Indiana's 2019 crop of wide receiver prospects seems inordinately loaded, and Purdue's certainly hoping to take advantage.
One of its several prime early targets from its own state: Pendleton Heights' Eli Pancol, who visited at the end of February for the regular season finale basketball game against Minnesota.
"It was awesome," Pancol said. "I'd never been up to Purdue before and the campus was amazing, real pretty. Coach (JaMarcus) Shephard was a great guy and Coach (Jeff) Brohm a great guy and they're both good coaches. Getting to interact with them and see Purdue for the first time, it was really nice."
The 6-foot-4, 190-pounder was offered by the Boilermaker coaching staff in the winter the very night Shephard watched one of his basketball workouts.
"He saw that I could get up," Pancol said, "and he said he was impressed right away and when they watched my film, they liked my ball skills."
Pancol caught touchdowns on more than half his 30 catches as a junior, effective as a deep threat and red-zone target for the Arabians.
"I think I'm good at high-pointing the ball and making plays with my body build and height over cornerbacks," he said.
Size is an element Purdue obviously covets at wide receiver, as many programs do, its value shown to some extent this season by the breakout season of senior Anthony Mahoungou.
"(Coaches) have all liked my athleticism, impressed by how I can jump and my size," Pancol said. "And my strength. I think it's combination of all those things."
There have been a lot of them.
In addition to the Purdue offer, he's been offered by Indiana, Louisville, Duke, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Miami (Ohio), Ball State, Bowling Green and others. In addition to the Purdue visit, he's been to Michigan State, Iowa, IU, Notre Dame in recent weeks.
"I'm just trying to go around to as many places as I can," Pancol said. "It's a great opportunity to travel around and see a lot of universities. Not everybody can do that. I'm embracing that, and I love meeting different coaches and new people. That's one of my favorite parts about it. I'm just going to see where I fit in best and make the decision when I feel like it's time."
Pancol's one of four in-state wide receivers holding Purdue offers, joining Indianapolis' David Bell, Fort Wayne's Craig Young and Brownsburg's Bryce Kirtz.
All four of them have visited recently.
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