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The Boilermaker coaching staff is, of course, eager to find anyone who might be able to help next season, at certain positions more than others. Wide receiver is absolutely one of those positions, as Purdue's in a tough spot there right now.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Holmes played in 12 games and caught 11 passes for 96 yards for the Irish last season. Holmes should have two years of eligibility remaining.
He's from Pembroke Pines, Fla., and a product of mighty St. Thomas Aquinas, where Coach George Smith has some Purdue ties. Whether that's an advantage that has crossed over as coaching staffs have changed, we don't know. Holmes does have an STA connection in that Boilermaker DB Kamal Hardy is a former teammate, but Aquinas has players all over the country, so we don't know how much that will matter.
We haven't reached him, but know Marshall is very involved and people like Wake Forest, UNC, UCF and some mid-majors have been after him. He's wanted to go to Miami (Fla.), sounds like, but not sure if they're involved.
Holmes is supposed to be a 4.4 sort of guy speed-wise and was one of Notre Dame's fastest receivers.
Purdue, of course, needs all the help it can get at wide receiver and should have a compelling case to make for any player who aspires to play right away. Spring ball has done next to nothing to reveal any certainties on that front.
Purdue has already landed two graduate transfers to add to next season's team, as former Western Kentucky linebacker T.J. McCollum is already enrolled and former Wake Forest defensive back Josh Okonye shows up in the summer.
We do expect former Rhode Island offensive tackle Dave Steinmetz to come to Purdue, but he has not made any sort of announcement publicly yet.
We do know, too, that Purdue continues to recruit the junior college ranks, particularly for defensive linemen. (BN)
All year, Caleb Swanigan's situation has been this: He gone.
This was it, pretty much no matter what. When a random local who was hanging around Purdue's post-game interviews in Cancun after the Auburn game asked him, being all over-friendly and a bit naïve, when he was leaving for the NBA, Swanigan said, "Hopefully this year."
Purdue has planned all along for him to be gone, and Matt Painter has actually told recruits with certainty Swanigan will be gone because that's what had been conveyed to him from the player himself.
Swanigan, to his credit, has never apologized for being ambitious. His responses to questions about the NBA before have always been rational, respectful and perfectly logical, along the lines of, "Who wouldn't want to get to the top of their profession as soon as they can?"
We figured that Swanigan would make a relatively swift announcement not only putting his name in the draft, but also indicating he'll sign with an agent (yes, his situation there is unique), as Melo Trimble just did.
There has been no announcement of anything yet. We do now believe that Swanigan will leave the door for a return open and not just slam it shut up front.
But it is an extreme long shot that he returns. First-round opinion is swinging toward him (not that web sites matter), he can't possibly do much more within reason than he did this season, and most — Matt Painter included — will encourage him to go, recognizing his time is now.
You're probably looking at a single-digit percentage chance he returns, if that, but the dynamic has changed.
Swanigan is way more of a cooler head than he seemed to be a year ago and while he may be eager to get to the NBA, he may not be desperate to get the hell out of college, and those are two different things. He's getting his degree either way, so while that matters to him, it probably doesn't matter toward this decision right now.
We expect him to go. Everyone expects him to go. He should go. That's the reality right now, and there's no telling what would have to happen for him to not go.
It's really difficult to imagine NBA people telling him they won't draft him, not after the season he just had and the improvement he's made. They might tell him he's not a top-20 pick or whatever but they're not going to laugh at him. If he gets hurt, obviously no one wants to see that happen, and it would probably have to be pretty serious for it to chase him back to college.
That's a lot of words in place of what could have been said in just two: He gone.
As for Purdue's other situations, Isaac Haas will go through the process and we assume Vincent Edwards will. There's no reason not to.
We would expect both to be back, Haas for certain barring there being some NBA team that decides overnight it wants to play basketball all gigantic and stuff. (Looking at you, Philly.)
As for Edwards, he too has been open about his ambitions, but it doesn't seem realistic right now in terms of his stock, the season he just had, his physique, his positional projections at the next level and whatever else. We don't think he's in a position either where he wants to get out of college or just start getting paid whatever he can wherever he can, as is often a factor for players.
Edwards seems positioned to have a showcase season next year at Purdue with the decks cleared of A.J. Hammons and presumably Swanigan. It's hard to imagine him passing on that opportunity. (BN)
The 6-5, 245-pounder played in 11 games as a true freshman for the Cavaliers this season and seemed positioned to have a nice career there, at the alma mater of his father, former NFL running back Barry Word.
He would have to sit this season out, then would have three years of eligibility remaining.
Jeff Brohm and staff were very active in the transfer market at Western Kentucky, as programs at that level often are. Might be a market, though, that Purdue hits harder than ever. (BN)
First off, this was not a surprise. This was Owens' year, his time had come and it was sort of just a matter of which destination it would be, unless it was one of those years where there just weren't any jobs. As it turned out, one did.
