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.
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Here are the ones we have confirmed (with the players), though there will likely be more.
WR Terrance Landers: He's already committed. Here's our story on that: Link
WR Jackson Anthrop
JUCO OL Joe Kupcikevicius
DE Jaquwan Nelson
DE Jacques Turner
QB Jared Sparks
Stuff about these guys …
Landers: He is already committed, obviously, but this might be a good chance for him to sit down more in-depth with Purdue's staff and vice versa.
Anthrop: The Purdue legacy and Dru and Danny's youngest brother has long drawn interest from this staff and could very well get an offer this weekend. Obviously, if that comes, it would be a big one for him. There's been some question about what position he might be recruited for, but he says slot receiver, which would be vacant in this class right now if Jack Wegher is viewed as more of an offensive athlete type.
Kup: Purdue already has a junior college offensive tackle committed but no longer signed due to Jalen Neal's situation. That is, if they do intend to keep Neal in the fold. He says it does. But Kup has long been one of the J.C. tackles Purdue is looking at it and it may come down to whether it will take a second. Purdue wants another tackle, but we don't know if it would prefer a high school kid. Kup wasn't aware as of Thursday afternoon that Jim Bridge left and Bridge was his lead recruiter, but Ross Els is visiting him at his school today to address the issue, we'd think. Kup, a Chicago native, has visits set to East Carolina and Massachusetts after this one. Have to figure Purdue would have a great shot here if it follows through all the way, though the O-line coach situation won't help.
Nelson: Miami parted ways with the Florida defensive end and Purdue would love to scoop him up. Randy Melvin obviously has that connection since he was Nelson's prospective position coach with the Hurricanes. We've played phone tag with Nelson all week so don't know much more, but do know Kentucky is also involved with the three-star recruit.
Turner: A defensive end who was an early offer for Purdue. The Mississippi native is committed to Southern Miss, but said he has wanted to visit Purdue this whole time. It is down to those two schools with his Golden Eagle visit being next weekend.
Sparks: The one quarterback we know of with a live Purdue offer. Purdue needs a quarterback now, so maybe this is the guy. Sparks, a Louisiana native, is also committed to Southern Miss. He has been unavailable for comment all week.
Like we said, there will probably more.
Purdue needs a QB, probably a D-end, and more offensive linemen.
If it has any wiggle room thereafter, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to take another running back or tight end or linebacker, since this class would be totally void of those positions otherwise.
Expect commitments this weekend. It's too late in the game for guys to be making visits without their finger on the button. (BN)
Purdue was probably going to lose Dylan Powell anyway. That's our guess. But the position coach turnover just ended it then and there, though Powell - a stand-up kid all the way - will be polite to Purdue and continue to give it a look. Have to appreciate the way Powell handled this in that he made it known up front where things stood instead of taking all these visits as a "committed" player and leaving Purdue hanging. Purdue can at least make other arrangements now, if it can. Not every recruit would handle things that way.
But Purdue needed a center in this class and now has just a couple weeks to either convince Powell to re-commit - without the benefit of an official visit or a position coach currently in place - or find somebody else. That's a tough deal for a niche position, especially when you don't have a position in coach immediately to evaluate the prospective signees. Other coaches can do that, but it's the line coach who has the coach whoever they sign.
Luke Campbell is committed, but has options - Iowa State and Syracuse have recently offered - and the Bridge issue isn't going to help Purdue make sure that remains the case either.
One of Purdue's highest-profile remaining targets is Chicagoland's Sean Foster, who officially visited in December after breaking up with Minnesota. The Bridge departure might end things for Purdue there.
Not trying to paint too bleak a picture here, but there are obviously challenges forthcoming. Had this move occurred in December, Purdue would have had time to hire somebody, get established and get a united front up in front of Powell and Campbell and Foster and any other potential signees on the offensive line.
This coupled with the Jalen Neal news - Purdue needed mid-year offensive line help the same way it needed mid-year tight end last year, thought it had both but lost both at the last second, to different circumstances.
