Out of curiosity and discussions of ‘fit’ and ‘style’ I went back over the Purdue forwards/bigs of the past 10 years and attempted to group them in like categories, based on physical abilities and stature. We are excluding guards and wings here.
Stretch forward- You know the type. The Robbie Hummel mold. Can handle the ball, shoot, do things that guards typically do but in a 6’7”+ frame.
Vincent Edwards
Trey Kaufman*
Athletic forward- Guys generally 6’8” and above who are relatively thin and can jump out of the gym. They possess other skills and abilities, but it is their natural athletic ability that presents the potential.
Jacob Lawson
Jacquil Taylor
Eden Ewing
Aaron Wheeler
Emmanuel Dowuona
Hulking forward- The ones who typically end up at center. Big strong frames, 6’9”+ 250+, with enough athleticism to cause matchup problems.
Caleb Swanigan
Trevion Williams
Caleb Furst*
The Scrapper- They don’t stand out for their size or athletic prowess and don’t possess the ball skills or quickness of a stretch forward.
Grady Eifert
Mason Gillis
Aircraft carrier- There is really only one position for these guys, the 7’+ club. They stand above the rest breathing the clear air at the top of the gym.
AJ Hammons
Isaac Haas
Matt Haarms
Zach Edey
What strikes me most is the success rate at Purdue of the players within each category. You might argue mis-categorization of one or two guys, and I may have missed one or two more, but there seems to be a fairly strong trend here.
Is an ‘athletic forward’ a bad fit for the system, is it a development issue, or is it just plain bad luck?
Is this enough of a trend to cause a shift in recruiting philosophy? Judging from the last couple recruiting classes, perhaps it already has.
Stretch forward- You know the type. The Robbie Hummel mold. Can handle the ball, shoot, do things that guards typically do but in a 6’7”+ frame.
Vincent Edwards
Trey Kaufman*
Athletic forward- Guys generally 6’8” and above who are relatively thin and can jump out of the gym. They possess other skills and abilities, but it is their natural athletic ability that presents the potential.
Jacob Lawson
Jacquil Taylor
Eden Ewing
Aaron Wheeler
Emmanuel Dowuona
Hulking forward- The ones who typically end up at center. Big strong frames, 6’9”+ 250+, with enough athleticism to cause matchup problems.
Caleb Swanigan
Trevion Williams
Caleb Furst*
The Scrapper- They don’t stand out for their size or athletic prowess and don’t possess the ball skills or quickness of a stretch forward.
Grady Eifert
Mason Gillis
Aircraft carrier- There is really only one position for these guys, the 7’+ club. They stand above the rest breathing the clear air at the top of the gym.
AJ Hammons
Isaac Haas
Matt Haarms
Zach Edey
What strikes me most is the success rate at Purdue of the players within each category. You might argue mis-categorization of one or two guys, and I may have missed one or two more, but there seems to be a fairly strong trend here.
Is an ‘athletic forward’ a bad fit for the system, is it a development issue, or is it just plain bad luck?
Is this enough of a trend to cause a shift in recruiting philosophy? Judging from the last couple recruiting classes, perhaps it already has.
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