Check out our new sponsor for Knucklehead Central and 'BOILING OVER' JFQ Lending.
Contact Andrew Hogberg at 480-478-0257 or ahogberg@jfqlending.com or PM @TheMortReport
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.
So again, we appreciate everyone's cooperation very much.We know there are a lot of aggregator blogs out there, and a lot of you are on Twitter and other message boards. We don’t want to come off like Darth Vader (before he turned good at the end of "Return of the Jedi" of course) here, but we would be doing all our subscribers a disservice if weren’t proactive about protecting the value of their membership.
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
We're going to start off here with a note on a player who hasn't been offered yet by Purdue for its 2022 class, but we — we — think ought to be recruited as if he has been, a player we think Purdue should be taking a very close look at and maybe ultimately offering.
Keep an eye on Kebba Njie, the big man from LaLumiere and Fletcher Loyer's teammate on Indy Heat.
The 6-foot-9 center Is painfully under-recruited right now, because he played behind Vincent Iwuchukwu at LaLu this past year, he was pretty raw prior to prep school and the pandemic has jacked up everyone's evaluation process.
Soon as June opens, and coaches get to lay eyes on him, things will take off. When Rivals updates its rankings next, we'll advocate for him as a top-150, four-star guy.
Check out the video below from the past two weekends.
Njie has come a long away in a year, having become stronger and a little more comfortable in his body, it seems like, and someone's done a hell of a job coaching him as low-post player, because he's looked surprisingly polished in that area of his game this spring. The move to LaLumiere has obviously benefited him markedly. His effort has always been good.
He may make some sense, too, for Purdue, because he strikes me very much as a Purdue sort of person and personality. He may not be the caliber of recruit right now that a Will Shaver or Tarris Reed may be — at least in terms of rankings, offers, etc. — but he's also a player you wouldn't feel obligated to crowbar into big minutes right away If you already have Zach Edey and Caleb Furst, which Purdue will that year. Njie seems like the sort of guy you can bring along slow if need be, and then have him ready when you need him.
We know Purdue is looking closely at Njie and it has been at the forefront of recruiting him, along with some other Big Ten teams.
We don't think an offer is imminent, but will tell you that once Painter can see him in person this summer, don't be surprised if that changes, and if it does, don't be surprised if Purdue becomes a heavyweight in his recruitment. This seems like a perfect match, to be honest. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Purdue has worked the transfer portal hard this offseason as it looks to improve its roster, with defense being a huge emphasis.
Since the end of the 2020 season, Purdue has added five defensive players from the portal: Defensive lineman Joseph Anderson (South Carolina), defensive tackle Damarjhe Lewis (Indiana), linebacker OC Brothers (Auburn) and cornerbacks Jamari Brown (Kentucky) and C.J. McWilliams (Florida).
Anderson and Brothers were on campus for spring ball. They others are set to arrive no later than June.
We believe Purdue is still in the market for defensive help, looking to add at least one more lineman (an end, tackle or both) as well as a safety and you'll probably see some action on those fronts in coming weeks.
Purdue hasn’t been as active adding offensive players via the portal. The key addition so far has been guard Tyler Witt (Western Kentucky), who figures to start on the right side. But it’s known that Purdue is looking to add a running back.
Weeks ago, we mentioned Purdue has interest in Vanderbilt’s Keyon Henry-Brooks. That appears to still be the case, but Henry-Brooks has some academic work to tend to. Will he get it all done? Bottom line: He’s still a possibility, but the light could be dimming on Henry-Brooks coming to Purdue. That’s why we think Purdue is hedging its bet and looking at other running backs in the portal. In fact, the staff may have its eyes focused on another back. Stay tuned. (TD)
PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
One quick note here.
Purdue has booked quarterback commitment Brady Allen for his official visit right out of the gate, for the first weekend in June. That's a bit of a departure from past norms that generally had previously committed players visiting in December, right before the signing the date.
Obviously this is a bit of a different year, but there's probably also some strategy behind It.
That's the weekend that we expect Purdue to have wide receiver targets Zion Steptoe and we belive Dillon Bell on campus for their official visits
Never a bad thing to have your quarterback on campus the same weekend as your wide receiver targets. (BN)
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Next month, it sounds like Purdue basketball will be all in on hosting June official visits, for which there could be some strategy involved. Coaches generally want to consider a recruit's timeframe considerations when deciding whether to host the OV early or later, closer to a decision.
Purdue will probably host several officials in June, though. We'll try to pin down exact dates and whatnot as June draws closer, but here are four guys we expect to be among those who visit officially. There will be unofficials too.
There aren't really any indications Washington and his family are trying to decide any time soon, but Purdue seems Intent to get him on campus officially in June and that will happen.
He's going to get slammed with interest from coaches who can finally go watch him play and from coaches stepping on each other trying to get visits, but Purdue is the pace-setter here as of spring. That guarantees nothing long term, but the Boilermaker coaching staff has done the best job recruiting him, has the best relationship, has pushed his buttons academically and has a considerable proximity advantage over most of the field. Proximity might be a big deal.
That Purdue also has a good history with bigs — how you'd classify him sort of lies in the eye of the beholder — doesn't hurt either.
Braden Smith's commitment didn't close the books on Purdue recruiting guards. It'll keep after players who can provide some quickness, athleticism or dynamic scoring ability to try to make for a more complete backcourt mix.
Trimble is an absolute priority.
Where Purdue stands, we'll see, I guess, but it should be able to get him on campus next month.
The long-time target might be the best bet for a summer decision in Purdue's favor, but he has never seemed in any hurry on any part of the recruiting process.
Purdue needs both a big and a more dynamic guard and Heide really isn't either of those things — he's more a combo forward/wing type — but Purdue's going to see this one through to the end, we're quite certain.
Probably a Purdue-Minnesota deal. Arizona would have been in there, but a lot has changed there.
The newly offered big man is kind of new to Purdue's radar, a carried-over Paul Lusk target from Creighton, but one the Boilermakers should be a factor for.
We'll see where Purdue ultimately stands here, but It has long been slated to get a June visit from him, probably right at the start of the month after he plays at an Under Armour event in Westfield. Purdue recently did a Zoom meeting with him.
Purdue has two commitments and can sign as many as five players, which we'd expect them to try to do. One question we have Is how they perceive Washington. Is he a big man, and if he comes, does that mean they're out on other centers? Or would they take Washington and a center? That's a question we can't answer at this point. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL
Purdue officials are pleased with football season ticket sales, with nearly 1,500 new season tickets sold and renewals at a 90-percent rate. More definitive numbers will be available in a couple of weeks.
One of the most frequently asked questions is this: How can one get tickets for the Purdue-Northwestern game scheduled for Nov. 20 at Wrigley Field?
Remember, it's Northwestern’s home game, so the Wildcat athletic department controls the ticket distribution. So, JPC members will have limited access to tickets, but due to expected high demand a sale to the general public may be problematic. The price per ticket will be in the $110 range and it will likely be July before they go on sale.
When trying to allocate single-game tickets for road contests, Purdue is still trying to navigate through unknown seating capacity at road venues.
The Boilermakers also play at UConn (Sept. 11), Notre Dame (Sept. 18), Iowa (Oct. 16), Nebraska (Oct. 30) and Ohio State (Nov. 13).
