Recruiting News and Notes

Welcome to “Recruiting News and Notes,” GoldandBlack.com’s weekly information clearinghouse, a spot for assorted bits of Purdue news, analysis and so on.

PURDUE BASKETBALL

Just a big notebook dump in advance of whenever the off-season commences ….

• Our long-standing approach on this stuff has been to not openly speculate on players who might be transferring, but we would expect a couple Purdue players to go in the portal after the season, guys who’d be looking for more playing opportunities.

Whether any of Purdue’s core players could be in that mix, you never know, but we have no reason to believe so. The season is ending pretty well for some of the players who might have considered the possibility of getting “more” somewhere else vs. being role players at Purdue, and the opportunity to play for another great Purdue team next season is real.

We do know Purdue feels very good about money, about the revenue-sharing resources it’ll have at its disposal.

• Purdue’s probably going to bring in multiple transfers. Whether they end up being foundational pieces or complementary ones, we’ll see how it unfolds. But it’ll start with a center to go along with Daniel Jacobsen next season and could also include a big forward to replace Caleb Furst and help along the hobbled Raleigh Burgess.

Right now, and it’s way too early to even consider any of this, Camden Heide would project as Purdue’s 4 man, we’d think, unless Jacobsen or a player to be named later really emerged and pushed Trey Kaufman-Renn back to the 4, as Purdue started off this season.

Requisite reminder that all of this is fluid.

• Next year, the 15-man roster limit takes hold, meaning Purdue could push past the normal 13-man scholarship cap if it chooses to do so. That is up to Matt Painter, who we’ll remind you is a bit of a minimalist at heart with a severe aversion to having potential malcontents at the end of the bench. If he pushes past 13, then there’s the likelihood extras might be brought in with no misunderstandings that they may not be playing major roles or may not even play at all. Painter never wants anyone walking in the door not knowing the deal or having any reason to believe they were misled somehow.

Purdue has committed at the administrative level to funding as much as Painter decides he wants in terms of scholarships, but there is no requirement that every player on the roster be part of revenue-sharing, though again, Painter has always been about everyone getting something. Its walk-ons right now do get some NIL money.

Speaking of walk-ons, they are not necessarily going away. While this all remains TBD, Purdue could use its last two spots on walk-ons. Again, you don’t have to pay everyone. Walk-ons, though, do count against the 15. If Purdue opts to use some of its 15 tokens on non-scholarship guys, Sam King and Aaron Fine would be the two. Fine’s decision to redshirt this season was all about wanting to be with Purdue for the long haul and maybe — maybe — get into coaching one day.

As for the other walk-ons who might be brought back, there are going to be ways to have essentially practice players who just won’t be dressing for games.

• We would think a change to the coaching staff is very possible, as Terry Johnson continues to be in the market for head coaching jobs or situations that could position him best for one. Should there be an opening, we don’t know whether Painter would look for another veteran assistant coach or bring in another youngster along the lines of PJ Thompson and Sasha Stefanovic (or Grady Eifert a few years ago) in those “director of …” sort of jobs.

Not sure Painter would ever do a recruiting coordinator/GM position, because so much of that is already baked into what he does as head coach and what Elliot Bloom does as essentially his right-hand man. But you never know. (BN)

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

Now, for potential portal targets …

There are going to be a ton of potential prospects here, but two names we can tell you with relative confidence Purdue will be involved with are Jalen Washington of North Carolina and Oscar Cluff of South Dakota State.

We’d imagine Purdue will at least get a lay of the land on Washington, the 6-foot-9 power forward from Gary West Side who Purdue tried to get a couple years back before he wound up at UNC. Not certain Purdue will absolutely bend over backwards here, but if initial interest is well received, maybe there’s a match here. Washington did really like Purdue out of high school and had a strong relationship with Brandon Brantley in particular.

Cluff is a 6-foot-11 Aussie who averaged 17.6 points and 12.3 rebounds at South Dakota State this season. He was sixth nationally in rebounding per game.

It should be noted that Purdue ought to be a draw for big men in the portal. Agents have stakes in their clients’ success after college, so putting them in places with track records of highlighting certain types of players may transcend short-term money. Just thinking out loud there.

We do think this might be a multi-player frontcourt search for Purdue, though moving parts remain. But just looking at it liker this it makes sense: 1) Purdue knows it’s losing Caleb Furst, 2) Purdue tried to sign a high school forward and didn’t, 3) Purdue clearly needs more size and 4) Daniel Jacobsen and Raleigh Burgess have both battled injuries and are still too young to be viewed as known commodities.

We do expect Purdue to have some attrition, those looking for more minutes or bigger roles elsewhere, probably. We do have multiple levels of sourcing here that money is not going to be an issue, that Purdue will stack up favorably in the rev-share world and still has NIL resources enough to make players who’ve established themselves very well off, and maybe that extends a bit more to recruiting now also. Purdue has a real opportunity next season, and may be more willing and able to spend to get the right guys. We do know Matt Painter himself has been involved in past months in helping to get a war chest together. It’s not be a drunken sailor about this, but in this death match of a portal cycle, when every last NIL dollar can be burned before it has to — and will — go back under the table, the moment sort of demands it, even if it’s a bit antithetical to how Purdue has operated before.

We’ll do our best to cover this stuff the best we can but understand that sorting through agent-driven BS is difficult and Purdue likes quick-and-clean when it comes to recruiting as evidenced by all its early high school commitments over the years (and Lance Jones), so we wouldn’t expect them to draw much attention to themselves doing this. (BN)

PURDUE FOOTBALL

• Purdue will welcome Tennessee State LB Sanders Ellis later today for a visit. The team to beat for the 6-2, 225-pound Sanders appears to be Tennessee.

As a freshman in 2024, he posted 86 tackles, 15.5 TFLs and 2 pass deflections. Auburn, Virginia Tech, Bowling Green and East Carolina are among the other offers. When I asked On3 college football insider Pete Nakos where he thought Ellis would land he said: “My bet is the SEC.” (TD)

• The only recruit of significance visiting today was in-state DT Blake Smythe. He passes the eyeball test. I spoke to him a bit. He has visited Louisville and will head to Illinois and Michigan next. He expects a Michigan offer. (TD)

A handful of recruits from Belmont High in Dayton, Ohio, are here and a couple kids from Greencastle (Ind.) High.

Thursday and Friday visitors who have been offered:

2026
DT Blake Smythe, Franklin (Ind.) High
DE Katrell Webb, Suwanee (Ga.) Collins Hill
RB Lekhy Thompkins, Jackson (Tenn.) Trinity Christian
DT Dylan Berymon, Monroe (La.) Ouachita Parish
LB Brayden Sweeney, Grand Rapids (Mich.) Central Catholic
CB Carsen Eloms, Fishers (Ind.)
OL Charlie Edgeworth, Chattanooga (Tenn.) Baylor School
WR Jerquaden Guilford, Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrup

2027
WR Trey Haralson, Tyler (Texas)

2028
TE Ridge Janes, St. Louis DeSmet

• With Troy Taylor out at Stanford, could Purdue get involved with 2025 Fishers (Ind.) and Cardinal signee WR JonAnthony Hall? He almost picked Purdue coming out of high school. Expect the Boilermaker staff to make its pitch. Will Hall be receptive? (TD)