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 Darth Vader 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.
We're leaving this as a solid "maybe" for the time being, but don't be surprised if Purdue is without freshman forward Vince Edwards tonight for its game against Rutgers. We have been told there might be a concussion situation.
If Edwards sits, Basil Smotherman would presumably get the start at the 4 for the Boilermakers against the Scarlet Knights.
Edwards came off the bench for both Minnesota games this season, the first because he'd been ill prior to the game and the second because he was late for a film session.
Tonight would be Smotherman's second start of the season.
We will confirm Edwards' status as soon as we can tonight at the arena. (BN)
Some random football recruiting notes
• Expect another big wave of Purdue 2016 offers to come sometime after this weekend. As we have told you over and over, Ben Davis RB/ATH Chris Evans will be one of them. Whether Purdue can be a prime player there, though, remains to be seen. Michigan State just offered him, too.
• Purdue had Indianapolis running back Gerrid Doaks on campus yesterday for an unofficial visit.
To our knowledge, he's the only visitor Purdue has had in recently, but it has three junior days coming up: March 7, March 28 and April 11.
Doaks has early offers from Western Michigan, Toledo, Ball State and Miami (Ohio).
• The two most reasonable in-state early commitment possibilities we see for Purdue are Pike corner Ben Knutson.
That is just our feeling here and there's no pressing reason to believe either will materialize, but those look to be the two most likely guys if Purdue is going to get an early in-state pledge, at least among those who have already been offered.
Knutson was a regular at Purdue games this season, visiting at least three times. He's picked up other Big Ten offers from IU and Illinois lately, though, so things are happening for him. Purdue offered during the season.
Purdue is Hayes' only offer and, according to some folks in the know in Indy, is a raw prospect and may have some work to do academically, so we'll see how much more early activity he gets.
On April 11, Purdue will have Florida corner Brandon Boykins on campus, he said. Boykins said that if he is offered, he will likely commit.
We will also add that we hesitate these days to even report such things, because more recruits seem to be playing the game of telling media they're going to commit to School X to try to shake School X down enough to offer.
Great plan, huh?
Not saying Boykins is doing this, but will probably be adding that as a caveat from here on out every time a player tells us he is eager to commit if offered.
• Reminder of something you'll hear all season: Purdue doesn't have many scholarships to offer for 2016 as of right now, so what that means for early offers, for Purdue's desire for early commitments, etc., we'll see.
Purdue has some very unproven positions on its 2015 roster right now, so gauging its 2016 needs in late February of 2015, well, that might be a process. (BN)
The book is closed on Purdue defensive end commitment Chazmyn Turner, per sources. He will not be coming to Purdue. We don't know if he's going to West Virginia or not, just that he's not coming to Purdue, so move along, people. Nothing to see here.
This does not mean that Purdue is done recruiting for 2015.
We've told you since signing day, they still have some irons in the fire and we'll see if that materializes here in coming weeks.
Additionally, Purdue still has some gaps post-signing day. It really could use another defensive end or receiver or tight end and will stay active in the "secondary market" for those positions. (BN)
Richard Worship probably isn't going to be too worried about running into Big Ten linebackers.
You might remember the story from before the season, when the Boilermaker running back signee came home one day from his job with the local parks department, sat down, then heard his mother yelling for him to get out of the house, because the neighbors' house was on fire.
"I thought maybe somebody was in there, so I ran over there and kicked the door in just to see if anyone was," Worship said. "I yelled and shouted to see if anybody was. Nobody was. We called 911, then the fire department showed up."
There was no one in the house. The neighbors were on vacation. But Worship was later publicly commended by the fire department for checking. Worship did not enter the building after relieving it of its door.
"Honestly, I didn't put much thought into it," he said. "I just thought, 'Somebody might be in the house that needs help.' I thought, 'What if I were in that house yelling frantically for help and no one could hear me?'"
Here is the Cleveland.com report from the time. (BN)
This has been a breakout of season of sorts for Purdue 2016 center target Barret Benson, as he the junior prospect has been consistently putting up the biggest numbers of his career to date, a step forward for a promising player who sometimes blended in as an underclassmen.
