BOILING OVER: Football, hoops recruiting galore, assistant contract info, portal buzz and more
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PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING
• Purdue has a raft of visitors for Thursday’s practice. The most touted is 2025 CB Mason Alexander from Hamilton Southeastern. 2024 Ohio OT Dane Wleklinski, 2024 Indiana EDGE Terrelle Elmore, 2024 Indiana S Micah Lillard and 2024 Indiana RB Xavier Williams are other key targets on campus, along with 2025 Maryland EDGE Kamden Laudenslager. Wleklinski is the son of former Purdue DE Bill (1994-95).
• Laudenslager is interesting. He’s attending practice Thursday night and then coming back to campus Friday morning to talk more with coaches. Laudenslager is from Harrisburg, Pa., buts lives in the dorms and goes to school at The McDonogh School in Owings Mills outside of Baltimore. He tells me he has 14 D1 offers and is a two-year starter on defense. He is being recruited as an OLB/Edge.
Laudenslager took up lacrosse this spring for the first time, playing for a McDonogh program ranked No. 22 in the country. A bunch of his football teammates played and talked Laudenslager into joining.
Illinois and Iowa wanted him to visit this trip but he couldn’t fit it in his schedule.
• Purdue plans to play host to Penn State portal CB Marquis Wilson likely next week. Wilson finished the 2022 season with 20 tackles and two PBUs. He played both ways in 2021, recording three catches for 28 yards on offense while notching six tackles on defense. The 5-11, 180-pounder will be a fifth-year senior in 2023.
• Purdue also is planning to play host to Utah State DE Byron Vaughns, a grad transfer with one season of eligibility. He was a two-year starter for the Aggies after transferring from Texas, where he played for three seasons. The 6-4, 225-pound Vaughns notched 100 tackles, 6.5 sacks, six pass breakups and two forced fumbles in two seasons at USU. He was the defensive MVP of the Mountain West title game in 2021 and is regarded as one of the Aggies’ best defenders.
• Purdue is still in on Maryland’s Tank Booker. The massive Terp d-tackle has made the rounds and visited many places, including Texas A&M, Louisville and Ohio State.
• Friendly reminder that the portal opens on April 14. How many Purdue players will jump in once spring ball ends on April 22? Six? Eight? Ten?
• TE commit Eric Karner landed an offer from Alabama on Monday. The Elmhurst, Ill., product known as “Baby Gronk” already seemed to be a recruit on the fence, as he reportedly was considering an offer from Michigan State. Can Karner say “no” to the Crimson Tide? Bottom line: Hang on. Karner is going to go through the recruiting process and take visits. And, he’ll probably continue to pick up offers. But, know this: Purdue will continue to battle and try to hold on.
• Purdue saw Mylan Graham commit to Ohio State this week. He’s the No. 1 WR in Indiana, according to On.3.com, and was a prime Boilermaker target. Was the Purdue staff surprised Graham pledged in April? It’s thought so. Purdue knew it would be in for an uphill fight, but it’s believed it thought it was right there in the running.
• Purdue had Valparaiso OL Matt Hofer on campus last week. But, he won’t be a Boilermaker. Hofer—who didn’t hold a Purdue offer—committed to Toledo on Monday. If Purdue wants Hofer, it probably still can get him. But the staff already has taken two interior o-linemen—Jordan King and Jaden Ball—and it may want to be judicious moving forward.
• For Purdue to land a quarterback from the portal who will be content to be a backup, it may have to look to the FCS level … or maybe even lower. Purdue already has shown a willingness to look deep into the recesses of college football for help, taking a commitment from NAIA offensive lineman Ben Farrell this offseason.
• How will Purdue replace G Sione Finau, who surprisingly jumped into the portal last week? Will the staff look to replace Finau with a portal addition? He looked to be in line to start at guard opposite of Marcus Mbow. It’s thought Finau wants to be closer to home in Keller, Texas, which is in the Arlington area. It will be interesting to see where he lands.
Purdue already has imported two interior offensive linemen in Ben Farrell—who will arrive after the second semester from NAIA Indiana Wesleyan—and Jalen Grant—who is going through spring drills after transferring from Bowling Green.
• Big deal for Purdue to make the final top five for 2024 Michigan DL Brandon Davis-Swain. Some heavy hitters are in the running: Auburn, USC, Michigan, Colorado. Purdue is in this fight, I’m told.
PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING
• OK, so bear with me here: Purdue’s search for a grad transfer guard may resolve itself quickly and quietly, just the way most schools would prefer it.
Visit weekends have begun, starting now. Ethically, we’re bound by on-the-record/off-the-record sorts of dynamics, which we hope you can respect, but nothing stays quiet anymore, ever, so we’re just punting this one for the time being. But, in the best-case scenario for Purdue, there will be news the next few days.
Should Purdue land a guard, it will not be done in the portal, as Brandon Newman’s scholarship opens for next season (and then you just let the chips fall where they may thereafter), but any second signee would have to be an impact guy, not just someone filling a need.
Purdue will recruit LJ Cryer, and as we said the other day. Now, we will find out how badly he wanted to be at Purdue, because he will probably have his chance now. His comments about crying when his Purdue scholarship dried up have gotten a lot of attention and we can confirm at least that his family told people that privately at the time, but I will also add that at the time of his in-season visit, everyone — everyone — had the kid pegged for LSU. Then, Will Wade got got and Cryer went to Baylor.
Anyway, we’ll see. (BN)
PURDUE FOOTBALL
• Got the contract for strength coach Kiero Small. He has a three-year contract that runs until Dec. 31, 2025. Small is paid $500,000 annually and also is eligible for bonuses tied to team academic and team on-field performance. He also is provided a courtesy vehicle/or $500 a month.
• Also received the contract for GM Noah Joseph, who is working on a two-year deal that pays $275,000 per year with bonus possibilities.
• The contract for offensive coordinator Graham Harrell still has not been executed. Neither has the deal for offensive line coach Marcus Johnson, who was hired prior to the start of spring practice after Matt Mattox left abruptly for personal reasons.
• Yanni Karlaftis on the difference between the Brohm and Walters staffs: “I feel like there are different people with different personalities. And, of course, it’s a different defense. We do different things. I feel like that’s a big part. And then, along from that, I feel like the coaches are very nice guys. I feel like they’re closer to our age. So, maybe they understand us more as people.”
PURDUE BASKETBALL
Looking ahead to next year’s schedule, Purdue has Maui as its signature event, plus a home game against a Big East team (probably Marquette, though, haha) and another neutral-site game in the new Indy Classic format.
Whether Purdue works to add a higher-level game (probably on the road), as well, may depend on what Zach Edey does, because Painter always tries to play a schedule that’s as strong as his team should be. (BN)
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