Purdue defensive end Ryan Kerrigan is scheduled to conduct a private workout next week with the Baltimore Ravens. The Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year is set to have dinner and meet with outside linebackers coach Ted Monachino.
Kerrigan has previously had a meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars and later this month, he’s set to visit the Buffalo Bills.
Kerrigan has been cross-training at defensive end and outside linebacker with NFL teams displaying interest in him at both positions. At his campus Pro Day workout Friday, Kerrigan did positional drills and stood on his workout numbers from the NFL scouting combine.
"I did both and it went pretty well overall," Kerrigan told Ravens24x7.com during a telephone interview.
"I’ve really been trying to improve at linebacker stuff and fine-tune the defensive line stuff. The more you can do, the more valuable you are.
"It went really well. We had a good turnout number of scouts there. Everyone ran really well. I wanted to take part because it was another opportunity to improve myself."
The Boilermaker had a dinner meeting Thursday night with Jacksonville Jaguars defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who ran the positional drills Friday at Purdue.
"Coach Cullen was great," Kerrigan said. "He directed me through my defensive line drills. He’s a really good guy and a really bright football mind. He’s a really good coach. I can tell that from the short amount of time I’ve been around him."
Kerrigan has drawn some comparisons to Jaguars defensive end Aaron Kampman because of his intense approach to football.
"I’ve gotten that a number of times," Kerrigan said. "It’s really quite an honor, a tremendous honor. A huge part of playing football, mainly the defensive line, is being relentless."
Kerrigan was a three-year starter for the Boilermakers, a team captain and an academic All-American selection.
Kerrigan recorded 70 tackles, 26 tackles for losses, 12 1/2 sacks and five forced fumbles.
"I was just really sure of myself every snap," Kerrigan said at the scouting combine.
"I had a good idea of what plays were coming and that came from watching a lot of game tape and I was able to take that to the field and have a good idea of what play was coming. That allowed me to be a little bit quicker at the start when the ball was snapped."
Kerrigan was named Most Valuable Player on defense and was named the first consensus All-American at Purdue in the past three decades. At the combine, Kerrigan ran the 40-yard dash in 4.67 seconds, posted a 33 1/2 inch vertical leap and bench pressed 225 pounds 31 times.
As a junior, the All-Big Ten Conference selection posted 66 tackles, 18 for losses and 13 sacks while leading Division I-A with seven forced fumbles.
"Our motto at Purdue was it’s not enough just to get the sack or get the tackle, but you wanted to force a fumble and get the ball back for your offense," Kerrigan said. "We really tried to do that every game."
He recorded 33 1/2 career sacks, second in Purdue history, set the Big Ten record with 14 forced fumbles and finished fifth in school history with 57 tackles for losses.
"The biggest thing is how you practice is how you play," Kerrigan said. "A lot of us on my team learned that last year. If you really practice hard, then that will transfer over to the game. We really did that throughout the season."
A 4-3 defensive end at Purdue, the 6-foot-3, 267-pounder could project to outside linebacker in 3-4 schemes at the next level.
"I played a 4-3 defensive end in college, so I don’t have too much experience with it," Kerrigan said. "But in my training for the combine I’ve been working on a lot of drops from a 3-4 linebacker standpoint and I feel I’ve made a lot of strides with that.
"When you’re a 4-3 defensive end you drop back in pass coverage occasionally, but not too often.
Whereas with a 3-4 linebacker you drop back quite a bit. I think that will be the biggest adjustment. Whatever a team wants, I’m willing to play."
