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Welcome to this week's “BOILING OVER,” GoldandBlack.com’s weekly information-clearinghouse and analysis column meant for our site members and site members only. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in helping us keep what is sometimes delicate or proprietary information confined to this message board. This feature allows us to be more flexible in our reporting, to our readers' benefit, and we lose that ability if we can't keep this feature secure and the value of our site's membership at its peak. Additionally, we address recruiting and hiring processes 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.
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PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Following the less-than-ideal loss of transfer Marcus Cushnie, who Purdue was going to count on this season, by every account, the Boilermaker coaching staff's options to replace the pass-rusher are obviously limited, it being mid-July and all, with the portal now closed to new entries.
But the Boilermaker coaching staff will push for Virginia Tech transfer Alec Bryant, a former Rivals.com four-star prospect from Texas. He was a redshirt freshman this season. Mark Hagen coached his older brother at Indiana.
A source with intimate knowledge, shall we say, of Bryant's recruitment told us, "Purdue might be the landing spot."
Bryant is currently looking at no one else, basically, and with training camp just a few weeks away, a decision is probably going to have to come soon.
So that all adds up to a pretty favorable picture for Purdue.
It's been an eventful transfer cycle, of course, for Purdue, which has landed a slew of them, but also seen some come and go. Cushnie's 11th-hour defection to Florida State was most unwelcome news. He was already written into the Boilermakers' depth chart essentially. Purdue clearly feels some urgency to find pass-rushing help to play opposite George Karlaftis, and Cushnie's comments to Florida State media after committing suggested there being eligibility concerns for a key player at Purdue. That would be DaMarcus Mitchell's position.
But C.J. McWilliams' loss to a career-ending eye injury was also a blow, as new defensive assistant Ron English's familiarity with him from Florida was likely to contribute to him playing a variety of roles for the Boilermaker secondary this season. Purdue was not able to replace him.
PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
The big fish Purdue is waiting on now for however many scholarships it has left to use this summer — it's not very many, we wouldn't think — is of course four-star Brebeuf defensive lineman Joe Strickland, who has narrowed his list to Purdue, Indiana and Stanford. That represented the elimination of Penn State as an option, taking out of contention the biggest brand on the board, which never hurts.
Indiana shouldn't be taken lightly here, and Stanford is obviously Stanford from an academic perspective, but Purdue has a great chance here, we think.
It's not as much the fact that he has family connections to Purdue and grew up sort of rooting for Purdue, but more so the opportunity that Purdue has presented, mirroring what's happened for George Karlaftis, who's on pace to maybe be a first-round NFL pick after just three years in college. Karlaftis has been an active participant in Strickland's recruitment while sort of rekindling the Boilermaker program's history with outstanding defensive ends and pass-rushers.
Mark Hagen's familiarity with Strickland hasn't hurt, but his efforts in recruiting have definitely been a big deal. We're not sure where Purdue stood with Strickland heading into the June visit season, but since then, we think Purdue has come a really long way.
It remains to be seen where he ends up, though. Our money would be on Purdue at this point, but not at overwhelming odds. We always thought Penn State was the biggest threat here, and obviously that didn't pan out. (BN)
PURDUE BASKETBALL
Got to watch two of Purdue's practices this week. (Jaden Ivey and Caleb Furst weren't there, nor was Matt Painter, and Isaiah Thompson was out, so it wasn't a full-team sort of thing, and just skillwork).
But a couple of observations.
• I have gotten the sense that Purdue is a bit wary of its shooting coming out of last season and maybe as a means to the end of making strides there, they've been doing a competitive shooting drill, the details of which I kind of spaced out on.
We can tell you while Purdue's not going to be asking Zach Edey to shoot threes this season, he has looked quite capable. He has really nice and effortless form, good rotation and arc on his shot. He is of course a very good foul shooter for being the size of the Statue of Liberty and all, and that shooting touch seems to translate to deeper areas.
