Purdue lands Illinois transfer running back Reggie Love III

Purdue has added another transfer into the fold, this time in Lamar Conard's running back room. The Boilermakers landed a commitment from former Illinois tailback Reggie Love III today after he took an official visit to West Lafayette over the weekend.

It is a reunion of sorts for the redshirt senior-to-be with his former position coach, Cory Patterson, who is now Purdue's associate head coach and wide receivers coach under Ryan Walters. Patterson helped recruit Love to Champaign out of high school and now the two are back together with the Boilermakers.

Love spent four seasons with the Illini after being a four-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class. He tallied 1,053 yards and six rushing touchdowns in Champaign and is coming off a career-best campaign in 2023, rushing for 567 yards on a 4.9 yard average and four scores despite missing four games.

The addition of the 5'11", 205-pound running back now gives the Boilermakers another experienced option out of the backfield next to the returning Devin Mockobee. Purdue lost Tyrone Tracy Jr. to graduation, along with Dylan Downing and Mondrell Dean to the transfer portal, leaving the depth behind Mockobee an issue moving into 2024.

That depth will no longer be an issue, at least on paper, with the addition of Love. Purdue deployed a 1-2 punch of Mockobee and Tracy Jr. last season and hopes that its new duo will replicate the late season success on the ground next year.

Lamar Conard will also have incoming freshman and three-star running back Jaheim Merriweather, walk-on Addai Lewellen and current freshman Christian Womack in his group currently.

Love is the seventh transfer portal commitment of the cycle for Ryan Walters and the Boilermakers and the first outside of the trenches. Purdue has also landed offensive linemen Joey Tanona, DJ Wingfield and Corey Stewart, along with defensive lineman Jamarius Dinkins and outside linebackers Shitta Sillah and C.J. Madden.