Purdue lands commitment from offensive lineman Gus Hartwig
For what Purdue hopes will be a pivotal offensive line class, the Boilermakers are on the board, landing a commitment from one of their top early targets — Zionsville's Gus Hartwig.
The 6-foot-5, 290-pound Rivals.com three-star interior lineman prospect committed to Purdue Monday and announced his decision Wednesday afternoon.
Hartwig's visited Purdue numerous times in the past year, most recently last week for a spring practice, but it was a trip elsewhere that finalized his decision.
"I went to Ohio State on Saturday and it put into perspective how good Purdue is going to be," Hartwig said. "... Seeing them, I know Purdue's doing all the right things and I wanted to be a part of it. I saw an opportunity to play, and be close to home, with people at my games."
He chose Purdue over an offer from Virginia. Others included Vanderbilt, Indiana and the majority of the MAC.
"They really want to get the best Indiana talent," Hartwig said, "and they really believe that I can come in and compete to play right away for a team that's going to be really good. There's really good wide receivers, quarterbacks and defense (in place) and they think that the next step is offensive line, and I think I can be part of that."
Hartwig said he's likely to graduate from high school in December so that he can enroll at Purdue in January.
He was recruited for both guard or center.
"I think I can play pretty much anywhere," Hartwig said, "but I think it's probably that I'd come in and play center and compete there."
Hartwig joins linebacker Ben Kreul as Purdue's first two 2020 commitments, and becomes the first offensive line domino to fall for the Boilermakers, who also have verbal offers out in-state to Beech Grove's Josh Fryar and Fort Wayne's Luke Wiginton and Randy Holtz.
"I've been thinking about it for a while," Hartwig said. "I just got to the point where I'm going on spring break, and when I got back from spring break, I just wanted to be able to focus on the team and next season and not have to worry about any recruiting. I get to relax."
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