David Pollack names Bradyn Joiner as Purdue's player to watch in 2025

David Pollack recently went team-by-team in the Big Ten, mentioning a player to look out for. When getting to the Purdue Boilermakers, Pollack went with someone on the offensive line. Auburn transfer Bradyn Joiner will be his guy during the 2025 season, believing he can help the revamped unit up front for Purdue.

“I’m going Bradyn Joiner,” Pollack said. “You don’t even know who he is. He’s an o-lineman. He was an SEC All-Freshman left guard for Auburn last year, transfers to Purdue. Purdue was Purdon’t at offensive line. It was really, really bad. Giving up sacks, giving up pressures.

“Do they get better along the offensive line? They invested in an offensive lineman that probably has a pretty bright future. Big ole boy, not super tall but did pretty good playing half the season for Auburn. They’ve got to get their offensive line better, it can’t get too much worse.”

Joiner will be entering his redshirt sophomore season, spending two years on the Plains. After not getting any playing time in 2023, 10 appearances with five starts occurred last season. As Pollack mentioned, Joiner did well enough to earn SEC All-Freshman honors at left guard.

Some development was certainly needed. Joiner played high school football at Auburn (AL), where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 508 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

New head coach Barry Odom desperately needs someone like Joiner to step up. Offensive line was a disaster for Purdue last season, both in the run and pass game. Only two Big Ten teams gave up more sacks than the Boilermakers, watching their quarterback go down 32 times. They were well into the bottom half when it comes to rushing yards per game too, earning 115.3 every time out there.

Purdue will get a couple of games to get the unit settled in and hopefully playing better. Ball State and Southern Illinois are first on the schedule, ones you believe Purdue should be winning. But from there, the tests start to get a whole lot tougher.

USC and Notre Dame close out the month of September. Eight more Big Ten games are then staring them in the face after going 0-9 a year ago. If Purdue is going to show signs of progress, maybe even scratch out a win, better offensive line play is a must. Joiner can be a big part of the equation in Pollack’s eyes.