Owens was an important piece to Purdue's success since his hiring in 2011, a guy who recruited many of the Boilermakers' best players over the years and wound up being a damn good coach, just as importantly. He'll be missed, for sure, but such is life when a program wins and develops a strong reputation.
Now, the question of where Purdue goes from here, which is extraordinarily premature right now, but as you know, extraordinarily premature is kind of our thing.
Recruiting will be an imperative consideration with this hire, absolutely critical, and our guess is Matt Painter will act accordingly. Mike Bobinski is as recruiting-minded an A.D. as you'll probably find as well, so our guess is there's been some messaging around the department about optimizing recruiting punch.
But obviously this is Painter's hire and an opportunity of sorts to maybe bring in the sort of big-personality, energetic grinder of a recruiter that can make an impact on that front right away as he acclimates to his coaching role too.
We'll say this: This is a new time at Purdue. Resources are there. They were better post-Missouri when Purdue went out and hired Micah Shrewsberry and Greg Gary. They should be even better now. There wouldn't seem to be any obstacles toward who Purdue can hire here.
For that reason, handicapping this thing won't be easy. This might not be a deal where the field is automatically filtered down by connections to Matt Painter, in-state ties, Purdue ties, age, salary to an extent, whatever else.
This should be a situation where Painter can play the entire field and shoot for the best and most qualified coach and recruiter he can get.
Most of Painter's hires — and he hasn't had to make all that many considering the length of his tenure at Purdue, a reflection that people like working for him — have been younger coaches he's been connected to from his Missouri Valley days, in-state guys or Purdue guys.
The lone outlier from that profile was his 2010 hiring of Mike Jackson away from Michigan. Jackson was a proven coach at that time and the sort of charismatic recruiter we mentioned above. Jackson's off-the-field issue — he was arrested that February on suspicion of OWI — got him suspended and he subsequently resigned following the season. There was a university policy at that time that barred him, essentially, from returning, if we recall correctly. We know that Painter liked Jackson as part of his program, but the circumstances kind of were what they were.
We don't mention this to suggest Jackson could return — he and Painter have kept in touch over the years — because that's very, very unlikely, but just using him as the face of what this next hire could be: A proven guy with experience and significant recruiting potential.
Experience will be a key element here, and that alone should head off questions fans might have about popular former players moving into a coaching role, though if Kenny Lowe goes with Owens to Miami that would open a spot for a youngster potentially, and it's conceivable that the more resources-generous Bobinski could let Purdue add more entry-level staffing positions, like graduate-assistant roles.
Again, there may not be a ceiling on who Purdue can go out and pursue. That could mean sitting low- or mid-major coaches. You'll recall, Purdue had sitting IPFW coach Dane Fife hired years ago before he went to Michigan State instead. It could find a similar situation with a head coach elsewhere for all we know, but recruiting is critical and sometimes coaches who've been head coaches for an extended period lose their edge in that phase of the game, so that's not always best.
We're not even pretending to know anything here, but look at LaVall Jordan at UW-Milwaukee. He'd fit the profile of what Purdue wants with this hire to the smallest detail. He's a proven recruiter, profoundly well respected in the industry, young, charismatic and a damn good coach, with experience at Butler, Iowa and Michigan, working at substance-oriented programs. We have no reason to think Purdue would pursue him and we doubt he'd leave his first head coaching job after a year anyway, but we're using him, again, to sort of put a face on this.
Former Painter assistants Paul Lusk and Rick Ray have head coaching jobs now, but Lusk isn't leaving a good Missouri Valley job on his own volition and Ray would seem unlikely. And not sure either of them transform you in recruiting.
We don't have the slightest idea who Purdue is even going to look at. We just know Painter has an enormous network, no restrictions on this hire and a trip to the Final Four upcoming to do some recon.
It is a really important hire. (BN)
We know this: Purdue will play in the Battle for Atlantis, where the field also includes Arizona, Villanova, Tennessee, N.C. State, SMU, Northern Iowa and a Western Kentucky team that'll suddenly have a McDonald's All-America big man.
The Boilermakers will get Butler in the Crossroads Classic. The Bulldogs will be replacing some really important pieces, but you say that every year about them and it never matters and Kelan Martin is pretty good, on top of the other players it has back.
Purdue went on the road for Big Ten/ACC this year, so it figures to have a home game this season. Purdue will be back in the Gavitt Games this year and figures to go on the road for that after hosting this past season.
It's way too early to have any idea who Purdue may draw in either conference-rivalry series, but if TV people make their calls based on standings, Purdue will get good teams.
Not sure the ACC would bring a Duke or Carolina, but you never know.
Virginia was supposed to be Purdue's opponent last year but JaQuan Lyle happened and it went to Louisville instead. Florida State would seem in play. Don't know whether the Crossroads affiliation would rule out Notre Dame. Syracuse? Purdue's never played them in the ACC Challenge. It has played Miami (Fla.) but they were really good this year so would make some sense.
