Coach Jeff Brohm opening statement: I think it's an exciting day for us. We feel great about how this day has come about. A lot of the young men that have committed to join our program are big additions that we feel can come in and compete, play, do a great job for us, and when it's all said and done, be great players for us. A lot of hard work has been put in by (director of football player personnel) Eron Hodges and our recruiting staff, all of our assistant coaches, have done a great job.

Recruiting takes a lot of time and effort, and you have to build relationships and build trust, and I know a lot of our coaches have worked very hard to get that done. I feel confident that the players we brought in can come in here, fit in well, do a good job, be great football players, and have a lot of success. And that is what we are looking forward to is coaching these young men. We're excited. There's quite a few of them that probably will enroll early, which is even more exciting to get them here and get our hands on them right away. These are guys we think can come in and do a good job at Purdue. Just like recruiting, there's always going to be continued recruiting beyond this day, and we'll continue to do that all the way up until Fall Camp starts.

Q: It was pretty apparent the last few years which freshmen were probably the most likely to play right away, based on some of the guys you were able to sign. Do you have a beat yet on which of these guys in the freshman class might be able to help you right away?

Brohm: I think we have a good crew of young guys. I think at the quarterback position, we have a talented young man, but it always takes a little while to get adjusted. We went down the depth chart this year (with all the injuries). I think Michael (Alaimo) has a lot of ability and has played against good competition, so we're excited about him.

At the receiver position, I feel like we have some weapons already, but we've got more. When you look at Maliq Carr who is a dynamic player who is big and long and talented and athletic. I think we can do a lot of things with him, and we're going to do our best to make sure that happens. Then you go to Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen who is extremely talented and very natural and very smooth. Even at this point, he is very far along in the process, and I think he can come in and compete. I think both of these guys will enroll early.

Then you look at Collin Sullivan, who is a big, strong receiver out of Texas we think can come in and compete as well. He's physically gifted and strong and has played some good football. Then you look at Marcellus Moore, and this guy's just fast. He's the fastest guy in the country. We have to do a good job of making sure we get the ball in his hands a lot of different ways. I think we can do some dynamic things.

When you look at the offensive line, these guys don't get all the credit they deserve, but we always need to make sure we bring in the best group we can. I think all of the offensive lineman can have the opportunity to come in and compete. Gus Hartwig, being the in-state player, I think has a bright future. The fact that he can play center, I think this is a guy that, we'll see how he stacks up and measures up, but I wouldn't be shocked if he can jump in the mix.

Defensively, we need linebackers, and I think we went out and got a bunch of linebackers. I think Ben Kreul has a lot of talent and size and is very athletic, plays basketball. If you look at Kydran Jenkins, he's strong and fit. He's physical. DaMarcus Mitchell, that's an older gentleman we think can come in for two years and hopefully step in and showcase what he's all about, year one. This guy is big, strong, and physical. He reminds me of a slightly bigger version of Ja'Whaun Bentley, and we just have to get him up to speed as fast as we can because we think, as far as ability, he can do that.

The two defensive linemen we signed, I feel great about Bryce Austin, as he gives us the size we need in the middle already at 6-2, 305. I think, like all linemen, you have to keep working and get stronger and better but he's physically where you would want him to be at this point. Greg Hudgins is a defensive end that has good length, has played good football where he's at, and we're excited about the future he has. He wants to come in and be great, so we're going to throw him in the mix right away. You look at the secondary positions, at safety, I think Sanoussi Kane is going to come in early and compete. He has some strength and swagger to him. Antonio Stevens has the length and look you want. He's very athletic, plays basketball as well, and we're going to throw him in the mix once he gets here, come the summer months.

The corner position is a position of need, junior college Geovonte' Howard I think looks the part. He's got a great body. He's strong and physical already. He's played some good football, and I think you'll see him thrown in the mix off the bat. We're excited to get him on campus. Anthony Romphf is an interesting athlete. He'a a guy we recruited for a long time. He wanted to play quarterback, and it wasn't until the last couple of weeks when we found out he was open to playing in the secondary. We talked to him and expressed our need for an athletic corner that has size and can run and wants to play the position and be a great player, and he definitely was responsive to that. His physical attributes can help him be a great corner. All these guys have the capability. Are they going to be the next David Bell, George Karlaftis, Rondale Moore, we'll see? I there's a handful of guys that have a bright future.

