Three Thoughts is a new feature GoldandBlack.com will run every Monday morning in-season.

Purdue's got two commitments for the 2023 class now and will get a bunch more throughout the summer, but as has been suggested in these columns many times before, high school recruiting became less important than ever as soon as transfer reform was implemented and less relevant than ever for the same reason. When half your signing class is probably going to transfer and be replaced by other transfers, then it all seems so silly.

Here's what it comes down to now: Stars.

Not the little shiny ones that show up next to players' names on the Internet, but rather the flesh-and-blood kind that Purdue's served up to the NFL the past two years: Rondale Moore, George Karlaftis, David Bell.

That's what matters most right now from the high school ranks: Get the two or three players every year you know will help you from Day 1 and maybe elevate your program some, fill your urgent needs on the transfer wire, and with the rest of them, let the chips fall where they may.

You'd love to have a foundation of four-year types providing continuity, stability and depth but those sorts of things seem more like luxuries nowadays as the nature of the game suggests more programs are going to be turning their rosters over pretty considerably every year.

That's going to be an existential test for the Wisconsins and Iowas of the world, and an opportunity for a place like Purdue to do a great job in the portal and elevate itself. Jeff Brohm and his staff have shown they can produce good quarterbacks and land some true stars in recruiting.

So it's about finding those stars.