It is safe to say that wide receiver is a major issue for us at the moment. Charles Torwudzo is redshirting. O.J. Ross, Keith Smith, and Justin Siller won't be back this year. Antavian Edison and Cortez Smith can't get passes thrown their way, while Tommie Thomas, Xavier Reese, and Gary Bush have been limited too. That's why I was excited that we got some new blood today when Zionsville's Shane Mikesky committed to Purdue.
Mikesky is a kid I saw a lot of this season. Since I have a contract to write a couple of stories each week for the Zionsville Times-Sentinel I ended up seeing half their games. This was a strong defensive team that concentrated mostly on the running game, but Mikesky was essentially their one receiving threat. If they put the ball in the air, it went to Mikesky. Even in Zionsville's limited passing game he caught 39 passes for 760 yards and 10 touchdowns. That's almost 20 yards per catch from a team that threw for little more than 1,200 yards on the season.
Mikesky is a big target with excellent speed. He was the state champion in Indiana last season at 110M hurdles. His best game in football came on the fast track at Lucas Oil Stadium against Randy Gregory and Hamilton Southeastern. Rivals currently has him as an unrated prospect, but he had received some interest from Stanford, where former teammate Blake Lueders ended up.
Mikesky is a good in-state pickup because he played in a very tough conference. Avon was a sectional champion and Fishers is still alive in the state semifinals from the Hoosier Crossroads Conference. Randy Gregory plays in this conference, as did Torwudzo last season. Chris Carlino was in this conference as well.
As usual, I will leave you with some video of him. I like this pickup of an underrated player.