• Maybe it's because I haven't been within 500 feet of the guy in a year-and-a-half, but Trevion Williams looks to be in pretty good shape. Lean and nimble and all that, but still a solid 260 pounds or so.
• Mason Gillis seems to be playing well. On an aside, we'd expect Purdue to be without him for a considerable number of games to open the season.
• Ethan Morton on what position he's playing: "It's hard to tell. I think Paint still sees me offensively as a point guard, but there's a lot of cross-matching we can do and we're so far away (from the season), I don't want to elaborate too much. But I think if there are situations where the other team is jamming and It's me and (Isaiah Thompson) In the game, we probably have him bring it up. But if it's more of a halfcourt point guard, then I can. But really anything. I got taste of all the guard spots and even a little of the 4 last year."
That's where Morton's bout with mono really denied him an opportunity. Purdue was planning on using him at the 4 spot in four-guard lineups, and just as they began working on that in preseason practice — keep in mind, there were no team practices In the summer — Morton fell ill.
A year ago around this time one of the coaches told us that Morton wasn't going start games at the 4, but he might finish them there. Obviously that never had a chance to materialize.
"I know it's redundant me saying this, but wherever I fit in," Morton said of his potential role this season. "Wherever I can help, and the coaches are going to know that. I believe in them. That's why I came here. They're going to put me in the best positions."
We'll have a story on Morton next week, but here's video of a portion of our chat.
• Brian Waddell has impressed coaches and onlookers and whatnot and from the little we've seen it computes. Seems like a guy who knows how to pass, knows how to cut, knows how to play without the ball, exciting stuff like that. And though he needs considerable mass and strength, his height, length and athleticism look like they belong on a Big Ten practice floor. Purdue projects him as a 3 at the moment.
• Before you ask eventually, Morton said he has not given any thought yet to whether he'd use his COVID year, which would essentially make him a redshirt freshman now. He said he'll figure it out whenever Painter needs an answer. That's a long way off.
• Here's a quick video of a portion of our interview with Brandon Newman, too. Story to come.
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
It's the second July evaluation period this weekend.
Much of Purdue time and energy will be spent in Augusta, where the EYBL season is being played right now, and the Peach Jam next weekend.
Fletcher Loyer and targets Tarris Reed and Kebba Njie are among those Purdue will be courtside for down there.
But Purdue will undoubtedly also hit events in Omaha (Camden Heide), Dallas (Braden Smith), Louisville (Xavier Booker and Owen Freeman) and Sandusky, Ohio (Myles Colvin).
Note: I'll be in Sandusky to cover Colvin's first three games up there and of course ride the rides. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
A couple guys Purdue's waiting on ...
• We're surprised nothing has happened yet with West Side's Mariere Omonode and It's probably reasonable to suggest that the longer it goes, the less likely it may be. Omonode doesn't technically have a clearly articulated offer, but we believe strongly he can come to Purdue on traditional scholarship should he say the word. He hasn't yet.
Meanwhile, he has visited App State and Arkansas State, and we know Butch Jones at the latter has really struck a chord with him. Maybe he'd opt to go somewhere he'd be a bit of a bigger deal or he feels he's more of a priority, even though Purdue has recruited him very seriously.
• Louisiana corner Lorenzell Dubose is one of the headliners Purdue's waiting on. He's been unresponsive to us, but folks who cover Oklahoma don't believe he's a priority for the Sooners and thus unlikely to wind up there.
Not sure If Oklahoma has been Purdue's main competition there or not, but it wasn't certainly Dubose's biggest-name offer all along. Purdue has some momentum going In Louisiana and maybe that helps them get over the hump on the four-star DB.
The secondary is a big part of what Purdue is waiting on now.
• We would not anticipate Purdue being the pick for Fort Wayne area offensive lineman Landen Livingston, who officially visited to start June and had long been a prime in-state target. Purdue has four offensive linemen committed already.
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