There's no end in sight for Benson's recruitment, and this will not be a deal where much is ever revealed about said recruitment, but a couple of schools we've heard might be real factors for him, in addition to Purdue, are Georgetown and Stanford. He is a big-time student, so there's some luster there with schools like those, on top of basketball considerations.
Georgetown head coach John Thompson III saw Benson play last night along with assistant Tavaras Hardy (who knows Chicago well from his days as a player and coach at Northwestern) and Stanford, where former Illinois Wolves player Chasson Randle has had success, has watched him also. So there is mutual interest.
Don't know what to make of Purdue with him right now. Obviously there are long-standing connections there but Benson has always insisted that those will have no bearing on his decision. They won't.
What will is academics and the fact Purdue can offer a strong science-based program for whatever he wants to do is a checkmark in its column. But Benson has come of age to the point now where he'll have a lot of good options. We'll see where he is coming out of the summer and we'll see where Purdue is.
Purdue doesn't have many scholarships to offer for that class, and it is going to have to triage its needs. It's hard to see a scenario in which they don't take a center - and almost impossible to see a scenario in which they walk away from either Benson or Joey Brunk if they want to come - but again, there will be moving parts here.
Brunk, by the way, was Indiana's guest for the Purdue game Thursday.
We don't believe IU long-term to be a serious contender for the Southport center for various reasons, even though there have been long-standing allegiances to the school.
Michigan State is going to be a real player for him. Maybe Xavier too. But Purdue is in the thick of it and the fact it's playing well right now will give it a bump in recruiting. By "bump," though, we mean alleviate potential problems. (BN)
Purdue watched Logansport 2017 forward Jalen Adaway Friday night.
The 6-foot-5ish swingman played AAU last spring and summer for that ridiculously loaded Under Armour Indy Hoosiers team that also featured Gary Trent, Jr., etc.
Adaway was the best player on that team no one ever talked about, a really versatile, really productive player who often stood out on a team full of stars. Not sure where he fits, as of now, positionally, but he has also put up huge numbers for the Berries this season, a 20-a-game type of guy as just a sophomore.
One to watch, for sure. (BN)
Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m. for 'Gold and Black LIVE,' our Internet TV show (if that makes any sense).
Our guests will be CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm and Purdue radio color man Pete Quinn.
Again, showtime is at 2. A replay will be posted later in the day if your priorities are so misguided that you miss the show real-time.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
GoldandBlack.com Mobile for your Android
https://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=892&CID=818514
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 Darth Vader 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.
If Edwards sits, Basil Smotherman would presumably get the start at the 4 for the Boilermakers against the Scarlet Knights.
Edwards came off the bench for both Minnesota games this season, the first because he'd been ill prior to the game and the second because he was late for a film session.
Tonight would be Smotherman's second start of the season.
We will confirm Edwards' status as soon as we can tonight at the arena. (BN)
• Expect another big wave of Purdue 2016 offers to come sometime after this weekend. As we have told you over and over, Ben Davis RB/ATH Chris Evans will be one of them. Whether Purdue can be a prime player there, though, remains to be seen. Michigan State just offered him, too.
• Purdue had Indianapolis running back Gerrid Doaks on campus yesterday for an unofficial visit.
To our knowledge, he's the only visitor Purdue has had in recently, but it has three junior days coming up: March 7, March 28 and April 11.
Doaks has early offers from Western Michigan, Toledo, Ball State and Miami (Ohio).
• The two most reasonable in-state early commitment possibilities we see for Purdue are Pike corner Ben Knutson.
That is just our feeling here and there's no pressing reason to believe either will materialize, but those look to be the two most likely guys if Purdue is going to get an early in-state pledge, at least among those who have already been offered.
Knutson was a regular at Purdue games this season, visiting at least three times. He's picked up other Big Ten offers from IU and Illinois lately, though, so things are happening for him. Purdue offered during the season.
Purdue is Hayes' only offer and, according to some folks in the know in Indy, is a raw prospect and may have some work to do academically, so we'll see how much more early activity he gets.
