Purdue's Will Heldt 'built like a grown man; looking forward to him playing like one'

WEST LAFAYETTE — In an attempt to find Purdue's next elite pass rusher, Joe Dineen scoured the transfer portal.

Dineen, who coaches Purdue's rush ends, has a foot in the door with pretty much anyone in the transfer portal.

You can do that when your first year at a program comes with the results of Nic Scourton and Kydran Jenkins, two of the Big Ten's top three in sacks last season.

When Scourton transferred to Texas A&M and the Boilermakers decided Jenkins was a better fit at inside linebacker, Purdue was in the market to add pass rushers and did so in transfers CJ Madden, Shitta Sillah and Jireh Ojata.

More: Purdue football transfer portal tracker: See who is coming and going on the Boiler roster

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But Purdue also had a contingency plan.

And Will Heldt is ready.

"Will has kind of taken over as the leader," Dineen said. "He's young, but he knows it. He's really smart. He's the type of kid that you can just say hey we've got to do this and it's done."

At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, Heldt has the look of a future NFL draft prospect.

"He's built like a grown man," Purdue head coach Ryan Walters said. "He's still only about 19, but he looks like an adult. I am looking forward to him playing like one this fall."

The Carmel native is showing the game to match.

On Saturday, Heldt had a 23-yard interception return for a touchdown in Purdue's spring game. After being an early enrollee out of high school last spring, Heldt parlayed that into playing time as a true freshman and made 12 tackles.

"Coming in early, that's been a big thing for me, being able to develop with coach Ro (strength coach Kiero Small) in the weight room, get a better feel for the scheme last year and really just take over," Heldt said.

Now, Heldt is primed to be one of Purdue's breakout stars.

All while playing a position in a system that will let Heldt run wild after quarterbacks.

"Where he's made the biggest jump this year is he's become more of a playmaker," Dineen said. "He's learned he can kind of take more risks, where he can be more impactful on the field. He's primed to really have a breakout season."

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue football defensive end Will Heldt to take larger role