With three days remaining till the men's basketball tip-off, it's time to take a look at the new face who will be running the offense for Purdue: Ronnie Johnson.
Ronnie Johnson - Fr.
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN (North Central HS)
Point Guard
6' 170 pounds
2012 projection: starter at point guard
Purdue needed a point guard bad with the departure of Lewis Jackson. RJ will be asked to fill the void instantly and is already set in stone as our starting point guard. Johnson is a true pass first PG who runs the fast break like a thing of beauty, knows when to dish it off to his big men, and has a great rhythm with brother Terone Johnson.
Coming out of high school, Johnson was ranked a 4-star recruit, 11th best player in the state of Indiana, 17th at PG, and the 92nd best player in the nation according to ESPN. RJ was also a McDonald's All-American nominee his senior year, was invited to the 2011 NBA Top 100 camp where he averaged 10.3 points per game, and is a two-time All-State selection by the Associated Press.
RJ's resume is chuck full of many awards and accomplishments. In the first two exhibition games he showed us that he is a capable scorer and a great passer. His speed and awareness is also helping him become a solid defender. If RJ can keep this rate of play up throughout the season he's going to have a special career with Purdue. He's going to struggle with turnovers this year, especially come Big Ten play, but that is expected out of a true freshmen PG. Regardless, we should feel comfortable with RJ running the offense. He's going to fit fine in Coach Painter's system.