More: Purdue 2021 commitments

Wednesday begins the NCAA's early signing period for college football, a key moment for this bizarre recruiting cycle in which there were no official visits, no off-campus evaluation opportunities and signing day falls in-season for a lot of schools.

It's been a strange year, one in which Purdue will sign a relatively small class that will be ranked toward the bottom of the Big Ten, in part because of that modest size, but is likely far from finished.

Here's a look at what to expect from Purdue on Wednesday and thereafter.

Purdue is likely to add at least two public commitments on signing day.

West Lafayette High School linebacker Yanni Karlaftis will make his long-awaited announcement — he'd initially planned to commit in August, but postponed his decision — on the signing date, with a public reveal planned for 5 p.m.

The Rivals.com four-star prospect would become the headliner of the Boilermakers' class, a Rivals250 prospect who came down to Purdue and Cal, but had also been offered by the likes of Wisconsin, Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame, among others, through the course of his extended recruiting experience. The younger brother of Purdue star George Karlaftis made a name for himself very early.

Yanni Karlaftis plans to graduate West Side this month and enroll in college in January.

Purdue is also the anticipated destination for Wisconsin offensive lineman Marcus Mbow, a former Arizona State commitment who made a self-guided visit to West Lafayette several weeks ago. Kansas and Oregon State have been among other offers he's entertained since breaking up with the Sun Devils.

Mbow would give Purdue a robust four-man offensive line class, joining in-state prospects Jaelin Alstott-VandeVanter, Zach Richards and Mahamane Moussa.

The class as of signing day morning looks like this:

Wide Receiver: Brownsburg's Preston Terrell and Michigan's Deion Burks are Purdue's two anticipated signees at a position where Purdue has had little trouble attracting high-end talent.

Running Back: Arkansas' Ja'Quez Cross, fresh off a monster senior season at Fordyce High School, was an in-season addition to the Purdue class.

Tight End: Wisconsin's Drew Biber will sign with Purdue as an oversized wide receiver the Boilermaker staff will develop as a tight end.

Offensive Line: Purdue's expected to sign the three players mentioned above — Mooresville's Jaelin Alstott-VandeVanter and Zach Richards and Pike's Mahamane Moussa — as well as Mbow assuming he commits on signing day.

Defensive Line: New York's Khordae Sydnor is Purdue's lone true defensive lineman, a big tackle type who could play all along the defensive front, Boilermaker coaches think. It should be noted that linebacker Tristan Cox was recruited, too, to play as sort of a hybrid linebacker/defensive end.

Linebacker: Karlaftis would headline a group that also includes Cox, who again will play a variety of roles in the front seven.

Secondary: Purdue went south for each of Its three defensive back recruits, to Georgia for corner Brandon Calloway and to Florida and Louisiana, respectively, for safeties Rickey Smith and Jah'von Grigsby.

Grigsby is a former Michigan State commitment who was one of Purdue's top defensive targets before he committed to the Spartans.

Long-standing commitment Sam Jackson — for whom Purdue missed out on a chance to sign four-star in-state recruit Donaven McCulley, who'll sign with Indiana instead — is not expected to wind up with the Boilermakers, probably leaving Purdue without a 2021 quarterback during the early signing period.

(Purdue does have a four-star junior, Brady Allen, committed and every QB on its roster now slated to return.)

This will be an atypical year because of the NCAA's allowance for seniors to return next year should they so choose — that could be a big deal for a lot of schools as it pertains to their 2021 recruiting numbers and needs — and because of looming transfer reform.

All those dynamics, coupled with Purdue's struggles this season and last, may make the Boilermaker coaching staff more active than ever in the transfer market, graduate transfer or otherwise.

"I think every year it's different, but you've got to assess your team at the end of the season and see where your weaknesses are and where you can get better and how to get better, and we want to continue to do that," Jeff Brohm said of Monday. "We've been studying that since last week and making sure that we're on top of everything that's going on and making sure that we're going to do our part to improve our team."

Purdue would likely be open to any and all potential impact players, but positions that might seem to be of particular need would be offensive tackle, defensive line, linebacker and maybe the secondary again.

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