Interviews: Coach Crabtree | Boaz Stanley | Nuku Mafi
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Following a day off on Thursday, the Purdue football team opened Friday morning with a short practice in Ross-Ade Stadium. The Boilermakers will hold a closed scrimmage in the stadium Saturday night with Big Ten Network on-site to film its Football Training Camp show that will debut Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.
The offensive line had its day in front of the media after practice. Coach Zach Crabtree enters his first season leading the trenches after coaching at Fresno State, USC and Baylor. New Boilers Boaz Stanley and Nuku Mafi stopped by for the media scrum.
Joey Tanona is the lone returner who started 12 games on the line last year, while Ethan Trent made six starts and Jude McCoskey saw action in 11 contests in 2025.
The Boilermakers brought in five transfers, including Boaz Stanley (21 career starts at South Carolina and Troy), Nuku Mafi (12 career starts at Oklahoma State) and Micah Banuelos (5 starts at USC), in addition to a group of talented freshmen. With 18 linemen in the room, Crabtree believes the depth will benefit the strength of the line.
“If I got depth, which we're getting there, you got a chance to take some reps off guys and rotate,” Crabtree said. “We love the opportunity to do that, especially early in the season, because in this position, you're going to always need somebody else at some point in the season to step up. Game reps are invaluable. When you got guys that can take them, you try to get guys in there as long as there's no drop off from those five.”
One of the leaders Crabtree has turned to is center Boaz Stanley. After time at Georgia Military College, Troy and South Carolina, the senior has been a sounding board for young linemen in the room.
“No question he's a very mature kid. Not really a kid, he's a man. He takes that approach to things, and when you coach him on something, you can approach it a little different than you can with some other guys, how you go about getting the best out of them. He's been really good for the room for some young guys around him. You think of a young guy like Brock Brownfield next to him or talking to Rico Shriber. You talk about very different points in life. He's been really good for those guys for the big picture of things.”
Since his arrival on campus in January, Stanley has seen the strides the offensive line has taken, which he credits to their intetion to avoid complacency.
“I think it's come a lot,” Stanley said. “We've gotten a lot just our unison as a unit. Just coming together and being able to play together has come very far from spring, even just from the beginning of fall camp. I mean we're not where we want to be and we have the intention every day we got to continue to bring it and continue to get better.”
For Mafi, the growth of the offensive line is an example of how the whole roster has bought into the culture of the program, as both sides of the ball push each other to find the next level.
“I would say that we have a lot more energy,” Mafi said. “A lot of guys are all committed. We're all trying to push each other every day. There's a lot of growth. There's definitely a huge jump since fall. The team has definitely gotten closer. We definitely push each other a lot. I'm really confident about where this team is heading.”