Auburn transfer LB Octavius Brothers seeks playing time at Purdue
Purdue's defense received a boost on Thursday when Auburn redshirt freshman linebacker Octavius "O.C." Brothers announced he was transferring to Purdue.
Brothers played in just one game in 2020, making one tackle. As a true freshman in 2019, he played in two games and made two tackles with a TFL.
The 6-1, 236-pound native of Rockledge, Fla., which is located on the East Coast of central Florida near Melbourne and Titusville, was a three-star recruit, picking the Tigers over the likes of Ole Miss, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina and Tennessee, among others.
Brothers will join a Boilermaker linebacking unit that has potential. Players like seniors DaMarcus Mitchell and Jaylan Alexander will lead the way. Junior Jalen Graham will be a key player, and redshirt freshman Khali Saunders is one to watch. Touted true freshman Yanni Karlaftis could impact in 2021, too.
GoldandBlack.com spoke with Bryan Matthews, the senior editor of AuburnSports.com--the Auburn Rivals site--to get the low-down on Brothers.
GoldandBlack.com: What type of player is Purdue getting?
Matthews: He did not get an opportunity really to play much at Auburn. His first year (2019), he redshirted. I think he may have made appearances at the end of a couple of games. Auburn had a lot of veteran linebackers over the past three or four years, juniors and seniors that start. He was behind them, basically, just had to wait his turn. At some point last summer, I think he had a shoulder injury or some surgery that really kept them out early on. Then, he decided to transfer. I know coming in, they thought really highly of him. They thought he was a kid with really good size and athleticism, a guy that can come in and compete and eventually win a spot in a couple of years.
GoldandBlack.com: Were you surprised he transferred?
Matthews: A little bit. I look at any player who doesn't play a lot for two or three years as a real candidate to transfer. They get recruited and sort of expect to play right away. And when that doesn't happen, sometimes they start looking to move pretty quick.
GoldandBlack.com: What can you say about his skill-set?
Matthews: I remember he was a pretty good receiver, too, in high school. So, he is a really good athlete. And I thought he was pretty physical for his size, too, coming out of high school. I wasn't able to see much at all of him at Auburn the last couple of years and not getting a whole lot of reports because Auburn had a bunch of veteran linebackers, so you didn't really hear much about those young guys. But I would say the two things that stood out to me were he has a good frame and is a pretty athletic a guy who just needed to get bigger and more physical.
GoldandBlack.com: Do you think he's an outside linebacker?
Matthews: I would say so.
GoldandBlack.com: And he entered the NCAA transfer portal on December 8, before Malzahn got fired?
Matthews: He entered the portal before Gus Malzahn was fired on December 13th. So, this was just (Brothers) looking for opportunities and playing time.
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