Curtis Painter, 2009 NFL Draft Prospect
 | Quarterback 6' 4" 224 lbs. Senior Purdue  |
Meet one of the very best quarterbacks for the 2009 NFL Draft, Curtis Painter. What makes Painter special besides his size, accuracy and arm strength is his lightening quick release. Painter gets the ball out of his hand faster than any quarterback in college football this year. There is a lot more to playing quarterback than a quick release, but it sure gives you an advantage. Cornerbacks have more difficulty jumping your routes and pass rushers don’t have as much time to get to you, or to swat the ball out of your hand.
As a redshirt freshman in 2005, Painter was named honorable mention Freshman All-American and to the Big Ten All-Freshman team by The Sporting News. He played in nine games, with five starts. The gunslinger completed 89 of 170 passes for 932 yards with three touchdowns. Painter finished strong, he started the last five games of that year and led the Boilermakers to 3-2 record.
As a sophomore (2006) Painter set the Big Ten season passing record with 3,985 yards. Painter broke the record of a fellow Boilermaker, Drew Brees. Painter started all 14 games and completing 315 passes. He earned honorable mention All-Big Ten from the coaches, a USA Today College Football Player of the Week nomination, Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Last year as a junior (2007) Painter started out red hot. He came into the Minnesota game (Sept 22nd) leading the Big Ten in scoring offense and pass efficiency (68.6%) at nearly 50 points per game. Against Minnesota Painter racked up a total of 338 yards on the Gophers. Purdue started out undefeated at 4-0 and Painter, after four games, threw for 1,290 yards and 16 touchdowns. He tailed off a little bit later in the season, but he ended up starting all 13 games, and finished ranked 12th nationally in passing yards (295.8) and 18th in total offense (292.3).
He was second in Big Ten in both categories and tied for 21st nationally in points responsible for with average of 14.8 per game. Painter ranked fourth in the Big Ten with 132.3 passing efficiency and tied a Big Ten season record with 569 passing attempts (tying Drew Brees in 1998). His 356 completions rank second in Purdue's (single season) record book, his 29 passing touchdowns are third, his .626 completion percentage and 3,846 passing yards are fourth, his 3,826 yards of total offense are fifth and his 132.2 passing efficiency is ranked 11th. All these yards and completions with only 11 interceptions. Painter also has two 400-yard passing games and one 500-yard passing game.
The 2009 NFL draft will be very weak at quarterback and Painter could emerge as the top senior. Even if the top underclassmen quarterbacks (eligible sophomores) like Tim Tebow and Matt Stafford enter the draft early. I predict Painter will still be one of the top three quarterback prospects for the 2009 NFL Draft.