Melton's prep coach: 'He has a little chip on his shoulder, which I love'

Purdue's 2020 class continues to grow with the commitment this week of Max Melton, a product of south New Jersey. He is the program's 13th verbal pledge.

He's a 6-0, 165-pound three-star prospect from Cedar Creek High in Egg Harbor City, N.J., which is about a 25-minute drive northwest of Atlantic City and about an hour drive southeast from Philadelphia.

Melton is the fourth commitment from New Jersey, joining Michael Alaimo, Sanoussi Kane, and Clyde Washington. Purdue also has a commitment from Tirek Murphy of Middle Village, N.Y.

Melton committed to the Boilermakers as a cornerback, even though he has primarily been a wideout in high school. He is the first cornerback commit and the third defensive back, joining safeties Antonio Stevens and Sanoussi Kane. Purdue could add another corner in this class.

Melton picked Purdue over a strong pull from Rutgers. Melton has a brother, Bo, who will be entering his third year as a starting wide out for the Scarlet Knights this fall. And Melton's father, Gary, played wideout at Rutgers (1987-91) and was a late training camp cut by the Redskins. His mother, Vicky, played basketball at Rutgers. (1989-93). (The oldest son, Gary Jr., played cornerback for FCS Delaware State.) Despite all of those connections to RU, Melton picked Purdue, which he visited in June. It was his only official visit.

GoldandBlack.com talked to Cedar Creek High coach Tim Watson to get the low-down on the latest Purdue commitment.

GoldandBlack.com: What are Melton's strengths?

Watson: I think he will be a great teammate. He is a very competitive guy in the locker room and on the field. He felt early on he could be a very good wide receiver. Those traits will carry over great to defense. He has great ball skills. As a corner, he has great length. And he has a little chip on his shoulder, which I love. I think that will work out well for him on the defensive side of the ball.

GoldandBlack.com: Will it be tough to transition full-time to cornerback?

Watson: He has great twitch. I love the fact he’s gonna play defense because I think he’ll have the chance to develop into a really good college corner. With his size, he would be a little bit more limited at receiver. At 5-11, at that level, that is an almost average-sized receiver. He will be a long, 5-11 corner with long arms, great twitch. He is aggressive. I think he’s gonna be a very good corner.

GoldandBlack.com: What does he need to improve?

Watson: He needs to improve at the fluidity of playing corner. He has kind of played everywhere in the secondary for us, but he always has primarily been an offensive guy. This summer, this is the first time he’s focused at trying to clean up his technique. I would say he has played more safety for us because it was easy for us to kind of throw him in there and let him make plays. He started to play a little corner as a sophomore. Last year, he played safety and corner. One of the advantages he has is he has an tremendous upside because he hasn’t had a lot of coaching at corner. He needs to improve in all of the general things because he has been more of an offensive guy for us. He has the hips and the twitch, he just needs to be more fluid and needs more reps flipping his hips and defending receivers.

GoldandBlack.com: With such a connection to Rutgers, why did he pick Purdue?

Watson: Max has always been a guy who does his own thing. Rutgers probably always was gonna be in the lead for him. I think he is excited about what’s going on at Purdue. He sees some of the things Coach (Jeff) Brohm is doing and the buzz. What ultimately put it over the top was getting to West Lafayette and seeing the facilities. I know Coach (Anthony) Poindexter from years ago who was recruiting some of our guys. I think he has done a great job recruiting them. And (the Purdue staff) did a great job painting a picture of what his transition to defense is gonna look like over the next couple of years.

GoldandBlack.com: Do you think he'll enroll early for spring ball 2020?

Watson: That’s the plan. He is taking some classes this summer to put himself in position to do that. His goal is to do that so he can get there and compete as soon as possible.

GoldandBlack.com: Rutgers visits Ross-Ade Stadium in 2020. So, there's a chance Max Melton could be covering Bo Melton.

Watson: He would be ecstatic to go against his brother one day. They have been battling their whole life.

GoldandBlack.com: What type of school is Cedar Creek?

Watson: New Jersey goes to Group 5. We are a large Group 2. This is our 10th year. The school was built in 2010. Max will be our 10th or 11th D-I guy in 10 years as a small start-up school. We have been to three state championships and won one. We have been fortunate.

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