Purdue basketball adds yet another 7-plus-footer in four-star big man Daniel Jacobsen
Purdue scored another big, literally, and figuratively, recruiting win Friday evening as prep school big man Daniel Jacobsen committed to the Boilermakers, choosing Purdue over Wisconsin and a slew of other offers.
Listed at 7-foot-3, the On3 four-star big man was originally a member of the 2025 class, but reclassified up a year earlier this fall after a number of high-end offers came his way. Purdue was already prioritizing Jacobsen for the 2025 class, and was more than happy to accommodate him a year earlier.
The perimeter skilled big man, who’ll play this season at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, is originally from Wisconsin, near Madison, actually.
Illinois, Minnesota and Xavier were some of the other programs who’d offered Jacobsen before he cut a whole year out of his recruitment by reclassifying, similar to how things played out in 2020 with Zach Edey, who also moved up a year.
Purdue’s history with 7-footers has become inextricably linked to the program’s identity, as the Boilermaker program has become known for having — and in most cases featuring — players such as A.J. Hammons, Isaac Haas, Matt Haarms and now Edey, the reigning national player of the year. Purdue also signed 7-foot-2 Will Berg a few classes back.
Jacobsen, young for his grade, looks on paper to be the most perimeter-skilled of the bunch, known in part as an excellent three-point shooter.
In EYBL grassroots play with JL3 Elite this summer, Jacobsen really stood out at the Peach Jam, averaging 10.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game, according to Nike stat-keeping. He shot 51 percent from the floor and was 5-of-12 from three over five games.
According to the NIBC (prep school league) web site, Jacobsen was 7-of-10 from three this season for Legacy College Prep in Greenville, S.C.. As an underclassman/non-senior on a team with numerous high-major recruits — Michigan State freshman-to be Carr Coen among them — Jacobsen played an average 15-and-a-half minutes and averaged 4.8 points on 70-percent overall shooting. He blocked 13 shots in 11 games.
His per-32-minute numbers: 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks.
Jacobsen joins four other commitments in what is becoming a giant 2024 class in more ways than for Purdue. He joins wing Kanon Catchings, guards Jack Benter and CJ Cox and fellow big Raleigh Burgess as Purdue’s senior-to-be commitments. Boilermaker coaches are still awaiting a decision from long-time target Gicarri Harris, also.
More to come …
