Blue-chip receiver Maliq Carr breaks down Purdue visit
More: Purdue 2020 offers | Purdue 2020 commitments
After signing a breakthrough class of wide receivers for the 2019 season, Purdue's sights are set high for 2020, too.
One of the prominent names on its want list visited this weekend, for the second time: Maliq Carr.
The towering 6-foot-5, 225-plus-pounder from the Detroit area was part of Purdue's junior day event on Saturday, during which it made its pitch clear to the Rivals.com four-star receiver.
"They think they're the best school to utilize my size and athleticism and showcase it for everybody to see as (early) as my freshman year," Carr said. "My freshman year, they said, I could be a great asset with Rondale (Moore), that he'd be double-teamed a lot of create one-on-one on the other side most of the time and that should be easy for me."
For that vision to have a chance to materialize, Purdue will have to beat out a national array of suitors for Carr, who's named a top-five list that also includes Michigan, Notre Dame, LSU and Texas A&M. He's been offered by scores of other name-brand programs.
"I just want to be comfortable, quite honestly," said Carr, who's had a few schools offer him chances to play basketball as well as football.
"I'll probably make my decision before the season, but no one will know 'til my birthday."
That birthday: Oct. 11.
That affords all involved months to work on Carr, and Purdue got some valuable face time this weekend, a few months after he'd previously visited for the Boilermakers' home game against Iowa. That game — the one in which Purdue threw touchdowns of 36, 41 and 82 yards — went a long way in convincing a couple blue-chip 2019 receivers to commit to the Boilermakers and couldn't possibly have hurt with Carr.
"They just throw the ball," he said. "And outside football, there's not another school that talks about character as much as Purdue, and that's a big thing for after football. You don't want the college to use you; you want to use the college to your advantage."
Purdue values balance and variety among its receivers, size on the perimeter being an important element in its view.
Carr certainly would qualify.
"They said it's my combination of size and speed they like," Carr said. "Not to sound cocky, but there's not too many 6-6 guys running as well as I do who aren't gaining a little bit of weight and becoming a tight end, and I'm (not)."
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