A good quarterback has talent and has to be able to throw the ball with accuracy and velocity. The quarterback must be the hardest worker on the field because they is the team leader. He is in charge of making sure 10 other people succeed.
These are just some of the qualities that make a good quarterback, according to passing game coordinator and quarterback coach Casey Gillin, and some of the qualities that redshirt senior Jake Purichia has that make him a good quarterback.
“Jake is a coach’s son, that’s how he plays the game,” Gillin said. “He’s very knowledgeable about football. He studies the game…[He’s] one of our hardest workers we’ve ever had here in the weight room and on the field. His athletic ability, we were able to use on the field and him just knowing the game and growing up in a football family has made him very successful in high school and in college.”
In high school, Purichia played for Cardinal Ritter. He became Indiana’s all-time leader in career touchdown passes with 142 and is second in state history in career passing yards with 11,146 yards. He was also a runner-up for 2013 Indiana Mr. Football and received the Mr. Football positional award as the state’s top quarterback.
During his time at the University of Indianapolis, Purichia led the Greyhounds to two GLVC championships and the Division II play offs two years in a row.
Purichia has made the UIndy record books; he is second for passing touchdowns with 56, sixth for passing yards with 6,413 yards and sixth in completions with 448.
Purichia has also won several awards including GLVC Offensive Player of the Year and UIndy Offensive Back of the Year. Purichia said playing at UIndy has been a life changing experience.
“[I] got to play, obviously, with some of my best friends for four years, which is obviously awesome,” Purichia said. “I was able to be around great coaches, a great program in general, a lot of guys that care about you… and a school that cares about you as well. I mean, it was awesome. It was like I said, life changing. It was, you know, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But, I mean, obviously, it’s time to move on, but I hope I can have the same type of experiences over there.”
Purichia is signed to play in the German Football League with the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes for their 2019 season. The GFL is made up of a north and south division with a total of 16 teams.
The season is 14 games long and begins on May 11 for the Hurricanes against the Dresden Monarchs, according to their website www.baltic-hurricanes.de.
The regular season runs until mid-September and after that, Purichia said eight teams will move into the playoffs. Purichia said he is hoping to help turn the program around when he starts on the team.
“I think last year they went 4-9, so they didn’t have a great year,” Purichia said. “I want to obviously start and then turn that around and get them a winning record and, hopefully, maybe, a playoff appearance. But other than… the team’s success, obviously I want to do well… I guess the ultimate goal going over there is to obviously be on the team that [is a] successful team over there, that wins and has fun. But also, it’s kind of on a personal level. I’m going over there [and] maybe getting more exposure and stuff like that.”
Early this year, Purichia made a profile on europlayers.com, which he described as a version of Facebook or LinkedIn for playing in Europe. Players can include photos, video highlights and statistics on their profile to send it to coaches, teams or agents to be recruited or wait for their profile to be found. This was how Purichia was recruited.
The GFL season ends in October, meaning Purichia’s contract ends at that time. Purichia said he is hoping his time with the Hurricanes will get his name out there to give him an opportunity to continuing playing football for as long as he can.
“The way I’m looking at it, right now is I just want to keep playing, so I know I’m going to keep doing it this way,” Purichia said. “I love to do this, I’m going to keep doing it. I’m not in a huge hurry to start working, to get out there. So, I’m going to do this as long as possible… but you know, as long as my body can do it, as long as I’m loving doing it.”
According to Purichia, there are only allowed to be four Americans on the team, so he will not only be living in a new country, but working and playing with people from around the world.
He said he is looking forward to going over to Germany and meeting new people and experiencing a different culture and lifestyle.
Gillian said he is excited for Purichia to have this opportunity and appreciates what he has done for UIndy football.
“I thought, ‘he’s going to be successful’ and I thought ‘he’s going to have the time of his life over in Germany,’” Gillian said. “It’s an experience that is going to be a positive experience for him. It’s going to be a different culture for him, which I think [will have him grow] as a person [which] is going to be great. And I thought that whoever’s going to be coaching [Purichia] is going to be sitting there with a good player.”
