Boilermakers get their top pick at quarterback
Purdue's football coaches, as they do every year, have sifted through video of literally hundreds of high school quarterbacks looking for that one guy.
Not only do they apparently think they found him, but on Tuesday night, they got him, when Texas' Russell Bellomy committed to the Boilermakers over a double-digit list of offers that certainly would have grown in coming weeks and months.
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The 6-foot-3, 180-or-so-pound dual-threat QB from James Martin High School in Arlington, Texas, visited West Lafayette for Purdue's spring game last month along with his father.
"Everything just seemed right," Bellomy said. "It felt like a home away from home, like a family atmosphere. Everything just clicked.
"From that visit (on), I've had that mentality of, 'Purdue's right for me.' ... It's always been my favorite and it was time (to commit). It feels great to be a Boilermaker."
The feeling is undoubtedly mutual.
It sounds like Bellomy was one of Purdue's highest recruiting priorities, regardless of position.
"The first time I talked to them," Bellomy said, "Coach (Gary) Nord said he'd watched X number of films, somewhere in the hundreds range, and that I was their No. 1 (quarterback).
"From then on, I've been at the top of their board ... and they've been my No. 1. They were very patient with me throughout the recruiting process and I really appreciate that."
Among those who offered Bellomy during his short-lived recruitment were Michigan State, Minnesota, South Florida, Colorado and Boise State.
Stay tuned for much more Wednesday on Purdue's second 2011 commitment. The first came from tight end Robert Kugler.
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