Welcome to this week's rendition of the "Weekly Upload". Got it posted a little early this week. Have a great weekend!
Purdue Basketball Recruiting
Coach Painter has already started digging around the transfer portal, trying to replace the role David Jenkins Jr. is leaving a void. But, if the opportunity presents itself don’t be surprised if Coach Painter looks to bolster the starting lineup as a whole.
Here are a few names to watch early on, you can also dive into Casey’s Transfer Portal Primer with some names to look for:
Marquise Kennedy
Kennedy from Loyola Chicago has seen his points per game go down since his freshman year, but he has won a lot of games at Loyola during his four years there. Kennedy would be an ideal replacement, coming from a lesser competitive league to backup Braden Smith as the second ball handler. He can get a bucket when he needs to as well.
Dayvion McKnight
McKnight would be a bolster immediately in offensive production. At WKU this past season, he averaged just north of 16 points per game. McKnight is considered a combo guard, that can be a secondary ball handler or can start at shooting guard and help add some production to the starting five.
He has suitors though, with Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, and Northwestern reaching out already. He will be a hot target for teams looking for immediate guard help.
Jahmir Young
Listen, there is nothing here on the guard from Maryland officially. I am in a couple of Big Ten Chats here and there with other writers, as well as one with fans and some seem to think that he is a bit upset with his NIL situation at Maryland. If you recall, Purdue was one of the front runners for Young during his 2022 transfer from the Charlotte 49ers. Obviously, if he ends up hitting the portal there should be a call made.
The Transfer Portal
The portal is not immune in West Lafayette. I believe it's not a question of if but when. Brandon Newman seemed a little off post-FDU loss, which I think everyone believed he would leave last year, then he surprised everyone by coming back, and then not starting until March again.
If Zach Edey comes back, there is an obvious glut of minutes in the frontcourt again. Would Caleb Furst or Trey-Kaufmann Renn be willing to be a deep reserve again? Then you have William Berg to boot, another towering center.
It is a weird situation, but I think we can expect some movement both leaving and coming in from the transfer portal. Last year, Isaiah Thompson left to go to Florida Gulf Coast where he had a good year and Eric Hunter Jr went to Butler.
Purdue Football Recruiting
Earlier in the week, Purdue saw Jaden Ball an offensive lineman from Ohio committed. He gave his verbal to Marcus Johnson during his first day on the job.
I don’t really have a feel of who will be the next commit, but Purdue will have another big Junior day weekend in early April after all of the high school spring breaks settle down.
A portal target from Maryland, Anthony Booker was on campus for yesterday’s practice, he is 6-4, 320 pounds which would be an immediate boost to the interior offensive line. He only started two games last year, but he would have provided depth, at least.
Matt Hofer will be here this weekend. He is an offensive tackle from Valparaiso and has visited already before, he may be on a verbal watch. Another in-state offensive lineman Adedamola Ajani from Speedway will be here, he is an interior offensive lineman.
Spring Ball Kicks-Off
The official on-field start to the Ryan Walters era has now begun. They practiced twice this week and will get after it tomorrow morning again.
Full disclosure, we get about 30 minutes of practice time to watch, then get to talk to the players after practice.
Some quick notes from the first two days:
- Hudson Card is the clear-cut #1 quarterback, to no surprise. Brady Allen is probably going to end up as his backup, but he was splitting reps with Kyle Adams and Ryan Browne yesterday, probably more so to see what they have with the varying quarterbacks. The coaches call Card “Special”.
- Broc Thompson & Garrett Miller are still mending injuries from last season, or in Thompson’s case, longer ago than that.
- Starting five offensive linemen from left to right: Eric Miller, Jalen Grant, Josh Kaltenberger, Sione Finau, Marcus Mbow…. Mahamane Moussa was not with the first or second team but did compete in drills.
- The defensive line is thin, as some are nursing injuries.
- Cornerback may be the thinnest position - they will probably try and add through the portal in May again, last month they added the Stanford transfer, Salim Turner-Muhammad
