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Deep Dive Spring FB Practice No. 3

On3 imageby:Tom Dienhart•03/10/25•

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It’s informative, it’s analytical, it’s opinionated, it’s the Deep Dive, a look at today’s football practice.

• Beautiful–but-oh-so-chilly–day in bucolic West Lafayette to walk through the Village, Hort Park or to have a football practice.

• DB Sterling Smith has impressed early on, according to DC Mike Scherer. So much so that Smith got his jersey number changed from 46 to 3. Smith came to Purdue from Holy Cross as a walk-on transfer last season.

• Toward the end of 11 on 11, S Crew Wakley made a big pick-six that set off a huge celebration. Scherer also pointed out that Wakley dropped an INT, too.

• Director of high school relations Jason Simmons is also working with the o-line.

• Tennessee transfer WR Nathan Leacock made one of the best grabs of the day for a TD despite tight coverage by Boston College transfer Ryan Turner.

• Sidearm-slinging Washington State transfer Evans Chuba had a pretty TD connection with Isaiah Myers, a Charlotte transfer.

• Same key players missing:  S Tahj Ra-El, RB Malachi Thomas, DL Mo Omonode. After missing Thursday, QB EJ Colson was back in action. WR Arhmad Branch looked limited.

• The No. 1 o-line today: T Joey Tanona, G Jalen St. John, C Giordano Vaccaro, G Hank Purvis, T Bakyne Coly. The No. 2 line was John Randle, Tom Ewing, C Mason Vicari, G Jaden Ball, Max Parrott.

• The top three WRs: Leacock, EJ Horton, Jesse Watson. The next three: Charles Ross, Myers and Ryne Shackelford.

• Always good to see former Boiler WR Lance Scheib, as well as LB Ron Ewing. And ex-FB Jon Goldsberry was on hand with son Jett, who was visiting.

• Purdue ended up having over 60 recruits on campus today. I mentioned the key visitors in yesterday’s post. The visitors who have Purdue offers:

2026 Cooper McCutchan, TE, Moeller (Cincinnati)
2026 Jett Goldsberry, S, Heritage Hills (Lincoln City, Ind.)
2026 Emoni Smith, CB, Westland (Galloway, Ohio) Louisville commit
2027 Jayce Brewer, DE, Franklin Central (Indianapolis)
2027 Brayden Parks, DL, Brother Rice (Chicago)
2026 Cody Taylor, IOL, Greenwood (Ark.)
2027 Marshaun Ivy, LB, Cardinal Ritter (St. Louis)
2028 Chase Grove, QB, Cathedral (Indianapolis)

• 2025 RB signee Jaron Thomas was here. The Elkhart (Ind.) Concord product signed in February and will enroll this summer.

• Could any offers go out to today’s visitors? Perhaps to TE Tyler Ruxer, who is a teammate of Goldberry’s at Heritage Hills. Ruxer has offers from the likes of Pitt, West Virginia, Miami (Ohio), Toledo and Ohio, among others.

• 2026 Lafayette Jeff OL Kyros Carr visited.

• Purdue had Valparaiso K Ryan Hawk in town. It’s no secret: The staff is pursuing a transfer kicker to augment the position. The 5-11, 175-pound Columbus, Ohio, native is a grad transfer with one year of eligibility. Hawk hit 11-of-15 field-goal attempts last year with a long of 51. He made 15-of-22 while with Valpo, also kicking off. Spencer Porath is the presumed No. 1 kicker, coming off an uneven debut in 2024.

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