Purdue's growing 2023 recruiting class added a linebacker on Saturday with a commitment from Owen Davis.
"Purdue felt like home to me when I went there," Davis told GoldandBlack.com. "Just the vibe, all the coaches, they showed a lot of love. It just felt like the right place to be and it felt like home away from home."
The 6-3, 210-pound Davis is a native of Richwood, Ohio--located about 50 miles west of Columbus--and plays at North Union High. He's the third commitment in Purdue's 2023 class, with more to come.
Davis held offers from the likes of Duke, Marshall, Western Michigan, Army, Akron, Ball State, Kent State, among others. But, he opted to be a Boilermaker, committing during an official visit on Saturday.
"I'm a hard-nosed linebacker," he said. "I like to hit. I like to fill holes. I can play sideline to sideline, I can cover. I can do anything a linebacker can."
As for areas of improvement: "I would like to get my hips better, be able to flip my hips faster, more hip flexibility," said Davis, an avid outdoorsman. "So, I'm gonna work on that before I get to Purdue so that will be a lot better when I get there."
Where will he fit in at Purdue?
"I'll probably float around at Purdue," he said. "I think they said something about me being WILL (linebacker). I don't know. Wherever I fit in the lineup, they're gonna put me at. So, I'm just in the linebacker corps."
A standout basketball player, Davis hasn't determined if he will arrive early for spring ball in 2023.
"I haven't decided when I will be there because I might play basketball this year," he said. "So, I haven't really decided with that yet, but I'll talk it over my parents and then we'll decide."
At North Union, a school of roughly 450 students, Davis does it all. Last year, he led the Wildcats to an 8-2 regular-season mark with the season ending with a first-round playoff loss. He says he ran for over 1,000 yards in North Union's Wing T offense, scored 20 TDs and made between 60-70 tackles for a Division Five school (Ohio has seven divisions, with Division One being the highest.)
The honors rolled in for Davis, who was first-team all-state and the offensive player of the year in the Central Buckeye Conference. And, the 2022 season looks promising for Davis and his Wildcat teammates.
"We're gonna be really good," he said. "We've got a solid line in front of us. We got some kids in my grade that are going to be staying and then we got some juniors that will help us a lot in the run game and pass game. We will be really solid."
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