Do-it-all Central Catholic star Daniel Roach will walk on at Purdue

Central Catholic High School is developing a pipeline of sorts to Purdue. The latest Knight to matriculate to the Boilermakers is do-it-all Daniel Roach.

The diminutive Roach was the cornerstone of a C.C. team that won the 2019 Class A state title, overcoming a 1-3 start to win 11 in a row and finish 12-3. Roach made a Class A championship game record 11 catches for 111 yards to help the program win its eight state championship. He was named Class A all-state by the AP as an all-purpose back.

“I played in the slot, running back, corner, safety, returned kicks and punts and played a little bit of linebacker in a game,” said Roach.

At Purdue, the 5-8, 185-pound Roach—creatively nicknamed “Huge”—will be a receiver.

“I’m smart,” said Roach, who made 81 tackles and four interceptions last year. “And I think I can get open. I can do a bit of everything. In high school, I played a lot of different positions.”

What does he want to improve?

“I need to work on everything,” said Roach, who had 560 kickoff return yards and 146 punt return yards in 2019. “Catching the football, route-running and fine-tuning the details of that.”

How fast is Roach?

“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “I never have been timed in the 40.”

Central Catholic has sent Danny (2012-15) and Jackson Anthrop to Purdue in recent years. Jackson Anthrop will be a fifth-year senior on the 2020 Purdue squad. C.C. also produced offensive tackle Coy Cronk, who will be a graduate transfer at Iowa after playing his first four seasons at Indiana.

“I am most comparable to Jackson (5-11, 190),” said Roach. “But I have a long ways to go to get to his level.”

Roach’s 2019 C.C. teammate—offensive lineman Gus German—also is walking on at Purdue, where he already is enrolled and was taking part in spring football. Soon, German will be joined by Roach, who concluded his C.C. career with 162 catches for 2,072 yards (12.8 ypc) and 16 touchdowns to go with 400 rushing yards (6.1 ypc) and seven scores.

“It all started with Coach (Brian) Nay who got (Purdue quarterbacks coach) Brian Brohm to come to CC,” said Roach. “We talked a bit. And he asked for my highlights. We sent them to him. A couple weeks later, I got the news that I got a roster spot. Couple months later, I decided to do it.”

Roach also was looking at some smaller schools like Marian, Wabash, Mount Union (Ohio) and Ohio Dominican. But the chance to walk-on to Purdue was too much to pass.

His production has been impressive for a C.C. program that has won six state titles since 2009. Roach finished last year with 79 catches for 1,112 yards (14.1 ypc) and 11 TDs and ran for 172 yards and two scores.

Roach concluded the season with 2,104 all-purpose yards and was named the Journal & Courier’s Small School Player of the Year. Roach will leave C.C. with 4,131 career all-purpose yards (86.1 ypg). And he will leave as an all-time great.

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