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Evaluating Purdue’s QB contenders

On3 imageby:Tom Dienhart•02/17/25•

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Malachi Singleton (Nelson Chenault/USA Today)

It is full-steam ahead on the 2025 season for Purdue, as Barry Odom looks to take the next step in building his first Boilermaker squad when spring ball kicks off on March 4.

This is the first in a series of position-by-position breakdowns of the 2025 Purdue team as it preps for spring football.

QUARTERBACKS

Player, class
Evans Chuba, RFr.
EJ Colson, RFr.
Garyt Odom, Fr.
Malachi Singleton, So.

NOTES:

• Everything is new.  Hudson Card is gone (NFL), Ryan Browne checked out (North Carolina) and Marcos Davila packed his bags (Nebraska). Bennett Meredith is expected to graduate and depart this spring. Welcome to college football 2025, where roster churn is king.

• The three names to watch are the portal arrivals: Malachi Singleton (Arkansas), EJ Colson (UCF), Evans Chuba (Washington State). That trio has completed a combined 30-of-44 passes for 422 yards with two TDs and 1 interception.

• The competition is wide open. And it likely will not be decided until camp in August. If someone had to be labeled a front-runner, it probably would be Singleton.

• As far style, all three portal arrivals are dual-threats.

• A peek at how Odom used his QBs the last two years at UNLV: Hajj-Malik Williams, UNLV’s 2024 starter, ranked second on the team with 161 carries for 851 yards with a team-high 9 rushing TDs. Odon’s 2023 UNLV starter, Jayden Maiava, ran 73 times for 277 yards. Bottom line: Odom will want his QB to be able to run. But know this: Odom worked with a prolific passing quarterback as head coach at Missouri in Drew Lock, who threw for over 12,000 yards as a Tiger from 2015-18.

• Experience is at a premium, as only one of the signal-callers expected to compete for the job has started a game: Colson.

• Singleton enjoyed a big moment in 2024. After Arkansas starting quarterback Taylen Green exited the Tennessee game at the beginning of the fourth quarter following a lower-body hit, Singleton came on to rally the Razorbacks past the No. 4 Volunteers last October. Odom is familiar with Singleton, who was being recruited to Arkansas when Odom was the defensive coordinator in Fayetteville.

• Colson reclassified in December 2023 and enrolled at UCF in June 2024 as a 17-year-old. He quickly moved up the depth chart in camp. Colson was still only 17 when he got his start for the Knights’ game vs. Cincinnati in October. New Boilermaker QB coach Darin Hinshaw worked with Colson at UCF.  Info nugget: Colson was recruited by the former Purdue staff.

• Chuba hasn’t taken a snap in two seasons. He missed his senior year at Clearwater Academy International (Fla.)–where he attended two seasons–with a back injury. And he redshirted last season as a true freshman at Washington State, where he enrolled January 2024. Chuba is a native of Montreal, Quebec. New Purdue DC Josh Henson was the point man in recruiting Chuba to West Lafayette.

• Garyt Odom is the son of head coach Barry Odom. He had offers from schools like Nebraska, Texas A&M and Arkansas. He was committed to UNLV before flipping to Purdue.

• Fun fact: The last season Purdue started the same quarterback in each game was 2016, when David Blough made each start.

• Purdue’s passing game ranked No. 16 in the Big Ten in 2024 (183.9 ypg). Only three Big Ten schools had fewer TD passes than the Boilermakers’ 13 and only three had a lower completion percentage than Purdue’s 57.4. And only Iowa completed fewer passes than Purdue’s 189.

MORE: Offensive depth chart | Defensive depth chart | Special teams depth chart | 2025 roster distribution | Purdue official roster

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