BOILING OVER: JT Rock and Purdue basketball recruiting, football visits, Ross-Ade and more

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PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

JT Rock leaves Purdue today following his official visit and he got to see a good game from Purdue’s perspective Tuesday night in Mackey Arena and Purdue got to showcase how much it puts on the shoulders of its big men.

We wouldn’t anticipate anything any time soon in terms of a decision, but would think Purdue will be there to the end with the South Dakota 7-footer, though it is important to note that West Lafayette is a bit of a hike from home whereas the Iowa States and Creightons and some others who’ve done a great job with him early as well aren’t as far. Nothing’s really close to Sioux Falls as far as high-major basketball is concerned.

Rock is one of Purdue’s prime big man targets for the Class of 2024, with a couple others being Flory Bidunga and Raleigh Burgess, with there being plenty of time and plenty of avenues with which to expand that board, if Purdue even feels it needs to. Matt Painter tends to want size in every class, but Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn are both kinda playing center right now and should be back next season and Will Berg will be coming out of redshirt.

We’ll be astonished if Purdue gets Bidunga, with there being a bunch of forces working in Cincinnati’s favor, with Drew Adams being there and adidas having a stake in this. Auburn is gonna be right there, and Auburn gets these sort of guys all the time. He’d be a great fit for them, to be honest. And it’s possible — I might even say probable — that Bidunga never even plays college basketball, with G-League Ignite and OTE being more attractive options than players have ever had since the age limit came into play. (BN)

PURDUE FOOTBALL

Purdue is ready to begin work on the Ross-Ade Stadium renovation project once the final home game of 2022 takes place this Saturday. Purdue AD Mike Bobinski says staging for the $45-million project will begin next week. Shovels will go in the ground soon after.

“We expect that the first week of December, we’ll actually see construction activity,” Bobinski told GoldandBlack.com. “So, probably a week to 10 days of staging and then they’ll get into it right at the very beginning of December, is what we expect.”

The project includes three components: a tunnel from the Kozuch Football Performance Complex, a nutrition center adjacent to Ross-Ade and an reimagined south end zone.

There are other projects teed up as well.

Work on a new clubhouse at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex is slated to begin early in the new year.

“We would expect it will begin, some of the site work, the road relocation and all of that, sometime in the first quarter of ’23,” said Bobinski. “Will there be some rerouting necessary? Yeah, I think it’s all manageable. I think we can figure all that out. But it’ll cause some different patterns. Hopefully our folks will be able to be flexible and adjust to just a different way for a period of time.”

Bobinski expects the project to be finished in roughly 18 months.

“Probably not until summer-to-early fall of ’24 would be completion, is what we’re told,” said Bobinski.

The project was made possible by a $20 million gift from Purdue golf alumnus Sam Allen and his wife, alumna Marsha Allen. (TD)

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Some anticipated visitors for Northwestern …

• Ohio 2024 athlete Taebron Bennie-Powell, who has a bunch of high major offers already

• Illinois offensive lineman Brandon Hansen, who’s been offered by Illinois

• Detroit wide receiver DeShaun Lanier, who’s been offered by Ole Miss, among others.

• Ohio offensive linemen Dane Wleklinski and Jake Grimm, who have a number of mid-major offers to this point.

• Ohio QB Ethan Grunkemeyer, a guy who’ll be on Purdue’s evaluation list as they expand their board in the event Danny O’Neil goes elsewhere

• Kentucky linebacker Brach Rice, who has some mid-major offers and will be subject to the normal Louisville-Kentucky-Purdue interest for players from that state.

Also, want to mention that Purdue continues working on Carmel offensive lineman Ethan Trent, Tyler’s brother, for a PWO spot. He’s been committed to Indiana State since the summer, so we’ll see what happens there. He’ll be at Purdue this weekend as well. (BN)

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING

Purdue 2022 OL signee Jimmy Liston will be at Saturday’s game. The 6-4, 295-pound product of Oak Park, Ill. (Fenwick High) is playing at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., this season. His team has a bye this week. Liston, a standout wrestler, is expected to enroll in January. He projects as an interior lineman. Liston’s father, Brian, played O-line at Purdue in the early 1980s. (TD)

PURDUE FOOTBALL

Couple PFF notes on Northwestern …

• Northwestern’s running backs grade terribly pass protection, including stud Evan Hull, similar to Purdue’s earlier this season, though that’s turned around in a big way.

• Left tackle Peter Skoronski, a soon-to-be top-10 NFL draft pick based on current projections, is one of the highest-graded offensive linemen out there. His pass protection grade is damn near flawless. He’s allowed only two pressures (and one sack) all season. Right tackle Ethan Wiederkehr has allowed 15 pressures, while Northwestern’s interior linemen all grade very average in pass pro.

• QB Ryan Hilinksi’s passing deets …

Clean: 121-201, 1,366 yards, 5 TD, 5 INT, average grade

Pressure: 23-58, 282, TD, 2 INT, lousy grade

No Blitz: 112-196, 1,250, 6 TD, 6 INT, below average grade

Blitz: 32-63, 398, INTm below average grade

Concept …

P/A (27% of snaps): 31-68, TD, 2 INT (below average)

No P/A: 113-191, 5 TD, 5 INT (average)

Screen: 19-25, 6.4 average per attempt, INT (OK grade)

No screen: 125-234, 1,489, 6 TD, 6 INT (below average)

He’s 8-26 on throws of 20 or more yards in the air, with two touchdowns and an interception.

• Evan Hull averages 2.66 yards after contact and has forced 42 missed tackles.

• Based on his grades and the fact he’s missed two dozen tackles, corner Xander Mueller looks like a weak link on Northwestern’s defense. Opponents complete 75 percent of their passes against him.

• Edge rusher Adetomiwa Adebawore has accounted for 27 pressures and 20 hurries.

SITE NOTE

Join us tomorrow for our weekly ‘Gold and Black LIVE’ show with guests Mitch Daniels and Peyton Stovall.