On April 11, Purdue will have Florida corner Brandon Boykins on campus, he said. Boykins said that if he is offered, he will likely commit.
We will also add that we hesitate these days to even report such things, because more recruits seem to be playing the game of telling media they're going to commit to School X to try to shake School X down enough to offer.
Great plan, huh?
Not saying Boykins is doing this, but will probably be adding that as a caveat from here on out every time a player tells us he is eager to commit if offered.
• Reminder of something you'll hear all season: Purdue doesn't have many scholarships to offer for 2016 as of right now, so what that means for early offers, for Purdue's desire for early commitments, etc., we'll see.
Purdue has some very unproven positions on its 2015 roster right now, so gauging its 2016 needs in late February of 2015, well, that might be a process. (BN)
This does not mean that Purdue is done recruiting for 2015.
We've told you since signing day, they still have some irons in the fire and we'll see if that materializes here in coming weeks.
Additionally, Purdue still has some gaps post-signing day. It really could use another defensive end or receiver or tight end and will stay active in the "secondary market" for those positions. (BN)
You might remember the story from before the season, when the Boilermaker running back signee came home one day from his job with the local parks department, sat down, then heard his mother yelling for him to get out of the house, because the neighbors' house was on fire.
"I thought maybe somebody was in there, so I ran over there and kicked the door in just to see if anyone was," Worship said. "I yelled and shouted to see if anybody was. Nobody was. We called 911, then the fire department showed up."
There was no one in the house. The neighbors were on vacation. But Worship was later publicly commended by the fire department for checking. Worship did not enter the building after relieving it of its door.
"Honestly, I didn't put much thought into it," he said. "I just thought, 'Somebody might be in the house that needs help.' I thought, 'What if I were in that house yelling frantically for help and no one could hear me?'"
Here is the Cleveland.com report from the time. (BN)
There's no end in sight for Benson's recruitment, and this will not be a deal where much is ever revealed about said recruitment, but a couple of schools we've heard might be real factors for him, in addition to Purdue, are Georgetown and Stanford. He is a big-time student, so there's some luster there with schools like those, on top of basketball considerations.
Georgetown head coach John Thompson III saw Benson play last night along with assistant Tavaras Hardy (who knows Chicago well from his days as a player and coach at Northwestern) and Stanford, where former Illinois Wolves player Chasson Randle has had success, has watched him also. So there is mutual interest.
Don't know what to make of Purdue with him right now. Obviously there are long-standing connections there but Benson has always insisted that those will have no bearing on his decision. They won't.
What will is academics and the fact Purdue can offer a strong science-based program for whatever he wants to do is a checkmark in its column. But Benson has come of age to the point now where he'll have a lot of good options. We'll see where he is coming out of the summer and we'll see where Purdue is.
Purdue doesn't have many scholarships to offer for that class, and it is going to have to triage its needs. It's hard to see a scenario in which they don't take a center - and almost impossible to see a scenario in which they walk away from either Benson or Joey Brunk if they want to come - but again, there will be moving parts here.
Brunk, by the way, was Indiana's guest for the Purdue game Thursday.
We don't believe IU long-term to be a serious contender for the Southport center for various reasons, even though there have been long-standing allegiances to the school.
Michigan State is going to be a real player for him. Maybe Xavier too. But Purdue is in the thick of it and the fact it's playing well right now will give it a bump in recruiting. By "bump," though, we mean alleviate potential problems. (BN)
The 6-foot-5ish swingman played AAU last spring and summer for that ridiculously loaded Under Armour Indy Hoosiers team that also featured Gary Trent, Jr., etc.
Adaway was the best player on that team no one ever talked about, a really versatile, really productive player who often stood out on a team full of stars. Not sure where he fits, as of now, positionally, but he has also put up huge numbers for the Berries this season, a 20-a-game type of guy as just a sophomore.
One to watch, for sure. (BN)
Our guests will be CBS bracketologist Jerry Palm and Purdue radio color man Pete Quinn.
Again, showtime is at 2. A replay will be posted later in the day if your priorities are so misguided that you miss the show real-time.
Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.
https://purdue.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=892&CID=818514