Q: I think the mid-year number is 9? Is that the most you've ever had?

Brohm: To this point, it is. And it wouldn't shock me if we continued to add to that as we continue through the next months.

Q: When you talk about recruiting after signing day, are you talking about the transfer market?

Brohm: Without question, we're going to be active about getting some experience in here. And that will go all the way up to the summer months.

Q: What can Maliq Carr's physical dimensions add to your receiving core, as a complement to what you already have?

Brohm: I think Maliq is a special talent that has a rare blend of size, athleticism, strength, and speed. We want to utilize that, and that means being able to play out wide, being able to play in the slot. The means making sure we can get him on the field. I think he's got great ball skills, so we have to get him here and find out what he runs well, where does he like to run it, what is he best at. And we have to make sure that happens. When you have a guy his size and stature, we have to do a good job of getting him on the field and utilizing the things he's good at early and continue to develop the other things so he can get better throughout the years.

Q: Oftentimes when you have good, young players at a position, that may be something to overcome in recruiting for that position. How have you been able to keep stacking really good wide receiver classes when there are a lot of guys coming back and only one football.

Brohm: I think that these receivers want to play at an offense that is going to be able to showcase their skills and utilize their talents. I think when you look at the last two years at Purdue, we've had the BIG Freshman of the year at the receiver position. I think the numbers and stats speak for themselves. We take pride in developing skill players. On offense, developing the ability to throw the ball and be a vertical threat and improve your skills so you can play at the next level, if you have an opportunity to do that. We're always going to continue to work hard at that. At the beginning of the year, we thought we had a lot of receivers, and at the end of the year, we needed more. Throughout the course of the year, you never know what's going to happen, but it's important to us that we get the ball to our playmakers, and if it happens to be a lot of great receivers, we're going to make sure we get it to them.

Q: Who are the nine players that will come early?

Brohm: I think Maliq Carr will be here early, Gus Hartwig, Geovonte' Howard from junior college, Josh Kaltenberger, Sanoussi Kane, DaMarcus Mitchell from junior college, Marcellus Moore, Antonio Romphf, and Abdur-Rahmaan Yaseen. I may have left out one, but I'm pretty sure that's all of them to this point.

Q: Who are candidates to add to that list?

Brohm: Well I think when we say, "add to the list", we're still actively recruiting the graduate transfer market, and type of market where there are older, experienced players that are looking to leave somewhere and go play.

Q: With the quarterback (Michael) Alaimo, what stands out about him?

Brohm: I think Michael Alaimo has a big arm. He has some athleticism as well to go along with it. He has good size and has played against good competition in New Jersey. He played in an offense that didn't like to spread it out and they played a system where it may be a been a little harder to get your stats where you want to get them. He still performed pretty well. He has a large arm and fits what we want to do in terms of receivers. I think he has some good abilities and will come in and compete.

Q: He won't be here early, like most quarterbacks. Does that put him behind in any way?

Brohm: Coming in early is a bonus. I think you can do that if you want to. For most quarterbacks, it's going to be beneficial. We'll get him here this summer, and we'll get our hands on him in the summer months and be able to work with him on certain things. At Fall Camp, we will see where he is at. I think he will be in competition.

Q: On a side note, are you going to have enough quarterbacks for the Spring?

Brohm: As you guys know, we're a little low at certain things. We're trying to address and will continue to try to do that, and we will practice the ones we have.

Q: The backstory with Yaseen. Was he somebody you had on your radar for a while?

Brohm: I believe we were the first ones to offer him two years ago. I remember them coming down and visiting with us. We had a good visit. He committed somewhere else. Coach Shephard was the lead recruiter there, and he kept in contact and didn't really do much more than that. As we got closer to making the true decision and sign on the dotted line, I think Abdur is a player that wants to showcase what he's all about. He wanted to be as good as he thinks he can be, develop his skills, and maybe play beyond, I think he felt comfortable that we provided him that opportunity. His father trusted us that we were going to help him utilize those skills and put them on display and get a chance to do great things and take care of him off the field to develop him to be a great man. I think because we had a previous relationship early in recruiting, as we got towards the end, it made a big factor that these guys trusted the things we think we can do with his skills.

Q: Does he have some David Bell characteristics to him?

