Breakdown 2026 Guard Targets
HOOVER, Ala. — Three quick notes or thoughts on Purdue basketball recruiting targets at the adidas 3SSB event around Birmingham.
• Purdue 2026 guard target Jonathan Sanderson is a big-time shooter and a high-IQ offensive player in line with some of the offensive-skill players who’ve made such a difference for the Boilermaker program in its modern era.
But Sanderson is different. He is more Carsen Edwards than he is Ryan Cline or Fletcher Loyer, though he possesses some of the best of those players, only in a quicker, faster and more explosive package — it surely didn’t hurt Sanderson to have a high-end strength and conditioning coach for a father — and a much brasher and assertive demeanor. Sanderson is a real pressure-setter offensively with both his burst and his long-range shooting.
Purdue offered the Ann Arbor area junior-to-be during a football-weekend visit in the fall, but will have a fight on its hands, as Sanderson has already drawn many high-major offers. He grew up a Michigan fan, as his father, Jon, was the Wolverines’ long-time strength coach before departing during the season. It is not yet clear if new coach Dusty May will target Sanderson.
Jon Sanderson has landed on the staff at Vanderbilt after an informal stint at Illinois to finish out this college basketball season.
More to come on Sanderson next week.
• Boilermaker in-state 2026 target Steven Reynolds III of South Bend isn’t making shots this weekend, but is showing much of the technical savvy that has made him a high-level prep scorer. The 6-foot-5-ish combo guard is tall and long and has a knack for creating space for himself to get jumpers off or get to the basket.
Making the shots is important, but you can’t if you don’t generate them, obviously. Reynolds has more than proven himself as a shot-maker. He looks like more of a scorer than any specific position.
More to come on Reynolds next week.
• Trent Sisley, Purdue’s established 2025 priority, has found ways to be productive even when his shots might not be falling. On Saturday, in both games, his energy on the offensive glass really showed up, and his physicality trying to bury smaller defenders around the rim were tone-setters for an Indiana Elite team that’s been untouchable thus far in Hoover.
For any college coach who knows what he’s doing, that’s a big test Sisley is passing, affecting games even when scoring opportunities aren’t panning out.
All told, Sisley’s had a very good weekend in his second 3SSB event.
