Purdue wide receiver Nitro Tuggle plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Purdue Boilermakers wide receiver Nitro Tuggle plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Tuggle is back on the open market for the second straight offseason. Wherever he ends up will be school No. 3 in as many years.

Tuggle played in all 12 games for Purdue this season, putting together a productive year. He caught 34 passes for exactly 500 yards, adding four touchdowns. Two of those scores came during Big Ten play vs. USC and Rutgers, while adding another against Notre Dame.

We even saw Tuggle end the year on a positive note with one of the best teams in college football on the other side. Five receptions on Indiana resulted in 80 yards, a career high. Now, you have to imagine Tuggle wants to build upon that at his next destination.

Two years of eligibility remain for Tuggle. No redshirt was taken during his true freshman campaign, which was spent at Georgia. Minimal stats were put up over eight games in Athens, hauling in three catches for 34 yards. Most of those yards came in a win over Tennessee, getting 25 with two receptions.

“I think he gained some confidence from that because he went against a really good defense and he did some nice things,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said after the Tennessee game. “But, I mean, he goes against a good defense every day in practice, and there’s times that he’s been frustrated. I mean, he would tell you openly that he wants to play. He wants to help. All freshmen want to play.”

Tuggle played high school football at South Bend (IN) NorthWood, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 127 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Multiple other big-time programs were after Tuggle during his recruitment. Despite being a Georgia commit, the likes of LSU and Michigan were attempting to flip him away from the Bulldogs. Of course, the efforts never came through as the wide receiver wound up in Athens.

However, the opportunity to get them on their rosters is now there. A little experience and production is under Tuggle’s belt as well, compared to this time last year. With the portal just hours away from officially opening, Tuggle will be an interesting name to watch moving forward.