Purdue defensive back, 2021 starter Jamari Brown enters transfer portal

A veteran defensive back from Purdue is now a free agent.

Purdue cornerback Jamari Brown has entered the NCAA transfer portal, On3 has learned.

Brown, who began his college career at Kentucky in 2018, transferred to Purdue following the 2020 season. The 6-foot-3, 205-pound Brown made 13 total starts the last two seasons for the Boilermakers, including 11 in 2021. He finished that 2021 season with 32 tackles, seven pass breakups and two forced fumbles. Although he only started two games last year, Brown tied for the team-lead and tied for eighth in the Big Ten with three interceptions.

One of the interceptions last year came off Michigan star QB J.J. McCarthy during a loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship game. Another of the interceptions came during the Boilermakers’ loss to LSU in the Capital One Bowl.

The Florida native ranked as the 87th-best cornerback and 834th-best overall prospect in the 2018 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Ranking. The Florida native made three career starts at Kentucky before transferring to Purdue. He’ll be a graduate transfer, which should allow him to be immediately eligible at another school.

Prior to Friday, Brown had been the only returning scholarship player at cornerback for Purdue and first-year head coach Ryan Walters. Now, the Boilermakers will completely reliant on newcomers at the position after ranking 11th in the Big Ten in pass defense last season, which followed a fifth-place finish in that category in 2021.

Of the 11 transfers Walters landed this offseason, four were cornerbacks. That includes Marquis Wilson, a Class of 2019 four-star recruit from Penn State, Salim Turner-Muhammad, a Class of 2019 four-star recruit from Stanford, and two transfers from Ole Miss (Markevious Brown and four-star true freshman Braxton Myers). The Ole Miss transfers were connected to new Boilermakers cornerbacks coach Sam Carter, who was previously the cornerbacks coach at Ole Miss.

Walters and Purdue also added JUCO cornerback Botros Alisandro and three-star freshman Zion Gunn.

Walters, a 2022 Broyles Award finalist as the defensive coordinator at Illinois, was hired by the Boilermakers after Jeff Brohm left for the head coaching job at Louisville. Brohm, who spent six seasons at Purdue, led the team to an 8-5 record last year after guiding the Boilermakers to a 9-4 mark in 2021.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.