In the Big East, they probably wouldn't give Purdue Villanova for the second straight year and Butler would probably be crossed off because the two teams already play each other.
Creighton, Seton Hall, Providence, Marquette and Xavier were all NCAA Tournament teams from the Big East this season, so all would seem possible. Marquette or Creighton would keep Purdue in the traditional Big Ten footprint, if that matters for TV-interest projections. (BN)
It's never ideal to break continuity in basketball, where recruits get recruited for such an extended period of time, but we'll point out that Matt Painter is very involved with players Purdue has targeted and that helps when it comes to easing such things. When Shrewsberry left Purdue mid-summer a few years ago — difficult timing from a recruiting perspective — Purdue still landed two of the recruits he'd been responsible for, Isaac Haas and Vince Edwards, in large part because Painter was so involved the whole time. (Obviously, Haas was kind of an odd deal.)
Here are some of the recruits Owens was working for Purdue at the time of his departure, one that Purdue very much figured might come, again.
2017 - Malik Ondigo — It can't help, because Owens has recruited Ondigo since last summer, longer than you would most spring types. But Ondigo has a lot of reasons to look at Purdue and you wouldn't think this would be a dealbreaker by any means. Painter was just down to see him, so it was most likely addressed.
2018 - Damezi Anderson — Purdue just offered and stands as his best offer. We'll see who else offers, but there's lots of time here, and Owens leaving can almost certainly be overcome. Painter is involved here already.
2018 - Robert Phinisee — No idea if this affects Purdue at all. Maybe a different voice there, something new, actually helps Purdue, if that makes any sense.
2019 - Isaiah Thompson — Owens is tight with Thompson's family, but the association there with Purdue is strong, regardless of who's on Painter's staff. Doubt this changes much.
2019 - Keion Brooks — Might matter some, because Owens did a lot of the early legwork here, but Brooks is going to be a national recruit and those battles are fought largely by head coaches. And Purdue has time to get re-established here if need be.
2019 - Jeremiah Francis — This surely won't help because Owens has worked the family pretty hard and kept up appearances in Pickerington. There's a strong relationship there. But the association to Painter was the foundation of all this in the first place, and the reality is that Purdue's greatest obstacle now is just convincing him to walk away from all the heartstrings being pulled by Ohio State.
2019 - Trayce Jackson-Davis — Way too early. Doubt it matters.
One angle where Owens' loss affects things is simply in the relationships he's built up over a really long time - relative to his industry at Purdue - and some connections he's long held. He's recruited the Spiece program in Indiana really hard and really effectively and he's really tight with the Illinois Wolves AAU program, but that yielded only Jay Simpson and Kendall Stephens for Purdue, and Stephens was coming no matter what. It got Purdue in the game on Chasson Randle, Keita Bates-Diop and Glynn Watson, but obviously those guys ended up elsewhere.
Purdue hasn't targeted a Wolves player since Watson, just because there haven't been any Big Ten guys come through since. They have a couple possible ones now, but not early-offer types. (BN)
But Purdue is also going to be a factor for Ohio State's Trevor Thompson should Thompson move to another college as a fifth-year transfer instead of trying his hand now in the pros.
When Thompson left Virginia Tech years ago, he did so essentially with the intent to come to Purdue. One meeting with Thad Matta, though, turned the whole thing sideways and he was a done deal for Ohio State before he even so much as visited anywhere.
Now, we'll see. Should Thompson go on the market, there would be the serious question of whether Purdue could sell him on sharing minutes with, or even backing up, Isaac Haas. If you have one year to play and want to put yourself in the best NBA position possible, do you want to platoon?
Purdue has one spot to fill, assuming Swanigan leaves. There must be serious consideration given to prioritizing a multi-year player to cover itself post-Isaac Haas. But coaches always recruit prioritizing the short term and the right grad-transfer might mean more to the short term. (BN)
Again, this is a credible prospect, a player Purdue almost offered in the winter before its staff was finalized. Now, the staff in its current form wants Clark to come to camp, which he will. Clark has good mid-major offers and interest from Purdue and IU, but Purdue has an advantage here, it would seem.
Jeff Brohm has said they don't want to miss on any players in their targeted radius that they should get, essentially. Might err on the side of players like that. (BN)
Antwuan Johnson, a heavily recruited linebacker from Dayton Dunbar and former Michigan commit, told us a while back he'd be visiting Purdue this spring. He has an offer and Terrance Landers, formerly of Dunbar, has been working him.But Landers' standing with the program is up in the air and we're not aware of Johnson having come through yet, so we'll see. (BN)
Tyrese Allen, a defensive tackle from Kentucky, visited Purdue this week and might be on his way to an offer, from what we understand. West Virginia and a bunch of mid-majors have offered Allen, who is really big, but athletic enough to play running back for his high school.This is one to watch: That was a long trip he made for a midweek visit and he seemed very excited to have been at Purdue. (BN)
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