Three Thoughts From The Weekend: Corner recruiting, Purdue basketball’s new dimension and more

GoldandBlack.com’s Three Thoughts from the Weekend column runs every Monday morning, with analysis of Purdue football, Boilermaker men’s basketball, recruiting or whatever else comes to mind. In this week’s edition, we discuss Purdue basketball’s new look and much more.

ON A POTENTIAL PURDUE NICHE

Cornerback is one of the most difficult positions there is to recruit from the high school ranks. Often, really good high school DBs wind up at safety to give them more field to impact and rarely do high school offenses and their personnel test the position the way it’ll be tested at higher levels. It takes a pretty specific set of athletic skills and instincts and a distinct attitude to be a great corner prospect, and some of that stuff is difficult to assess on film.

The obvious studs, well, everyone wants them, so the degree of difficulty in recruiting them is considerable.

But, like with most positions, those who set themselves apart somehow will have an advantage. In the Big Ten alone, Michigan State and Iowa are two examples of programs that trusted their corners to play man to man a ton and thus really affect football games. NFL opportunities followed for a lot of those players, pass-rushers followed in recruiting and some pretty good defenses came together.

Purdue’s been pretty appealing to corners in recruiting this cycle under Walters and staff, for transfers and prep prospects alike. That’s largely a credit to the style of play Walters and Co. are promising. If it works, one of the most challenging positions in football to recruit may get that much easier.

ON PURDUE’S WINGS

Even though Purdue returns virtually intact from last season’s Big Ten-champion, top-five form, that doesn’t mean the Boilermakers aren’t transformed from a personnel perspective, with the athleticism they add on the wing. This came to mind as soon as last season ended but even more at practice the other day when during a live drill, the ball was thrown ahead to Camden Heide for an acrobatic finish between two pursuing defenders.

Purdue again rides Zach Edey as far as he can take it this season, but this season more than last, its first option offensively may not necessarily be Edey as much it will be looking up the floor immediately for its wings to advance the ball. Not necessarily to shoot it, but to advance it, make the defense collapse right away, and generate angles, looks from three for trailers or putback opportunities for when they do go straight to the iron.

For as outstanding as Braden Smith was as a freshman last season, it’s players like Heide and Myles Colvin who can be the sorts of weapons that make point guards look really good. Purdue’s not had many guys like them, legit 6-foot-5-plus athletes who can play and finish in transition, but also attack the baseline or shoot corner threes off ball reversals in halfcourt offense and be interchangeable on defense.

This is a big deal, one of the stories of this season to come for Purdue from a personnel perspective.

Cincinnati

ON A KEY RECRUITING GROUND

For as much as recruiting at Purdue gets associated (rightly) with Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and Chicago and, under Jeff Brohm, Louisville, this football-and-basketball recruiting cycle has reminded of another Midwest hub that’s become crucially important for Purdue: Cincinnati.

A sneaky great football city located in one of the best football states in America, Cincinnati has been a focal point for every Boilermaker football staff I’ve covered, one of those places where Ohio State will skim the top, but there’s plenty of players to go around. Look at UC’s football success since Brian Kelly for proof.

Ryan Walters and staff have been no exception, as key commits Koy Beasley and Tra’Mar Harris are Cincinnatians. Is it Cincinnatians? It can’t be. Anyway …

Purdue basketball casts a wider net every year in recruiting than just working Indiana or even the Midwest but it is notable that the in-state grassroots programs, notably the Indiana Elite and Indy Heat organizations, are going to have lots of players from Ohio, Cincinnati very much included. That’s how Raleigh Burgess happened, or at least part of how it happened.

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