Purdue Football: 20 Year Countdown – #93 – Kawann Short
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Kawann Short
Bio
Career: 2008 – 2012
Position: Defensive Tackle
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Height: 6’3”
Weight: 310
Hometown: East Chicago, Indiana
High School: East Chicago Central
Career Stats
Games Played: 50
Games Started: 50
Tackles: 186
Tackles For Loss: 49
Sacks: 19.5
Notes
High School
- Recorded 85 tackles and 9 sacks as a senior
- Won a basketball state championship in 2007 with former Boilermaker great E’twaun Moore
- Purdue was his only FBS offer out of high school
Purdue
2008: Redshirt
2009
- Started all 12 games
- 48 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions
- Big-10 All-Freshman Team (Sporting News)
2010
- Started all 12 games
- 41 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 7 passes knocked down
- Second Team All-Big 10 (Media)
2011
- Started all 13 games
- 53 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks
- Second Team All-Big 10 (Media)
2012
- Started all 13 games
- 43 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, 7 sacks
- Second Team All-American (AP)
- All-Big First Team (Media)
Highlights
Hammer and Rails Staff Memories
Drew:
Kwann Short is the epitome of the Danny Hope era at Purdue. One of the toughest things to wrap my brain around is that, in terms of NFL players, Coach Hope landed some of the best players to line up for the Boilermakers.
Think about this: in 2010, Purdue went 4-8 with the following players on the roster, including two future Pro Bowl defensive linemen (Short and Kerrigan). All Purdue needed to do was put a competent offense on the field, but Coach Hope clearly invoked some sort of ancient injury curse when he accepted the head coaching job at career because he couldn’t recruit a quarterback to save his life, and whenever he found someone who looked like a competent option behind center, they were immediately injured. The 2010 Rob Henry, Robert Marve, and Sean Robinson pupu platter of quarterbacks was good for 13 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. A good running game could have salvaged at least 6 wins, but somehow Rob Henry led the team in rushing.
The 2011 team may have been even more frustrating because while Kerrigan was selected in the 1st round, Ricardo Allen, another future Pro Bowler, was holding down the secondary, and Raheem Mostert, yet another NFL Pro Bowler, was rotting on the bench despite being the fastest player in college football. A team that desperately needed help scoring points had the fastest player in the game on the roster and only found a way to get the ball in his hands 12 times.
Sorry, this is supposed to be about Short and not the futility of the Hope era, but it’s hard to separate the two. Coach Hope found elite players, but never quite figured out how to put together a complete roster. Beyond that, the quarterback position haunted him. For me, the Hope era is one of the bigger “what if” eras of Purdue football. The defense had some elite pieces like Short, but the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. The Boilermakers were a quarterback away from putting together something special, but it never happened.
Sometimes it be like that.