Fort Wayne 2021 prospect drawing Purdue interest
INDIANAPOLIS — A few weeks ago, Luke Goode played quarterback for Fort Wayne Homestead on a Friday night, then work up the next morning for an 8 p.m. football practice, which preceded the two-hour drive to West Lafayette for Purdue's elite camp and the afternoon full of basketball that came with it.
"When you're in good shape for football," Goode said this weekend at another mid-football-season basketball event, his Indy Heat grassroots program's fall workout in Indy, "it's not hard to go from football to basketball."
Goode, as just a 6-foot-5ish, 180-or-so-pound sophomore, is Homestead's quarterback and probably a major-college football prospect one day.
But, same for basketball.
"Honestly right now I'd like to pursue basketball in college," said Goode, a grassroots teammate of established Purdue 2021 target Caleb Furst. "I've been playing basketball for a while, and I love it. I love playing football, too, and I'd like to play it all the way through high school, but I want to do basketball in college."
Purdue will be one of those heavily involved.
It already is, and Matt Painter and his staff have had Goode on campus several times in recent months.
First, it was Purdue's team camp in June, followed days later by a separate unofficial visit. Then, it was the elite camp at the end of August, followed days later for a separate unofficial visit for the Northwestern football game.
"They told me they're kind of focusing on the 2020 class right now," Goode said, "and after that, they're going to move to the 2021 class, and I'm one of the guys they're going to be looking at. They told me to keep working hard, because I'll be one of the guys they'll be looking for during the school season and next summer.
"They said they like my shooting, how can I score the ball, and that I can also play defense, match up 1 through 5 and guard everyone on the court."
Indiana, Iowa and Butler are some of the others who've expressed preliminary basketball interest in Goode.
It's not difficult to see why Painter and Purdue have been drawn to him, given a playing style seemingly influenced by football.
"I want people to define me as a hard worker, a good defensive player," Goode said. "I like to get on the ground and do things a lot of kids don't like to do. I like to be known for that."
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