It was very surprising from an outsider's perspective to see Purdue only bring in one mid-year J.C. offensive tackle for a visit, Kendall Calhoun, prior to the signing date (that we're aware of). When he went to Cincinnati, Purdue fast-tracked its recruitment of Neal, signed him, then found out he wouldn't be eligible after all for mid-year enrollment.
In past years, secondary recruiting has been high drama. This year, it's the offensive line. (BN)
Cornerback Brandon Shuman is taking more visits, but the only one he has scheduled is for this weekend to … Florida Atlantic.
Shuman seems to be just rewarding FAU for the attention it's shown him. He says Virginia and Kentucky remain interested, but he hasn't booked a visit to either and it's now Jan. 14 and the clock is ticking.
So here's guessing Purdue retains Shuman and if it doesn't, it may be a situation where as of right now, its true enemy has yet to reveal itself. (BN)
• Former Boilermaker offensive line coach Shawn Clark initially was strongly considered to be retained by Hazell from Danny Hope's staff, that is before Jim Bollman accepted the job he quickly left for a post at Michigan State. Perhaps there's a chance for Clark this time around.
Clark is currently at Kent State, where he earned an assistant head coach label at this time last year to go with his O-line duties.
But he'd likely entertain an offer from Hazell for Purdue's opening. Clark made only $82,000 last season at Kent, according to USA Today's assistant coaching salary database. He'd get probably double that with the Boilermakers.
Whether Hazell extends an offer, though, remains to be seen, but there is background there after Clark went through the interview process with the then-new Purdue coach a few years ago and by several accounts made a strong impression. (SC)
• Another consideration could be another former Purdue assistant coach, John McDonell.
McDonell, who coached tight ends for Joe Tiller from 2006-08 before not always seeing eye to eye with Hope during his coach-in-waiting year and thus not being retained, was most recently at Tulane, but that staff was let go. He's bounced around since leaving Purdue but has a good reputation and apparently some connections to Hazell and offensive coordinator Terry Malone.
McDonell coached at Washington State, Notre Dame and Stanford before his first stint at Purdue. Not sure anything will come of it, but he's a qualified coach who'd want the job with some connections. (BN)
That'd probably cement the notion that Els essentially will be the coordinator, calling the plays and being the guy in charge, while Freeman's title could be a name-only-type promotion, Hazell's way of rewarding (and trying to retain) one of the brighter young coaches on the staff.
Not sure exactly yet on which position Els will coach - Hazell's said he doesn't want a roving coordinator - but we think there's a good bet Purdue will split its secondary into corners and safeties and have Els combine, in a way, with Taver Johnson.
That's assuming Johnson still is around by the start of 2016. Jim Bridge wasn't the only coach exploring options, and though the later it gets, the fewer college openings, there's still a chance this staff changes again. (SC)
The important part is that Purdue has not yet offered, but hosted him for an under-the-radar-until-we-found-out-about-it official visit. That Purdue brought him in says that it's watching him closely and presumably will see him play this season before making a call on whether to recruit him further. Purdue needs size in 2016 and has combed the J.C. ranks for some.
That's not a frontburner issue right now, but will be come later this winter and into the spring. (BN)
The younger Thompson from what we've seen is legit, an obvious Purdue 2019 target. Whether that means Purdue might offer early, we don't know. You won't find a family with better heads on their shoulders so that they may not matter.
Isaiah is averaging 20-plus per game for Zionsville as a freshman. He's an entirely different player and body type from his older brother, more of a versatile scorer with a taller, leaner, longer physique.
He attended the Penn State game last night.
McCutcheon has 2018 guard Robert Phinisee, who has an IU offer and interest from Purdue among others.
Matt Painter is expected to be at the game to see the two underclassman guards. (BN)
Our guests will Mike DeCourcy of BTN and Sporting News and former Boilermakers Men’s Basketball TV Play-By-Play man Ken Double.
Programming note: Our guest Jan. 29 will be Gene Keady as part of his return for the Three-Pete Celebration game on Jan. 30 vs. Nebraska and the Purdue Ag-Alumni Fish Fry with special co-host Bob Knight on Feb. 6. We're sure the latter part of that sentence will draw no attention whatsoever in this state.
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