Welcome to the Fold: Akeem Shavers

More recruiting news snuck up on me over the weekend. Purdue gained another commitment over the past few days, and this is another one that is hoped will buck up a sagging offense that generated very un-Purdue like numbers. Specifically, we got very little out of our running backs not named Dan Dierking and Keith Carlos. Even then, we didn't get a lot.

While injuries decimated the backfield from the spring forward, the 2011 season shouldn't have such troubles. It is assumed that Ralph Bolden will return as the starter once he is fully healthy from his torn ACL. This next recruiting class is also heavy on establishing depth behind him. We already have Doug Gentry, Brandon Cottom, and Akeem Hunt to go along with the returning Reggie Pegram. Now junior college transfer Akeem Shavers joins them.

Shavers comes to us from Tyler (Texas) junior college. He was receiving interest from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Indiana and Southern Mississippi.  He has an advantage over the others in this class in that he will enroll in January and participate in spring practice. This past season he appeared in six games with 50 carries for 450 yards and three touchdowns. His biggest day came against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M when he had 210 yards rushing and two scores.

Shavers already has good size at 5'11" 200 pounds. He allegedly has 4.4 speed, but that remains to be seen. With the sheer number of running backs we have grabbed I wonder if Al-Terek McBurse will move full-time to slot receiver. Shavers talked about being a physical runner, something that McBurse is not. At Redwater High School he once ran for a school record 331 yards and three touchdowns in a loss. Being a JuCo guy, he'll likely get the chance to play early.

As usual, here are some highlights of him to finish with.