Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.
ON FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Purdue entered the weekend with nine commitments for its 2023 class and could see that number nearly double over just a matter of days here.
Jeff Brohm and his staff are putting together a good class during this first foray into the new world order of the NIL-Portal convergence.
They're putting together a good, seemingly substantive sort of class, nothing that's going to draw national headlines — though Rickie Collins sticking with Purdue, if he does, should — but a good class, and they're doing it with precisely the sorts of guys you want, especially these days.
Seven of Purdue's current commitments come either from Indiana or a bordering state. Four of them are from Indianapolis or its northern 'burbs. There's probably more to come from the state.
With the new realities of the recruiting scene now, it's even more important that you find high school players who want to be at your school and would have reason to stick things out. Built-in investment. The most important thing is they be good enough players to help you win and decent people and students, but the investment is value added.
It seems to me as if there's some valuable program-type guys in this class, the sorts of players you need for that year-after-year foundation you'll add transfers to. I think you're going to see a lot of basketball programs turn over their rosters every year; you can't do that in football.
You have to have Dillon Thienemans and Micah Carters who are going to be more likely to be part of your program for the long haul.
You need that.
But you also need stars, and Purdue's been as star-dependent as anyone under Brohm.
That's where the challenge now lies, getting the guys from the thin air of the NIL rack.
At least in terms of a recruiting profile, Collins qualifies as that upper-crust sort of recruit. But he's a quarterback and the path to the field may not be immediate.
It's wide receiver and the offensive skill positions where Purdue most needs to find a potential difference-maker or two.
Purdue's laid a nice foundation for the 2023 class. We'll see if they can add some starpower to it now.
