Recruiting News and Notes

From last Thursday, Nov. 16; here’s the latest in Purdue’s football and men’s basketball recruiting and more.

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PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING

• Nothing much happening now, just a lot of grunt work for the staff … watching oodles of tape now that seasons are mostly over.

• Desman Stephens is going to OV to USC this weekend then make a decision shortly after. The kid is hard to read, but Purdue feels like it is still in a good place with him … for now.

• JC OL Roderick Green is set to OV next weekend for the IU game. The 6-5, 310-pound Green plays at Coffeyville (Kan.) C.C. He’s a December grad with three years to play three. Schools like Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Buffalo and Tulsa, among others, are in the mix. Green, a native of Springfield, Ohio, began his career at Grambling State.

Purdue has been pounding the pavement for offensive line help in the JC ranks. It also will hit the portal hard for OL help.

6’5 310lbs moving good. Some workouts showing running in space, redirection and pass sets pic.twitter.com/PjPJ5XNFST

— Rod Green 3🌟🏈 (@rodgreen0) June 19, 2023

• Look for Purdue to be involved with Missouri OL Valen Erickson, who recently entered the portal. The 6-6, 313-pound Erickson had a Purdue offer coming out of St. Rita High in Chicago in 2022. He was committed to Nebraska at one time before flipping to Mizzou.

Erickson has three years of eligibility. He redshirted in 2023 and was suspended before this season. He never played a snap for the Tigers, who purportedly liked him.

Purdue’s staff has plenty of Missouri connections, with G.M. Noah Joseph working in Columbia in 2021 and 2022.

• New head coaches have three semesters to essentially cleanse the roster of players they may not want from the previous staff. The rule is known as the “Aid After Departure of Head Coach” bylaw. Newly hired coaches can remove a player from their 85-man scholarship roster but keep him on scholarship as long as he stops playing. The athlete would then no longer count against a program’s total number.

We saw a lot of that from Ryan Walters in the spring of 2023. And, we likely will see more this spring.

• A name to keep an eye on: Luke Grigson. Yes, he is the son of former Boilermaker Ryan Grigson, the one-time Indianapolis Colts G.M. who now works in the Minnesota Vikings’ front office.

Luke Grigson is a 2024 TE/DE, a 6-5, 215-pound raw prospect with potential who plays for The Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, Minn.

He likely can land a FCS or MAC offer. Power Five? He may have to start as a walk-on, growing into a top-level prospect in two years. It will be interesting to see where Grigson lands and the type of player he develops in to. He has a PWO offer from Minnesota. Grigson has length, athleticism and football IQ. He could end up being a versatile player in any front.

PURDUE FOOTBALL

• Walters mentioned this week that OT Daniel Johnson is a week-to-week deal with some of the things he’s battling from an injury standpoint. He was out last week.

• RB Dylan Downing was carted off last week, but he should be ready to go with some good rehab.

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

So, finishing off the class here … here’s Brandon Brantley on Gicarri Harris.

Sidenote: This was a big-time cycle for Brantley, who locked down Kanon Catchings from the jump, became basically part of the family, the navigated some rough patches for a very short period of time, something the Internet blew up into something way more than it.

Brantley locked down Gicarri Harris from the outset, then waited it out all the way ’til the last day. Don’t even want to think of how much time he spent on the phone with kid, mom and high school coach. A LOT. That’s the job, though, and Brantley did it well as he keeps establishing himself as a really high-end recruiter. He also ran point on Daniel Jacobsen, eventful in that the player reclass’d in the fall, so the whole complexion of that pursuit changed on the fly. (BN)

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING

With one scholarship as of now to give for 2025, the hot board is really simple. It’s Trent Sisley.

Purdue just landed one of its top 2025s, Jacobsen, just in a very class, and every indication is that as of this moment its priority is a 4, the priority being Sisley. Can it get him? Don’t know. Indiana, Notre Dame and Michigan State are going to be factors. Liam McKneeley, who’s viewed as a multi-year player, and transfer culture will hurt IU. Nevertheless, don’t write them off on any Southern Indiana kid.