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PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
We may be pretty close to basically having given you a pretty complete picture of the early 2021 recruiting cycle to this point — not gonna suggest we know everything, by any means, but think we've gotten most of the important stuff — so next week we'll start hitting 2022s more.
But in the meantime here's a quick review again of what we'd consider all the pertinent 2021s on the board here, many of whom Purdue's just kind of waiting out, the two positions where I can't say we have absolute clarity being offensive tackle (because Purdue's kinda going far and wide there) and the secondary.
Anyway ...
(And yes, we are repeating ourselves here, but people seem to like hot boards and there are no visits going on so ...)
Obviously this is just a matter of Purdue waiting him out, with Wisconsin being the apparent alternative. Purdue has a lot of advantages here and there's a good chance of there being no official visits on the horizon for him.
This is the tight end Purdue wants, we believe. We'd expect Purdue to be a contender here, but time will tell how this unfolds.
Probably a Purdue-or-Indiana deal for the Brownsburg offensive tackle. A bunch of online predictions have him headed to Bloomington. We'll see. Again, all we've had to do is quote him as saying he's been considering committing to Purdue at various stages throughout the process.
Purdue's a player for the Pike defensive end/linebacker, but this doesn't figure to end any time soon. He may be the player who says he'll decide after the season and then actually does it. Florida State just offered, so we'll see if new offers shake up his list at all.
Purdue's top safety target was all lined up a while back. Now, we'll see. Cornerback and friend Tyrell Raby went by the wayside, so the package deal part of this has already dissolved. Michigan State might have won him over.
We do know that Grigsby has been averse to having predictions of him headed to Purdue online. Whether that was for the purpose of surprise or concern over it suppressing other schools' interest, we don't know.
The NOLA edge rusher remains a target and now has some other high-majors to choose from, in addition to Purdue, BC and Washington State. Arizona has offered him now, too. Purdue's been on him for quite a while.
The Ohio tight end/outside linebacker has a legitimate Purdue offer.
Lowery has disappeared on us in our attempts to get a hold of him, which normally isn't a great sign, but he's been a long-standing cornerback target. He's announcing a week from today, right after he just got an Arkansas offer.
Same deal as Lowery. Kid's been unreachable.
One of the offensive tackles Purdue has an offer out to, one of the many it'll Iikely have offers out to eventually at some point.
The NOLA linebacker and edge-rusher says Purdue remains in contact, but not sure he's a front-burner prospect at this stage.
Couple notes ...
• We're unsure about Marquael Parks. We don't know if Purdue remains a player with the Ohio ATH or not. We think they're probably set at wide receiver, but that doesn't mean an X-factor sort of offensive player and kick returner couldn't find a place in the class.
• Not much reason to think at this stage that Purdue will take a kicker in this class. It does bring in J.D. Dellinger's younger brother, Edward, this year as a preferred walk-on, and that may suffice for the time being.
A few things to make note of: While we wouldn't be surprised if there was still attrition from the roster, right now, Purdue doesn't have much more than a dozen seniors vacating scholarships after this season, on top of some of the spots that have opened up this spring. This may not be a full-size schollie allotment. Obviously that was the case last year too and Purdue pushed its class Into the 20s. Whether that would happen again this year with potential transfer reform coming, we have no idea. We're not just guessing when we suggest that schools may not be as inclined to max out their scholarship space anymore.
Additionally, this whole recruiting cycle may turn out to be something of a game of musical chairs in a few months. People may want scholarships available late in the process for players who may come back on the market after making quick early decisions during Coronapalooza. (BN)
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
• Don't really have much to add here on 2021 recruiting because the waiting game is on, but do want to throw you some word salad on Trey Kaufman in a convoluted attempt to explain that situation, as we understand.
https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2021/trey-kaufman-232904
We've told you about that being a situation where Purdue needs a guard or wing with its second scholarship and Kaufman is not that. Whether that Is a "live" offer or not, I guess is semantics, but none of it matters until a decision has to be made anyway. For Purdue, the optimal situation there would be for Kaufman to wait, wait, wait on a decision and that would give Purdue a chance to have things figured out In terms of whether there might be a third scholarship to use for this class, or to see where things are with Harrison Ingram, Max Christie and/or Blake Wesley, the three guards/wings with offers. (Not sure what to call Ingram in that regard, but for categorical convenience here, we're calling him a wing.)
The good news for Purdue seems to be that Kaufman at least says he's going to try to take fall official visits before deciding, expressing a willingness to play the whole process out. There was a time there where It seemed conceivable he was going to make a decision this past spring. That obviously didn't happen, but also a curveball came in the form of Caleb Furst's commitment to the school he might have committed to.
Can't really tell you for certain where Purdue stands with Kaufman now that Is has a player committed who plays the same position, but he's often indicated he's still interested. The same level of interest, we don't know, but we think Purdue is still very much in the game there.
We've never really had reason to think he's all that smitten with Indiana, and they've pushed him, and he's still uncommitted. Doesn't mean he won't end up there in the end, but he's had every chance to commit there and hasn't and that jibes with a lot of what we've told you about them not being as strong with him as Southern Indiana assumption tends to suggest. Xavier has always been in a pretty solid place with him, as well, but Louisville hasn't held any advantage whatsoever with a player who lives right across the river, practically.
Anyway, we'd still have to suspend disbelief a little to see Purdue pulling off the coup that be Furst, Kaufman and one of its perimeter targets, but that would be the best case scenario. As far as Kaufman goes, In the event he called Purdue to commit tomorrow, It would have a decision to make. Fans often say, "Figure it out," but that's easier to say than do. The good news for Purdue is that if Kaufman does in fact plan to wait this out, time is on the Boilermakers' side here.
• While it focused on 2021 and 2022 this summer — had there been a summer — Purdue also would have certainly gone out of its way to track local prospect Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn, who's going to wind up being one of the state's top players In the 2023 class and maybe a very highly recruited player.
There's a bit of a connection here – and how much it matters, again, we don't know — in that Gibbs-Lawhorn's father, Benji, played briefly at Eastern Illinois in '96-97 when Matt Painter was an assistant coach there under Rick Samuels.
Anyway, his son's supposed to be a hell of a player. We didn't get a chance to see him in high school this season, but he was good against mostly older kids at Purdue's elite camp last summer. We'll see him with Indiana Elite's 2023 team at some point this month. Don't be surprised if Purdue throws down an early offer at some point.
