Purdue Football, Basketball Recruiting Updates

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING​

(Updated, Friday, Nov. 7)

The 2026 recruiting class is nowhere near complete for Purdue. At least, that’s what Barry Odom and staff are hoping is the case. The Boilermakers have been active in looking for reinforcements to add to the fray for next year’s incoming freshman haul. Two intriguing names are now bigger options in that endeavor.

The first of which is Iowa Western C.C. (JUCO) defensive back Dax Noles.

Noles began his career at Oklahoma after being a walk-on during the 2024 campaign. The Norman (Okla.) native transferred to the JUCO ranks in search of an opportunity to get on the field and has opened more doors for himself. The Iowa Western standout has tallied 40 tackles and three interceptions in eight games, which earned him an offer from Purdue this week. The Boilermakers joined UNLV, Charlotte, Central Michigan, South Dakota State, Western Michigan, Old Dominion, and South Dakota in his recruitment.

Purdue will host the JUCO safety on an official visit on November 23rd, where the Boilermakers will look for a potential last-second addition to the haul of defensive backs in the 2026 class. Three-stars Emoni Smith, Dana Greenhow and Radderion Daniels currently make up the class.

Another potential option to join the class emerged this week in 2026 four-star Oauchita Parish (La.) defensive lineman Dylan Berymon. That is a name Purdue fans may know from over the summer, when signs indicated the Boilermakers were leading the pack, before he ultimately landed at Texas. Now, Berymon has opened his recruitment back up. The four-star defender backed off his pledge to the Longhorns on Wednesday, providing Purdue with the opportunity to make another run at him.

Purdue never stopped recruiting Berymon, despite him committing elsewhere and are contenders in the restarted race. Ole Miss looms as the team that could be viewed as the front-runner at the moment, however, as Berymon visited the Rebels for their game against LSU. Others that could be involved moving forward are Mississippi State, USC, LSU, and Texas A&M.

Key 2027 QB target headlines Purdue’s expected visitors for Ohio State game
Purdue is set to host a batch of recruits for Saturday’s clash against Ohio State that is expected to be the biggest of the season.

Eight commits will be on campus, seven of which are in the 2026 class. That group includes Miami Central wide receiver Brandon Kinsey, Hillcrest (Ill.) EDGE Max Carmicle, Carlson (Mich.) running back Izaiah Wright, Marist (Ill.) offensive lineman Rico Schrieber, Lawrence Central (Ind.) offensive lineman Bam Williams, Buford (Ga.) tight end Dream Rashad, Westland (Ohio) ATH/defensive back Emoni Smith and Buford (Ga.) wide receiver Seven Rashad (2028 commit).

The Rashad brothers are the key prospects back on campus to see their future team. I should say, current future team, though. The Buford (Ga.) pass catchers are being pressed by other programs in spite of their pledges to the Boilermakers. North Carolina is the team to watch for the elder of the Rashad tandem, as he was offered and took a game day visit in Chapel Hill and is expected to go back sometime this month. Those plans could get axed should Purdue have a successful visit with him this weekend. Time will tell whether Josh Henson and company can do just that.

Another 2026 prospect will make his way to West Lafayette, as well, in three-star Carmel EDGE Dane Bathurst. The Duke commit has been pushed by Purdue and Vanderbilt as signing day approaches. He quietly took a mid-week unofficial visit a few weeks ago and now returns for a game day visit. The Boilermakers and Commodores are in a dead heat looking to flip the Indiana native, who is poised to back off his pledge to the Blue Devils any day now.

Of the 2027 recruits on campus, three jump out as big time visitors, all of which being four-star talents.

Four-star Prince Avenue Christian (Ga.) quarterback Ben Musser headlines the entire group on campus this weekend. The Peach State passer is among Purdue’s priorities at the quarterback position in the cycle, along with Israel Abrams and Daniel Mielke. After backing off his pledge to Virginia Tech, Musser made trips to Penn State and App State previously, but now Purdue gets its shot at him. If all goes well, the Boilermakers could emerge as the team for Musser to beat coming out of the weekend.

A pair of four-star talents in the trenches are also making return trips to West Lafayette, Kalamazoo Central (Mich.) offensive lineman Dewey Young and Franklin Central EDGE Jayce Brewer.

Young was on campus for Purdue’s last game against Rutgers and is now looking to return just a couple of weeks later. The Michigan native is a massive priority for the Boilermakers, who have done enough to impress him. It won’t be easy, however, with Ohio State, Minnesota, Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, Colorado and Florida State are in the mix.

Brewer also visited earlier this season and is back to check out the Boilermakers versus the Buckeyes. Ohio State and Notre Dame are the front-runners for Brewer, but he has a good relationship with the Purdue coaching staff.

A pair of 2027 offensive linemen are on offer watch this weekend, Perrysburg (Oh.) offensive lineman Reed Gerken and Rossford (Oh.) High offensive lineman Jalen Webb. Both have a number of Power 4 offers and Purdue could be the next to jump into the mix for each.

Three-star Warren Central running back Keyon Thomas will also be back on campus for the second time this season. We consider Purdue the leader for the Indianapolis native and an early commitment would not be shocking. Thomas has felt the love from the Boilermakers and has emerged as one of the top backs in the state as a junior.

Westland (Ohio) defensive back/athlete Germere Sanchez is expected to tag along with 2026 commit Emoni Smith and is a target of the Boilermakers. He could play on offense or defense at the college level and is explosive with the football in his hands.

Other key names expected are 2028 four-star tight ends De Smet (Mo.) Ridge James and Brother Rice (Ill.) tight end Jack McNamara, along with 2029 Westfield tight end Caiden Snow.

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING​

• Same as before: Just waiting on a decision from center Sinan Huan, who’s down to Purdue, Ohio State and Illinois, but hasn’t announce that yet, either. The signing period, insofar as that matters anymore, starts Wednesday and runs ’til the Wednesday after.

• Commit Luke Ertel will be at the Oakland game tomorrow night. He’ll be around a lot.

• Purdue 2028 target Noah Washington might also visit. We’ll see. Long trip up from New Albany.

Washington already has a Purdue offer.

Tai Bell, who just visited and was offered, is another 2028 target, along with fellow elite proscpects Dylan Betts, Erick Dampier Jr. and Xavier Skipworth. Chicagoland’s Brady Pettigrew will probably be an offer at some point.

Purdue’s had a good deal of success lately getting in on really good players and getting them, so these years-long targets maybe aren’t quite as worth paying attention to as they used to be, if that makes sense. (BN)

PURDUE BASKETBALL​

Trey Kaufman-Renn remains a limited participant in practice and will again TBD for tomorrow night’s Oakland, but he is practicing.

Truth be told, again, Purdue shouldn’t need him in games like these, but you will need him at Alabama, so maybe better safe than sorry.

• The way this wait-and-see approach has worked in the past regarding redshirts has been for the player to just not play in order to maintain the option, then it just kind of becomes a pocket-veto situation where you get to a point in the season where it wouldn’t make much sense to play anyway. That’s how we’d expect things to play out with Antione West. Just our guess, though.

Purdue wants Sam King back and Sam King wants to come back. Thing is, he already has employment lined up post-graduation and would need to figure that part of it out.

He’s been a valuable scout-team guy and teammate and would be Purdue’s only returning senior next season. (BN)