Brohm: Without a question he does. When you look at the receiving core, Abdur has caught a lot of footballs. When you watch him play, he is smooth running routes, natural ball skills, inside, scoring touchdowns, making plays. He has a very unique ability that we would like to get our hands on early and see how far we can get him to where he's read to play.

Q: You signed two junior college players. Are you done with junior college. Are you still in that market?

Brohm: Yes.

Q: It seems like junior college players take time to get adjusted to the next level of football. Can you be patient with these guys, knowing the immediate help you need at those two positions.

Brohm: I think ever year is different. I think we have some needs you need to address in those positions, as far as adding some experience and depth and guys that can possibly play right away. I think, in general, on the defensive side of the ball, you can play and adapt easier. And when you look at DaMarcus Mitchell, he's a large physical specimen. I'm not going to put anything past him. We think he is very talented, and we just have to catch him up to speed as fast as possible and make sure the package is enough for him to handle. Then you look at Geovonte' Howard, and he's physically build. If you look at pictures of him or see him in person, this person is physically built and ready for the position. It is just a matter of getting him up to speed. This guy has played two years or so of football against the junior college ranks and has done a good job. So I think both of the guys can come in and have an opportunity to play right away.

Q: You hit the New Jersey and New York market pretty hard. Was there a lot of talent there, or is this an area you'd like to cultivate a little bit more?

Brohm: Every year is a little different. I think Coach Poindexter has a lot of great connections out East. We were able to identify some guys early on. We were able to get some position coaches involved early on. With this early signing day, you're able to kind of move forward to the next class in the month of January, which we'll do well. We have to be aggressive and identify who we like at an early stage that when these weeks happen, we know exactly where we're going and when were going. I think we did a pretty good job last year, early on, doing that. Our coaches did, our recruiting department did a good job, and we have to continue to do a good job of being as ahead of the curve as we can so that in January we're going after the next bunch. As far as this year, we had some success there. I can't tell you exactly why, but we had some good relationship there. Poindexter and our other coaches got up there, and we have some good relationships and people we know up there that trusted us to send their players to us, and we feel good about the connection.

Q: What type of runner is Tirek Murphy?

Brohm: We really like Tirek. He's a young man that works incredibly hard, and he's strong and physical. He's got athleticism as well, and I think he has a bright future. Tirek plays at Christ the King and we visited his school this past week, and we talked about the hard working group of guys that get up early or ride the subway to get the school. Every day at practice, they have to take the subway down the street a couple of blocks to get to practice with full pads in a bag. These guys are handed nothing. I think this is a young man that, when he gets here, will thrive. He is physically talented and an extremely hard worker, and I think he can come in and compete right away.

Q: What's still on your to-do list for February, in terms of what you were not able to fulfill in this early period?

Brohm: Offensive and defensive lines are always going to be a priority, and we're going to see what we can do to get more young men in here that are maybe a little farther along and throw them in the mix. The offensive line, number one, we'll continue to look at, and the defensive line a little bit. Linebackers, we have a lot of young linebackers, but it wouldn't hurt to have an experienced one, if we could find one that we liked. Those are the main areas.

Q: What about quarterback?

Brohm: We always look for that. I would never rule out any any position, so if someone we can identify that we feel like is a perfect fit that could help us right away, we'll move on that. in the last couple of years, we've had opportunities. I try to be as honest as I can in this graduate transfer quarterback market. I think it's easy to stockpile guys. We did it last year and we did it the year before by maybe not giving them the full truth, but I don't want to do that. I think we had Elijah Sindelar, and I had to be honest and say that I thought he was going to be our starter. But ever year's different. I want to be honest with all the quarterbacks coming in, but also provide an opportunity if we see it fits.

Q: When do you plan on hiring a defensive coordinator. Do you have a time table for that?

Brohm: I think that we're in the process of looking towards that right now, and we'll continue to be thorough with that. I don't want to rush into any quick decisions. I want to make sure we identify all the things we need to and research it to make sure we make a very educated decision.

Q: What are you looking for in one?

Brohm: There's a big list all those things. I think its whatever can make our defense the best, and I think that you have to look at all the pluses and minuses of each one and how they fit in. Without question, being very thorough in our research (search) and exploring this so we make the right decision. Whoever we think is the best person to help our defense and help us win, we'll take him.

Q: Talk about Lorenzo Neal and his decision, as well as how close he came to playing last year?

