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GBI: Grad transfers

piadef

True Freshman
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Oct 26, 2003
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any news on the grad transfer front for football, we could use a couple of O line guys.
 
any news on the grad transfer front for football, we could use a couple of O line guys.
I have not heard any news. However, we have 24 verbals, so we can only take 1 grad transfer. Do we go OL or DL though? We need help on both sides.
 
I have not heard any news. However, we have 24 verbals, so we can only take 1 grad transfer. Do we go OL or DL though? We need help on both sides.

OL without question. DL will be a year older and adding guys off redshirt and incoming freshmen. OL lost three starters and very young with only thirteen scholarship players, including four True freshmen.
 
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Drew Richmond, OT from Tennessee is also in the transfer portal and doesn't seem to have very many suitors at this point -- primarily FSU and Texas apparently. He's from Memphis. Is this one where Purdue could join in the discussion if they so choose? Texas would be hard to recruit against but I don't think that Purdue would lose out to FSU.
 
Offensive Line Tranfers (per 247Sports)

Nathan Eldridge, Arizona - Oregon State
Tommy Kennedy, Butler - Miami
Richie Petitbon, Alabama - Illinois
Alex Gellerstedt, Penn State
Zeke Martin
, Illinois
RJ Proctor, Virginia
Drew Richmond, Tennessee
Reuben Unije, Illinois
T.J. McCoy, Florida
Larry Boyd, Illinois
Andrew Trainer, Illinois
Jonah Jackson, Rutgers

Jackson & Richmond would both be good additions if we could get either one of them, but I have seen no mention of Purdue going after them. Boyd and Unije may be options, but seem like wild cards to me.

RJ Proctor has the skills, but he was on a snap count the entire season due to a serious knee injury in fall camp and missed the season opener. He sounds like too big a risk as long as we can land someone else.

TC McCoy is listed as Florida's 3rd string Center.

Gellerstedt did not pan out at PSU and is currently buried on their depth chart.

Larry Boyd kind of seems to me like a bit of a wild card. This from 247Sports:
"Boyd started nine games as a freshman but missed the 2018 season due to off-field issues, including an academic redshirt. He has three years to use his three years of eligibility remaining. Boyd was one of the most talented prospects in Lovie Smith's first recruiting class at Illinois in 2017. The Illini beat out Missouri, Arkansas and others for the St. Louis 3-star prospect, who was the first Trinity Catholic prospect to join the Illini program. Boyd was named BTN.comAll-Freshman Team honorable mention. But the 6-foot-6, 310-pound lineman was benched for two of the last three games. During spring practice, Boyd repped mostly with the second string as redshirt sophomore Jake Cerny played with the first string. If he had returned, Boyd likely would've competed for the vacant starting spot left by All-Big Ten guard Nick Allegretti."

Reuben Unije may be another wild card IMO. He is from Florida and went to IMG. According to Rivals Purdue never offered him. He was a Rivals 4-star (#25 OT) in the 2018 class. 247Sports ranked him a 3-star (#33). He is leaving due to "personal reasons." I have no idea what that means. Does anyone else have any insight or info on this guy? Did he get into trouble? Academics? Just doesn't get along with the teammates or coach? I have no idea what the deal is. After he camped in the spring with Illinois he was quoted as saying he meshed well with the team and in the locker room so maybe he butted heads with the coaching staff. Coach Lovie Smith said this: "We wish him well," Smith said. "Sometimes it just doesn't work out with a player and a team. This is one of those cases."

Andrew Trainer just flat out doesn't sound good enough for us to consider. He converted from TE to OT and could not crack into their rotation.

Zeke Martin is, again a pass.
 
I'm sure that there will be others added to the portal once spring practices begin to wrap up in April.

I think that it's a bit curious that 4 kids from one position group are transferring from Illinois and are declaring so before spring practice even gets close. Either Illinois did a very poor job of recruiting in Smith's earlier years or there's an organizational issue there -- or both. Four transfers from one team is pretty high. Four from one position group on the same team indicates that something is amiss.
 
it would appear with our two LBs waiting to sign later, we would have room to sign one grad transfer.

Although, couldn't we sign a grad transfer similar to the way we are signing our LBs and have them count towards our 2020 commitments / class ?
 
Although, couldn't we sign a grad transfer similar to the way we are signing our LBs and have them count towards our 2020 commitments / class ?
Yes, but how many slots do you want to take from next year's class?
 
Yes, but how many slots do you want to take from next year's class?
Agree.

With our momentum, we should be able to sign a very highly rated class. We are in on some very highly rated OL for 2020. Also, our number of spots available will be lower without additional attrition.
 
If we have 2-3 more WRs leave and transfer this Spring, wouldn't that open up spots for the 2019/ 2020 class?
 
If we have 2-3 more WRs leave and transfer this Spring, wouldn't that open up spots for the 2019/ 2020 class?
Its not only about the scholarship limit. You can only sign so many players in a given year. For example, we have several open scholarships going into next season, but can only sign 1 more player prior to camp due to the hard limit of 25 players.
 
Its not only about the scholarship limit. You can only sign so many players in a given year. For example, we have several open scholarships going into next season, but can only sign 1 more player prior to camp due to the hard limit of 25 players.


the question would be how badly does brohm wan to use one of his 2020 scholarships on a grad transfer. We saw in his first year, he was willing to do so to plug some really big holes. But as he now has several classes under his belt, our depth and talent is a lot better, and he may be less inclined to add grad transfers.
 
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