Head coach breakdown: Purdue commit OL Jaden Ball

Purdue continues to quickly build it Class of 2024, adding Ohio offensive lineman Jaden Ball on Wednesday.

Ball is the fifth commitment in Purdue’s Class of 2024 and the second offensive lineman. Earlier, the Boilermaker staff landed pledges from OL Jordan King, QB Marcos Davila, TE Eric Karner and CB Hudauri Hines.

Ball plays at Bloom-Carroll High, which is located roughly 20-25 miles southeast of Columbus. The school competes at the Division 3 level in an Ohio football class system that has seven levels with Division I being the biggest. Bloom-Carroll High was state runner-up in Division 3 last season.

GoldandBlack.com spoke to the head coach at Bloom-Carrol High Jeremy McKinney to learn more about Ball.

MORE: Purdue adds commitment from Ohio OL Jaden Ball | Purdue 2024 commitments

GoldandBlack.com: What type of player is Purdue getting?

McKinney: He’s a big physical interior offensive lineman. He plays guard for us and he looks to finish blocks at all times. Last year, we played in 16 games, had 176 pancakes in the 16 games. As a team, we ran for 4,000 yards. Most of the time be behind him.

GoldandBlack.com: What does he need to improve?

McKinney: Last year, because of what we were able to do offensively, we didn’t throw the ball a whole lot. We’re gonna do a little more of that this year. He just hasn’t been asked to pass block as much for us in the last year. We threw the ball a little more sophomore year. That’s something we’re looking to continue to build this year.

GoldandBlack.com: Will Purdue use him at guard or center, on the interior?

McKinney: Yes.

GoldandBlack.com: Is he an early enrollee guy?

McKinney: He could be. We started to talk about it. I don’t know for sure if that’s what he wants to do. He only needs one more English class to graduate. He has enough credits now. He just needs that English to graduate. And he can do that in the first semester next school year. So, it’s something we’ve talked about.

GoldandBlack.com: Why did he pick Purdue?

McKinney: I think when he went over a couple of weeks ago, he really enjoyed campus, he felt at home. He really loved spending time with the coaches. He’s really pretty quiet. So, for him to say that he really enjoyed spending time, to me, I kind of had a feeling when he came back from that visit a couple weeks ago that this might be it.

GoldandBlack.com: Is his commitment solid?

McKinney: Yeah. He was really looking to have a decision made by the summer. And he’s a really smart kid. So, he definitely was going to put in the time to figure out where he really wanted to be. I certainly don’t think this is something that he would have decided lightly in any way shape or form.

GoldandBlack.com: Does he play other sports?

McKinney: He throws in track. He grew up wrestling as well, but he hasn’t wrestled the last two years just because he’s trying to put on weight so it wasn’t as conducive to what he was trying to do at the time.

GoldandBlack.com: Do you use Jaden on defense?

McKinney: We did a little bit last year but not a ton. But next year, we’re going to. We just didn’t do it a whole lot last year.

GoldandBlack.com: Anything else unique about Jaden?

McKinney: He’s a high academic guy. And to me, the thing that stands out the most if I had to pick one thing about Jaden, is he wants to be the best in everything he does. He doesn’t like to lose or not be as good as he can be in whatever he’s doing. Whether it’s something goofy like playing pickup basketball, or in the classroom and especially on the football field.

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