Brohm: With Lorenzo, we're exciting that he decided to come back and play. Throughout the course of last year, you have to respect all your players and what's going on with them, and we did that with him. To his credit, he worked hard to get back. I know he didn't get on the field, but he worked hard to get back. There were some things that happened along the way so that it didn't work out. It wasn't the perfect scenario for him, we just have to move on from there.

He wants to get well and get back on the field, and we will help him an every aspect to do that. As I talked with Lorenzo many times in the last few weeks, it's going to be a priority to me and our position coaches and assistant coaches to make sure we're on every step of the way for him. I know what he wants, and he wants an opportunity to get healthy and get a degree and have the opportunity to play at the next level. I need to do a great job so we stay on every step of the way with Lorenzo, and while he is going down the right path, we need to make sure we're motivating him and pushing him to make sure he gets to 100 percent and where he feels good and feels comfortable and is ready to go for Fall Camp.

Q: Is Rondale (Moore) coming along okay? Do you think we will see him in spring football?

Brohm: I think when it comes to his hamstring, it's in a good place right now. There are some other things we're going to get him healthy on the spring, so I'm not sure when you'll see him out there. But as far as his hamstring, yes.

Q: Were you surprised that Elijah (Sindelar) is not coming back?

Brohm: We've had numerous discussions, myself and Elijah, and I think that we're grateful for everything he's done for this program. He's an extremely hard worker and very intelligent. For a couple of games in 2019, he led the nation in passing, before the injury. These things happen, and you have to kind of deal with it. I think with Elijah, he got a great education and has worked hard to excel in the classroom. He has other good things going on his life, and we have to respect his decision and wish him the best for what he wants to do. From our standpoint, we would have loved to have him back. We also want to respect his decision.

Q: The state of Michigan produced five guys. Can you talk about your success in the mitten state?

Brohm: I think Coach Shephard has done a great job up there building relationships with these coaches and recruiting these young men. There's a lot of great football in that area, and we've had good success in the past few years, bringing them down and having them be part of our program. We think we got a lot of good players from up there, and we will continue to recruit up there. It's not that far of a drive, and we feel good about recruiting that state for the future.

Q: This is your fourth signing day press conference at Purdue. How has it evolved since you got here to what it is now, in terms of building your foundation for recruiting and what your emphasis is in recruiting.

Brohm: I think recruiting is something that we are now in the ballpark of where we want to be. We feel like we can get top-notch talent to come here and be part of it. We have great facility, great facilities, great fans, some really good young players, and we think there's a bright future. Now that doesn't mean we're done. We still have to work for it and ear your stripes. The harder we work, the more we produce, the more we put in, will help as well. All of our guys are committed to wanting to win. All of our coaches are committed to wanting to win. That means doing what you're supposed to do and a lot more. That is going to be our goal this year is to do a lot more, and while there is a great nucleus of really good players, we need to make sure everyone on the team is doing their part. And that's what has to happen. If we want to get everyone to buy in and want to do their part and want to do more and find ways to lay it on the line and have some fun competing to be the best you can be every single day and push this thing forward. We're definitely right were we need to be. It's just a matter of excelling in every aspect of it, winning football games, and attacking recruiting. That means identifying talent and getting them in here to play for us.

Q: What are Gus Hartwig's strengths, and how do you see him sliding in here?

Brohm: Gus has some strengths, and he has played some good football. He can do a lot of things on the offensive line for us. His ability to snap the ball at his size and the numerous talents he has for us is a bonus. We'll get him in the mix, we'll see what we need to do to press him forward, but he has the look you want, he has the athleticism you want, and he wants to be here and compete, and we're excited to get him here.

Q: You have a couple of guys that want to do other sports as well. What's your general Marcellus Moore running track and Maliq Carr playing basketball, and how you recruit those guys when they want to play multiple sports?

Brohm: They're lucky because their head coach played multiple sports, so there is a little bit of leeway when it comes to that. There a lot of guys that are physically talented and gifted, and even in today's age of high school football and people like to concentrate on one, I'm the opposite. The more sports you play, the better. I wish more people did it. Obviously, in college it gets a little tougher. But, if someone is talented enough to do it, I want to give that opportunity. Maliq Carr and Marcellus Moore, we want to provide them an opportunity to live out a dream and see where it goes, and we're all for it.

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2019. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.