Purdue Recruiting Update

From our Friday, Jan. 2 report. Please note that the Portal is fluid and some thing may have changed over the weekend.

PURDUE BASKETBALL RECRUITING​

Purdue is just awaiting a decision now from Princeton transfer Caden Pierce, who still has visits to Gonzaga and Louiisville remaining after already officially visiting Purdue, Duke and UConn.

Wherever he goes, Pierce will enroll for the winter semester, join the team, but redshirt to preserve one full final season of eligibility next year. Under no circumstances would he play this season.

For Purdue this would amount to popping in next year’s starting forward, to an already solid projected returning core, barring any surprises. Pierce might not get promised anything, per se, but the writing is on the wall that he’d slide right into Trey Kaufman-Renn‘s usage and minutes.

Whether Purdue can get the Chicagoland native, we’ll see. But if it does that also may not be the end of its portal-combing.

Physicality up front will fall off after TKR and Oscar Cluff leave, and Pierce may not be that sort of guy, and Raleigh Burgess may not be either. Sinan Huan will be a freshman and a prime redshirt candidate if Purdue can swing it — truthfully, all the freshmen not named Luke Ertel could be — and it would make a ton of sense for Purdue to find a backup-type center who might complement Daniel Jacobsen. You’d have to find a guy like Liam Murphy right now, a player good enough to help you, but also OK not seeing a huge or consistent role. It’s not lost on anyone either that Jacobsen and Burgess have been injured in their careers and you don’t want to risk ending up in a situation like last year when one injury blew things up. (And Purdue wasn’t clever enough to find a globe-trotting former NBA pick to lease in a pinch.)

Other than that, it’s on to 2027 for Purdue.

It’s an interesting time for recruiting because for years, Purdue wrapped up its guys early. That hasn’t been the case as much the past two or three years, but Purdue has been able to get on good players relatively late by past standards and get them. Maybe that’s a modest shift in paradigm here and early, early commitments became rarer. We will see. Purdue could have squeezed Isaiah Hill last year and gotten him committed, but played it cool in hopes of making sure it was a sustainable decision and not an impulse. We’ll see how that ends up in the long run.

Still not sure what Jamyn Sondrup‘s plan is here. Purdue has been trying to get him committed before his mission, we think, as a 2027 recruit, but that he hasn’t done anything makes you wonder what Purdue would do if he doesn’t commit before his mission. Would they come back to him in 2027 after that cycle has really heated up and he’s not really played for two years? Would he just pursue something closer to home? This has been about Purdue and Washington for some time now. (BN)

PURDUE FOOTBALL RECRUITING​

The portal is in full swing and new information is dropping by the hour it feels like. Purdue has already been active in looking to bolster the roster.

The focal point on Friday’s activity has been the defensive front, which has seen five key names surface as targets of the Boilermakers.

Purdue has circled App State defensive tackle Dylan Manuel, Tulane EDGE Harvey Dyson, Georgia State defensive tackle Jartavius Flounoy, North Carolina Central tackle Wisdom Simms and Elon EDGE Kahmari Brown. Four of those five names are expected in West Lafayette this week.

Dyson is the biggest and most touted player in that quintet, with Indiana, Mississippi State, NC State, West Virginia and Kansas State, also among the top schools in his recruitment. The ex-Texas Tech edge was a target of the Boilermakers last off-season before he landed at Tulane, and now the Boilermakers get another crack at him.

Manuel and Flounoy are rising talents with potential oozing from them. The defensive tackle tandem would be a huge haul, literally and figuratively, standing at 300 pounds apiece. Flounoy is expected on campus this evening, and has a visit booked to Syracuse later in the week. Manuel has yet to fully lock in his trip to West Lafayette, but is eyeing January 5-6, which would come on the heels of a Colorado official visit this weekend.

Rounding out the defensive line, FCS transfers Kahmari Brown and Wisdom Simms are slated to visit in the next week as well. Simms, a tackle, tallied 22 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks this fall and is expected in tomorrow. Brown burst onto the scene as a sophomore, racking up 66 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 12 sacks for Elon in 2025.

In addition to the push for defensive line reinforcements, Purdue is also firmly in the mix for ex-Texas running back Jerrick Gibson and Central Michigan cornerback transfer Brenden Deasfernandes.

Gibson, as GoldandBlack.com first reported, will be on campus tomorrow to start an official visit. He rushed for 529 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and five touchdowns in 19 games during his time in Austin. TCU transfer running back Nate Palmer is also a name to know. The redshirt freshman had 139 yards on 30 carries this season.

Deafernandes will be a seventh-year senior next season and spent four years at Iowa before transferring to Central Michigan. He emerged as a key player for the Chippewas in 2025 and had two interceptions and 10 pass breakups to his name.

2026 recruiting still ongoing:
As the portal opens and all hell breaks loose, Purdue is still also looking to bolster the 2026 recruiting class, with a handful of options at play.

Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Kan.) linebacker Cal Purvis is still looking to book an official visit to Purdue in early January. The decision is expected to come down to the Boilermakers or Navy. Whether his brother, Hank Purvis’ impending portal entry has any bearing on his recruitment remains to be seen, but it would not appear so at this time.

Purdue also dished out an offer to a touted JUCO defensive tackle, who is building steam. Iowa Western Community College defensive lineman Andy Burburija has signed with Kansas State, before Chris Klieman retired, as is now looking for a new home. The junior college standout racked up 45 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks this season for the 2025 NJCAA National Champions. Along with Purdue, Texas Tech, Penn State, Iowa State, and Auburn have all extended offers.

Burburija told GoldandBlack.com that Purdue is in the mix to receive a visit in January, but he is still sorting through his options.

Another junior college option that has emerged is Northeastern Oklahoma A&M safety Ta’Vari Hampton. The UTEP commit did not sign in December and is keeping his options open. He tallied 115 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, and four interceptions as a sophomore, earning him second team NJCAA All-America honors. He has not reported an offer from Purdue, but does hold offers from Louisiana Tech, Ball State, Marshall, ULM, Texas State, Arkansas State, Georgia State, Kennesaw State, FAU, Coastal Carolina and others.

In addition to his trip to West Lafayette, which he is currently on, Hampton is also set to visit Arkansas and West Virginia in the next week. (DJ)