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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 BASKETBALL RECRUITING
Purdue's still waiting on Nijel Pack and obviously the longer this goes the more reason Purdue has to squirm here.
The trouble with these transfer cycles is when you target one guy, you can't expect others to wait on you, and while Pack has deliberated, Purdue's other option, Jaelin Llewellyn, committed to Clemson.
Pack's visited Miami and will go to Ohio State and reportedly Tennessee.
By every account his Purdue visit was excellent and the mutual fit seems ideal for both sides. It makes so much sense, but how much sense matters anymore, that's what this will be a test case for.
When you look at the other three schools in play here — and keep in mind that Pack whacked national powers Arizona and Gonzaga surprisingly quickly — there is a common thread, and that's that Miami, Ohio State and Tennessee are all certain to be Name-Image-Likeness powerhouses.
Every account we've gotten here suggests Purdue can be competitive in this new marketplace. How competitive, maybe we'll find out here, I don't know.
We do want to make this clear, though: Purdue's still in a great spot from a basketball perspective with Pack and would still be the school we'd bet on if we had to bet. Thank god we don't. But it would be naive to not take into account the new recruiting landscape here. Our understanding is that Pack and his family's circumstances are comfortable, so there's no huge need for money, but turning down easy and legal money generally takes some mettle.
Where Purdue would go should Pack go by the wayside, we do not know. The pickings are getting thin out there, at least for difference-makers.
One interesting possibility would be Eric Hunter, who's obviously expressed some interest in returning to the college game for another year should he not find a professional opportunity. (By the way, if you think it's odd that seniors are 'declaring' for the NBA, we think that the NBA actually requires that right now due to the fluidity of eligibility.)
We have no idea what would happen If Purdue got Pack and Hunter said he wanted to come back, too. The absolute last thing Matt Painter's going to do is recruit Nijel Pack to a specific role and specific place on a team, at a certain position, then sucker-punch him by bringing back a senior starter right on top of him after he commits. Would be interesting, but that's a long way off.
That's what we've got.
Stay tuned. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
So, tomorrow morning, Carmel's Winston Berglund makes his college announcement and there's not much suspense in where he'll be headed.
Should Purdue land him — and that's clearly what'll happen — then the Boilermakers will have fought off offers from Michigan, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Indiana, Vandy, etc., for the linebacker/safety. His family connections to Purdue and long-standing relationship with assistant coach David Elson will have paid off there big-time.
Berglund would be Purdue's second 2022 commitment, joining QB Rickie Collins, though Purdue may still have a fight on its hands there, and first in-state commitment.
Our guess at this point is Purdue's going to make some noise in Indiana this year.
A look at some of the prime possibilities at this stage.
Obviously the connections run deep here, to the point where Purdue probably ought to be considered the favorite, though Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana have also offered.
Purdue's sway with wide receivers and obvious association to David Bell would seem to play right into Walker's recruitment. Have to get him on campus, which hasn't happened yet this spring to our knowledge.
Mickens is becoming a national recruit, so this one won't be easy, but Purdue's very much on his radar, it would seem.
Maybe the highest-recruited kid in the state based off early offers, same dynamics as Mickens probably apply here.
Berglund's teammate, Heldt seems like a real possibility for Purdue.
Another player with a ton of offers, Burgess has visited a bunch of times now.
Not aware of any other looming commitments prior to the June visit and camp seasons, but it's always possible this time of year.
Also, 2024 Q Danny O'Neil is still running around with an offer and quarterbacks very often commit really early, so ...
(BN)
PURDUE BASKETBALL
It does not appear as if Zach Edey is even going to declare for the draft in hopes of going through at least a workout or two.
There's no real reason to think Edey would be a first-round candidate at this point and no guarantee he'd be drafted at all. The question then becomes whether a player would rather develop at the pro or semipro level or in college.
He's surely received his free evaluation from the NBA, and almost certainly, if he was going to declare, he'd have done so by now, right? (BN)
• We do expect Caleb Furst to undergo surgery on his foot this spring and be sidelined for a while.
With Brian Waddell recovering from his ACL injury and Braden Smith expected to be out 'til around the start of July, Purdue's going to have a skeleton crew this spring and into the summer.
• I was hoping to get a hold of Painter before writing this story on signee William Berg, but in the meantime, if you missed our Interview with him, watch it here. It's worth your time, I think, but I'm biased.
