BOILING OVER: Putting a wrap on football recruiting, training staff shakeup, meet Coach 'Ro and more

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PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING

• It stung to lose DT Kendrick Gilbert, who flipped to Kentucky on Wednesday. But, something had been amiss for a while. It’s thought he hadn’t been overly communicative in recent weeks. In fact, it is felt that early last week, Gilbert had no intent on coming to Purdue.

But the staff got him and his family on campus last Thursday and Friday for an official visit. Gilbert ended up spending Friday night in West Lafayette, which wasn’t scheduled. The visit reportedly went well, with Purdue feeling like it was in the lead for the four-star Cathedral product, who committed to the Boilermakers initially way back in August. But, Gilbert still flipped to Kentucky on February 1, where he visited unofficially after being at Purdue last weekend. Could NIL have played into the Wildcats’ favor?

• S Sanoussi Kane and Khordae Sydnor helped woo Stanford CB Salim Turner-Muhammad. They all are New York-area guys. In fact, they have trained together in the offseason with George Lanese, who is a well-regarded trainer in the East. He works for About U, which helps students with academic and athletic preparation.

• Arhmad Branch, Derrick Rogers, Jr., and Mondrell Dean were signed as “athletes.” Branch and Rogers could end up as cornerbacks … or wideouts. Dean could be an outside linebacker, inside linebacker or H-back. They all have size, speed and length. Purdue wanted really good football players who had position flexibility–that trio was an embodiment of that. Things will be sorted out over the summer.

• Purdue likes the fact JC OT Issiah Walker, Jr., is an older player who has been in major programs. He could end up being a swing tackle for a line that has potential in 2023. Top four OTs: Eric Miller, Mahamane Moussa, Daniel Johnson, Walker. Marcus Mbow also can play OT.

• The thought is Hudson Card can put up huge numbers in OC Graham Harrell’s scheme. Card has a nice arm and should thrive working with Harrell. Card benefited from working with Sam Ehlinger as a true freshman in 2020 at Texas. Ehlinger is regarded as an epic leader.

• Know this: Purdue will never make promises to sign kids. Most recruits will say initially that NIL is not important until it comes down to it and it is important. When people are telling recruits a certain figure, it should effect them. And, it often does. This is the world we live in.

PURDUE FOOTBALL

• Purdue is shaking up its football training staff. Head trainer Ryan Collins is out, which happened a week or so ago. He was the Associate Director of Sports Medicine.

It is vital to have alignment between head coach, the strength coach and trainer for a program to perform well. That’s why now you see more pro and college programs looking towards a “director of performance” position that sits over sports medicine, strength and nutrition. It keeps communication lines open. And it forces everyone to pull in the same direction.

It’s unknown what Purdue’s plans are at the moment.

• The Board of Trustees meets on Friday morning. An item on the agenda for the Compensation Committee: Approval of contract terms for Ryan Walters. Hope to obtain some contract numbers tomorrow. Stay tuned. The assistants are all “at-will employees” at the moment with no contracts.

• Purdue likely will look for a running back in the portal. Quarterback? Probably not. But, that could change after spring ball. Tyrone Tracy could become a full-time RB.

• Look for Purdue to have an offensive analyst, defensive analyst and special teams analyst. Hires still must be made. Have to think the slots could be filled before spring ball starts, which should commence the week of March 20.

• How many wideouts will offensive coordinator Graham Harrell need to run his version of the “Air Raid”?

“(At USC) we were able to just play with four guys and those guys were working extremely hard and got their bodies in a position they could play a whole lot of snaps,” said Harrell, who was OC for the Trojans from 2019-21. “It kind of depends on the personnel. And if our receiver numbers are low, then you play with more tight ends, and especially if we get some athletic ones.

“We have a system that we’ve built, that we’ve created, that allows us to play just about any personnel grouping, and it’s still going to be pretty simple for the players to learn and execute. And the beautiful thing about that is now it allows you to really use what you have on your roster.”

• Football players are lifting/conditioning five days a week under the guidance of director of strength and conditioning Kiero Small, who goes by “Coach ‘Ro.” And some come in on off days to do soft-tissue work. I visited with Coach Small this week. Look for a story soon.

• After adding in all the new signees to my 2023 scholarships distribution chart, I have Purdue with 87 players on scholarship. Two could be freed up if CB Tee Denson goes on medical hardship and DB Bryce Hampton fails to earn a seventh season. Purdue also figures to have attrition after spring ball, as it will need to open scholarship slots if it shops the portal as hard as expected.

• 2023 Purdue scholarship distribution chart

• Purdue still needs to hire its GAs. There are none at the moment.