old Dominion to round out defensive backs with at least 40 games played.

The Boilermakers will look to take advantage of their experience on the backend when the season begins in just 18 days.