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One of Purdue's best bets for a springtime commitment, remarkably, might be top-40 overall prospect Rashawn Williams, who the goliaths of the recruiting world might have just enough modest questions about to create opportunity for others, and Purdue and Indiana seem to be positioned well for a player who wants to decide as early as this month.
Between Purdue and IU, the Boilermakers should have some advantages, not the least of which is their reputation these days with wide receivers, but also the presence of Marvin Grant, a classmate right now of Williams at Martin Luther King in Detroit and his former teammate. Grant has been helping Purdue, and Jalen Graham has been helping Purdue across the board with Detroit recruits, some of which met with him during the program's junior day last weekend. Purdue prioritizes its current players meeting with recruits during visits, and that's something that's gone over well.
Also, Purdue has moved wide receivers JaMarcus Shephard into Detroit — a territory previously held down by the departed Derrick Jackson — and it always helps when the lead recruiter and prospective position coach are the same guy, especially when they're as impactful a recruiter as Shephard.
But in addition to Williams, keep an eye out for Devell Washington, also from the Detroit area.
Judging by how Purdue has recruited this class, it's obvious it wants at least one really big wide receiver, and Washington, a 6-foot-3ish, 220 or so pounds, is that, to the point that he said Jeff Brohm was wowed by his dimensions when he saw him on campus last weekend.
Washington's gained 20 pounds or so since the season, he said, so the player Purdue saw in person might be different than the one it's seen on film.
"Coach Brohm hadn't really seen me in person and when he did, he was like, 'Whoa, you're huge. You've been lifting a lot, huh?'" Washington said. "He said, 'Keeping doing that, because we're going to need you on the outside as soon as you get here.'"
He just might.
While Purdue has a lot of wide receivers to sort through, provided Washington is a priority, and we always want to add that qualifier this time of year, then he's already essentially down to Purdue and West Virginia. He just released a top five list, but days earlier he told us he's focused on those two.
The difference, and this could matter: "In the Big Ten you're going to play against (quality) defense. In the Big 12 everyone's just trying to outscore everyone."
He thinks the former might be a better route to take in hopes of getting a crack at the NFL one day.
Washington doesn't seem like he'll be deciding any time soon, but said he'd take officials in coming weeks or months.
Painter has targeted targeted Boston Celtics assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry for the position vacated by new Mercer coach Greg Gary, and with an apparent associate head coach title on the table, we think that is the direction this is headed in. At least, something would have to change for it not to, we think.
Now, the Celtics are the 4 seed in the East and open the Playoffs against the Pacers on Sunday. Obviously Shrewsberry will be detained for as long as Boston remains alive in the postseason, so it could be weeks before anything in finalized one way or the other. (BN)
Purdue has already had Dickinson on campus for an official visit, and there are those in D.C. who believe the Boilermakers to be the early No. 1 for the DeMatha Catholic center, though conventional thinking has always put Notre Dame in a formidable position because of Mike Brey's DeMatha connections, and North Carolina is said to be Dickinson's childhood fave.
The fact of the matter is, though, that Purdue has done a great job establishing itself over a long period of time with Dickinson and centers know that Purdue will feature them, give them the ball and, at the very least, force them to develop through prominence. Dickinson is a potential pro and he seems to have some voices around him pointing out what Purdue's reputation could mean in that sense for him.
Long way to go still, but Purdue seems to be in a good spot with a great player here. (BN)
If Purdue didn't use either of its two current empties on multi-year players, then it would have three to use in 2020, as of now, factoring in the scholarship Evan Boudreaux is slated vacate next spring.
Taking LaRavia would cut that number to two, as would trying to prep school him or something like that. Whether he's in the program or elsewhere and committed to the program, it's still a scholarship.
Anyway, with grad transfers perhaps being a preference, and Painter
"Losing Carsen, obviously, is not something that's totally unexpected, and we've put a lot of time into the 2020 class," Painter said last night after Purdue's postseason banquet. "We'll look at some fifth-year guards. We might take one and we might not.
"We want to get someone who's good enough but also someone who's that right fit. If we don't get someone who's the right fit, I don't think it makes sense to do that."
Question then: Is Bryce Moore the right fit? The Western Michigan grad transfer seems to make sense now, a good shooter and an All-MAC-level defender who was recruited by Purdue out of high school and seen a lot while Painter recruited high school teammate Jaren Jackson. While on paper Purdue might prefer someone who's particularly effective off the dribble, Purdue loses a good deal of shooting punch, and that's probably an element Painter will never again allow to dip if he can help it. We'll see.
Xavier and Creighton are among those already with Moore lined up for visits. (BN)
Purdue does have other offers out — Tyler Van Dyke and Mekhi Hagens both count Purdue among their favorites and visited this spring, too — but we do have some reason to suspect Prater to be a preference.
