75 Days to Purdue Football: Jalen Grant

Purdue has some major questions coming in to this season, but today's player on our football countdown hopes to answer some of them.

Jalen Grant - Sr.

Chicago, IL (Mt. Carmel HS)

6'3", 285 pounds

Offensive Line

2023 Projection: Possible Starter

Grant comes to Purdue with two seasons of eligibility left. mostly because he played as a true freshman during the COVID year of 2020. He started his career at Bowling Green in the MAC and as a true freshman he started in three of their five games at left guard. By 2021 he was a full-time starter, playing two games at guard and 10 at center. Last season he had 12 more starts, this time with 10 at guard and two at center.

With 27 career starts he has a significant amount of experience, even if it was not at Purdue. While he mostly projects as an interior lineman, he can take a guard spot and allow someone else to play outside. He is also a solid option at center for Gus Hartwig should he be needed.

As an interesting historical fact, his high school coach was former Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch. Lynch famously took Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl in 2012 before leading them to a 12-0 regular season the following year. One of those wins was a 55-24 win at Purdue where he threw for 3 TDs and ran for a fourth as the Huskies got the largest MAC win over a Big Ten team by margin of victory ever.