More: Purdue's class targeted key areas

Jeff Brohm wasn't accustomed to piling up on home visits in the first three weeks of December and being as active as he was early this month.

But a change in the recruiting calendar — an early signing date that started Wednesday and extends through Friday — left him little choice.

So Brohm jumped on charter flights, chatted up parents, sold Purdue to prospects and flew back to West Lafayette, only to repeat the process over and over. It admittedly wore him out about two weeks in, but he bounced back physically and kept at it.

The end result produced a first-day signing class of 22 athletes — that'll be the extent for this early signing period though more could be added in February — and now Brohm can shift full attention to Purdue's preparation for the Foster Farms Bowl on Dec. 27.

Was it all a wild, sped-up process? Yes. But one that Brohm ultimately thought was worth it.

"As I’ve gone through it, it’s good to kind of get it to where it’s at right now at this point so you’re not fighting for the next six weeks as well for a lot of these guys, so I kind of liked the new signing date," Brohm said. "Was it more work? Yes, it was. It was something that probably after two weeks, I think I did one day kind of feel it and have to kind of get over it a little bit and slept it off a little and was able to regroup. It’s an important time, and when you have a lot of commitments, a lot of people you’re seeing, it’s an active three weeks. Luckily, we have a lot of great resources here to help us get where we need to go.

"Our bowl practice, fortunately for us, we gave our guys two weeks off to recoup and recover, which gave us a little extra time. We eased back into it to make sure we were getting guys healthy still and it kind of gave us the early part of the week. At the end of the week, we had to juggle both for sure and it was difficult. But I think it worked out well. Our assistant coaches handled it well. It was very productive."

Brohm figured an earlier signing date was coming, and he considers himself someone who adjusts to change pretty well. So that's what he did when December rolled around: Adjusted.

He said he saw the new period as a positive, and it helped that he and Purdue's staff had what he called a good grasp on who they were recruiting and recruited them hard.

"You’re going to have a little bit of change here and there, but I don’t think you’ll see as much change at this point as maybe you did when signing day was the first Wednesday of February," Brohm said of the classes. "Every team, if you ask them, has adjusted very well to it. You’re hopeful you can get a good nucleus and then save the remaining month and a half to just shore up certain needs and be very selective in what you do."

Of Purdue's 22-player class, three will enroll in January and be able to participate in spring football. Quarterback Jack Plummer, receiver Amad Anderson and defensive lineman Jeff Marks will get a chance to get a leg-up on their rookie teammates, the rest of whom are expected to arrive on campus in June.

Brohm said other programs may put more emphasis on getting recruits to enroll early than he does — "It's not something you have to have," he said — but he does think it can help the newcomers to get acclimated to college, schemes and working out with the team when they can.

"Some guys, it’s going to take some time and you don’t want to rush them, so to speak, and push them into doing something because they’re ready. The three young men who are coming in, I think they’ll all fit in perfectly," Brohm said. "I think they’re coming for a reason. Sometimes you get guys who want to come early and it’s not for the exact reasons they should and they want to maybe enjoy themselves a little too much. I think the three young men who have coming in love football. We love their personality. We love their makeup. I think they’ll come in and fit in perfectly with our guys and really do a good job this spring for us.

"I think all three guys will come in and compete for spots and add to the competition and will get plenty of repetitions and we’ll see how fast they can come along."

Brohm called Anderson, a 5-foot-11 receiver from Staten Island, N.Y., a "pretty polished receiver right now." If Anderson is able to get stronger in the spring and over the summer, Brohm said he thinks Anderson has a chance to play in Year 1, in part because of his playmaking ability, speed, good hands and good route-running.

Plummer will join Elijah Sindelar and David Blough as QBs on Purdue's current roster who enrolled early. Brohm was able to jump on Plummer early when the QB was under the radar because of a connection with an assistant coach at Plummer's high school in Arizona. Despite not many people publicly talking about Plummer, Brohm said he "really liked him" and was ecstatic to land the 6-foot-5, 220-pounder.

The same was the case with Marks, who didn't really enter the picture until December, Brohm said. But as soon as the staff met Marks, a defensive end who could grow into a tackle, they were impressed.

"He’s a country strong young man," Brohm said. "He’s one guy when you shake his hand, the second time around, you’re going to put it behind your back and you’re going to pat him with the other hand. He’s going to naturally just break it. He’s got a grip that’s like no other. He’s just really strong."

In what seemed like a rare occurrence of late, Purdue didn't lose any of its recruits late in the process to other schools.

Brohm said that was thanks to a combination of factors.

"I think we developed a good relationship with our guys," he said. "(We tell them), ‘Hey, if you’re not ready to commit, don’t commit. If you still need to see some other places, then don’t commit. We don’t want a commitment that’s not solid.' While we are trying to get people to tell us Purdue is the spot for them, we’re not going to force anything. If someone doesn’t want to be at Purdue, we don’t want them here. We want guys who want to play for Purdue, they want to help us help them achieve their goals, they believe in us, they believe in our program, they believe in the people and we want to make sure they’re comfortable. So I think all these guys felt comfortable when they got on board. They understood we earned our trust, they earned our trust and we’re happy that everyone stayed solid.

"Throughout the course of it, certain things may change here and there, but we’re going to constantly evaluate senior video. We’re going to make sure our players understand that. Everybody is possibly going to make a mistake here or there, but we feel like our relationship was solid with all these guys. … I’m not interested in telling somebody something that’s not true to get them on board. That’s not me. I don’t want any part of it. We want to be honest in what we’re doing, and I think our players have appreciated that. Because of that, everyone stayed true."

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