Welcome to this week's “BOILING OVER,” GoldandBlack.com’s weekly Ultimate Ticket information-clearinghouse and analysis column meant for our subscribers and our subscribers only.
We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in helping us keep what is sometimes delicate information confined to this message board.
We certainly don’t want it to come to this, but if there are problems, subscriptions have and will be canceled over this.
We know there are a lot of blogs out there and a lot of you are on Twitter and other message boards, and we don’t want to come off like King Zarkon here, but we would be doing all our subscribers a disservice if weren’t proactive about protecting the value of their subscription. Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Additionally, we address recruiting in-depth and often without filter in this feature and we do it behind a subscription-protected barrier for a reason, in hopes of avoiding situations where our reporting can impact the recruiting process, which can happen occasionally. So again, we appreciate everyone's cooperation very much.
Every year there's a guy who earns all sorts of praise from teammates in the summer. Not always is it backed up when things matter, but in Dakota Mathias' case, the correlation between health and his progression from last season until now would seem to legitimize what teammates are seeing.
"Dakota's looking really good, shooting the lights out the past couple weeks," P.J. Thompson said. "He's finally healthy so this is the Dakota I'm used to seeing from high school/AAU days."
Mathias underwent an operation in the spring to repair a sinus/nasal issue, a matter that is supposed to have been related to his bouts with mono and vertigo (as a symptom of something larger, presumably) last season.
That's all behind him now.
'It's night and day, just in my energy level and how I'm playing," Mathias said looking back to last summer. "I'm shooting like I expected myself to last year. ... Where I am right now, I just hope I can keep progressing and become the player people think I can be and the guy Coach Painter recruited."
Thompson is notably trimmer, a goal set for him by the coaching staff following the season and one he agreed he needed.
"I definitely wanted to slim down a bit and tone up. Freshman year, it's a grind and the season was long. I was tired at the end, picking up the ball full-court all year and trying to get minutes. Competing with a fifth-year senior and another good guard, it took a toll on my body a little bit."
"I sat down with everybody to figure out what my main emphasis would be going into my sophomore year. It was slimming down a bit and getting faster. I'm feeling a lot more confident because of it."
Thompson said that Purdue's coaches and sports performance coach Josh Bonhotal have "raved about how much faster I am."
Thompson on Caleb Swanigan, who he played AAU with: "The first day he was here, he grabbed me and we went to lunch. We grabbed some Chipotle together and just talked. He was asking me about how workouts were going, I asked him about Team USA and we just caught up. He was on my team today and our chemistry from a couple years ago is still there. I'm pretty excited he's here."
Seems from afar as if Swanigan is very much enjoying himself as a college athlete. Wouldn't expect otherwise, but for such a driven person for which basketball has truly been a 12-month deal for years now, that's a positive thing to see.
Isaac Haas on Jacquil Taylor: "He's an elite runner. He's going to be a lot like JaJuan Johnson in my opinion. I'm excited for him to be out there and to get to play with him."
Do want to reiterate that coaches love the effort Taylor gives but that is a double-edged sword when it comes to him putting a long-standing injury behind him. Great problem to have, though, because it makes the finished product when/if this is all behind him. much more attractive than the alternative.
Stay tuned starting tonight for some updates from the NY2LA Summer Jam in Milwaukee, or rather the Milwaukee area. The Good Land, for you Alice Cooper/Wayne's World fans.
Purdue had a coach in Meel-uh-WAH-kay last night to watch point guard Te'Jon Lucas, who could become a serious prospect for Purdue. Probably already is, but it's just that they've offered other guys first.
Also, we have reports that 2017 target Nojel Eastern is back in action, improbably, after fracturing two bones in his ankle in the spring at the Lexington EYBL. We will be all over that if he is in fact playing when we're there.
We are handling national duties for Rivals.com this weekend, but will make sure this board stays updated on things and we have content for GoldandBlack.com during and after the event.
Zach Norvell might not be in Milwaukee, because he's at the Lawson-Oladipo camp in D.C., but we'll get him at some point.
BASKETBALL Another guard Purdue is recruiting: Canada native Koby McEwen, ranked 106th nationally in 2016 by Rivals.com.
Matt Painter will have seen him at the Nike Global Challenge this week. He is playing for Canada.
Don't know if McEwen is an offer at this point and don't know if he's being recruited as a point or a combo, but Purdue is interested and we should have an update on him to come.
Purdue has also taken a look at 6-10 Maryland big man Tyjhai Byers, who has mostly mid-major interest to this point. Just another name in the big man mix. All they have done, really, is watched him. (BN)
Couple things …
• Not sure he is a front-burner player for Iowa, his other Big Ten offer.
• He is attracted to Purdue's restaurant and hotel management program
• He knows Dylan Powell and Powell is that guy in Purdue's class, seems like, who's trying to help in recruiting. Small factor, but worth mentioning nonetheless. (BN)
Franklin told us last week he may enroll at Purdue early.
Ohio's Caleb Stoneburner is the younger brother of former Ohio State wide receiver Jake Stoneburner, who played for Darrell Hazell as a Buckeye.
"He was he receivers coach at Ohio State when my brother was in high school so he recruited Jake," Caleb Stoneburner said. "We have a really close relationship. He loves seeing me and I love seeing him. I have known him for years and we just have a great relationship."
If Stoneburner - who has run this summer in the 4.5 range - turns out to be a high-Big Ten sort of prospect, and there's a good chance he does, Ohio State's picture at wide receiver might be too loaded for him to follow in his brother's footsteps, maybe opening a door for others.
"I would definitely consider Purdue if they offered," he said. "I got to tour the place (in June) and talk to all of the coaches and they were all very nice. I loved the campus, so yeah, that would definitely be a place that I would consider." (MG)
In the remaining six years on the contract, Purdue will get $2.1 million in base compensation and $10.2 million in its "supplied product limit" for merchandise. The latter number increases gradually every two years. It's $1.65 million for 2015-16 and $1.75 million in the final year of the contract in 2020-21. The base compensation doesn't change: It's $350,000 per year.
Michigan's deal is worth $12 million in upfront money, $76.8 million in additional cash over the course of the 15-year agreement and $80.2 million in apparel, according to the Detroit Free Press. That's an average of $11.3 million per year. The deal begins next August and would be worth $122.3 million if Michigan declines its option years (2027-2031), the paper said. (SC)
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.
Last edited:
