Old National Presents; The 3-2-1: It's tidal wave of transfers!

Three things learned. Two questions. One bold statement. It’s The 3-2-1, a look at Purdue football.

Three things learned

1 – Look out! Here come transfers!

As of early this week, Purdue had secured commitments from 25 portal transfers. It has been a dizzying couple weeks for coaches and players, as the roster is being transformed in rounds of speed dating.

The staff has taken players from each position group with a week before classes begin in West Lafayette (Jan. 13).

One position looks set: quarterback. Purdue has taken three from the portal:

• Arkansas’ Malachi Singleton

• UCF’s EJ Colson

• Washington State’s Evans Chuba

On top of that trio, Purdue will welcome incoming freshman Garyt Odom, the son of Barry Odom.

The only scholarship signal-caller left from 2024 is Bennett Meredith, but he isn’t expected back for the 2025 season.

Who will take the first snap when Purdue opens at home on Aug. 30 vs. Ball State? I’m gonna call Singleton the favorite. But, stay tuned.

2 – UNLV pipeline flowing

So far, Purdue has seven former Rebels who played for Odom in Sin City: OL Hank Purvis, OL Mason Vicari, FB Christian Moore, OL Jalen “Chop” St. John, TE Christian Earls, CB Tony Grimes, LB Mani Powell.

The best of the bunch? St. John and Grimes, who should be starters. The massive Purvis also could earn a starting spot at guard. And keep an eye on Powell, an athletic and physical player who began his career at Arkansas, as well as Moore–an H-back-type. Bottom line: It’s a nice collection of former Rebels who will impact.

Two other top UNLV portal targets are headed elsewhere: DE Fisher Camac (Virginia) and S Jalen Catalon. That hurt.

How many more UNLV players will transfer to West Lafayette? The big fish still out there is WR Jacob De Jesus, who visited Purdue last weekend. He’s a diminutive playmaker the staff would love to reel in. Could be a difficult “get.”

3 – Arkansas bloodlines run deep

Can I get a “Woooo, Pig! Sooie!”?

Yes, as noted, there are myriad connections back to UNLV for the new staff and roster. But the tentacles stretching to Arkansas are many, too.

Odom was Hog defensive coordinator the two seasons (2021-22) before he took over UNLV. In Fayetteville, Odom worked with the following current Purdue assistants: DC Mike Scherer, DE Jake Trump and DL Kelvin Green. Odom also has imported an analyst from Arkansas: Daryl Lydon. Heck, even assistant GM Ethan Baxter traces his roots to Arkansas.

Holdover strength and conditioning coach Kiero Small played fullback in Fayetteville for Bret Bielema.

Purdue also has landed commitments from four former Razorback players: Singleton, LB Alex Sanford, LB Carson Dean and P Sam Dubwig. And, as mentioned, Powell began his career at Arkansas before transferring to UNLV. Like Powell, St. John started his college days as a Razorback.

Two questions

1 – What’s position of most need for portal help?

It’s the defensive line.

So far, Purdue has just two commitments from DLs: Akron’s CJ Nunnally and Michigan’s Breeon Ishmail, who are both ends. More help is needed.

The d-line was a weakness in 2024, and that was with Will Heldt, Jeffrey M’ba, Joe Anderson, Cole Brevard, Kydran Jenkins, Jireh Ojata and Shitta Sillah.

Now what? A few returning building blocks: Mo Omonode, Demeco Kennedy, Chops Harkless, C.J. Madden and Trey Smith.

The bad news: There is no more difficult position to fill on a football roster than to find GOOD defensive linemen. Just look at how they are overvalued in the portal.

2 – Who is best of 25 portal additions added thus far?

If you look at On3’s ranking of the top 2025 transfers, you won’t find one headed to Purdue until you get to No. 285: Tennessee WR Nathan Leacock. So, the Vol wideout is the gem–thus far–in Purdue’s 2025 portal class, according to On3.

Other Purdue portal commits ranked by On3:

305 UNLV FB Christian Moore; 399 Singleton; 463 St. John; 540 Grimes; 679 Colson; 814 Nunnally; 937 Powell; 987 USC WR Charles Ross; 1,014 Memphis S Tahj Ra-El; 1,062 Dean; 1,282 UNLV OL Hank Purvis; 1,313 UCF WR Chauncey Magwood; 1,322 Wake Forest TE Luca Puccinelli; 1,381 Virginia Tech RB Malachi Thomas; 1,405 UNLV TE Christian Earls; 1,569 UNLV OL Mason Vicari; 1,621 TCU S Richard Toney; 1,905 Ishmail.

One bold statement: CB Tony Grimes is poster child for portal era

Maybe this isn’t so bold.

Purdue will be Tony Grimes‘ fourth stop! He played the first three seasons (2020-22) of his career at North Carolina. Went to Texas A&M in 2023, and then UNLV in 2024. Now, he is off to Purdue.

This will be Grimes’ fourth school in four seasons. Welcome to college football 2025.

MORE: GoldandBlack.com content hub: Welcome to the Barry Odom era | Who is coming from the portal? | Analysis: Arkansas QB Malachi Singleton