Well guys, it's Notre Dame week. Right now, it is 6:50 in Iowa City and I believe Notre Dame still sucks. The atmosphere at Ross-Ade on Saturday should be electric. We are hosting numerous recruits in football and basketball. Andy is working on the basketball side of things, while I have the football list on lockdown. This list may change as we draw closer to Saturday, but this is what I have for now.
(Ed. Note: This list was complied with help from GBI and @Purdue_Rant. Purdue_Rant is a great Twitter account to follow for Boilermaker news. I wonder who the brilliant man was that decided to hire that writer, but I'm sure he's an all around great human being.)
PLAYERS ALREADY COMMITTED TO THE PROGRAM
This is the current list I have of players that are already commits. Barring dismemberment or death by popcorn, I believe we should be able to hold onto these players. What we need to do is show them the passion of Purdue fans so that they don't have second thoughts. A dead crowd could plant seeds of doubt in the minds of these young minds. All of these players could have a major impact on the future of the program. I wish I had the time to find their current stats, but school is a cruel mistress.
PLAYERS IN THE CLASS OF 2013
These players are just juniors in high school, but it is always good to expose them to Purdue athletics early. Kimbrough will be coming with Shine and 2012 recruit Kaleb Humphrey. The trio from Warren Central will have a familiar name in their ear pushing them to join the Boilers. Desmond Tardy has an assistant coaching job at WC and can hopefully steer the guys the right way. Dutra and Allen both have an impressive list of schools expressing interest at this time. Dutra does not have any offers as of now, but according to Rivals, Allen has offers from us and OHMR. I believe we shall have to engage in fisticuffs over this when the BHGP crew travels to West Lafayette for the game this year (and I shall be joining them!).
CLASS OF 2012 OPTIONS
In my opinion, the two big names in this grouping start with the word Cameron. Cermin would be a great addition to our offensive line. Him and Jordan Roos could form a tremendous pair of bookends on the line. Posey would give us an athletic receiver that has some size, something this sorely lacks. Alonzo looks like he could be a great addition to the receiving corps as well, but I'm not sure how well our interest will hold up when the bigger schools come calling.
I believe we are Witty's first official visit and he is scheduled to go to Texas Tech after us. I believe he was committed to IU at one point, but don't hold me to that. Smith would add more depth to the offensive line, but he looks like a redshirt candidate to me if he comes here. There's also the matter that he is currently committed to Oregon State. Humphrey has impressive athleticism, but I think his size will be an issue. He makes Ricardo Allen look gigantic.
THE BIG FISH
Last but not least, we get to the highest rated player. The 4th ranked safety in America, Bush is the younger brother of Purdue wideout Gary Bush. I would assume this should help us in this recruiting battle and it is certainly a battle. Not often does Purdue clash with Alabama, Auburn and LSU on the recruiting trail. I am not going to get overly hopeful about getting him, but Bush could be a staple in our secondary for four years. Hopefully Gary has plenty of positive experiences to share and their parents would like to only have to travel to one school to visit their sons.
That concludes this edition of Welcome to the Fold. I believe this should prepare you for all the football players that are coming in this weekend. If you attend the game, maybe try to start a Deon Bush chant. Show how much the Boilers want him to join the program. It couldn't hurt. Bush is one of the rare blue-chippers that is considering Purdue and we need to pull out all the stops.