Since Riley is being extremely lazy busy all day talking about the NBA Draft as an NBA geek it falls to me to report on commitment No. 5 for the 2013 Purdue football recruiting class. As all the talking head say, football begins on the lines. At Purdue, we put defensive linemen in the NFL. Period. The linage of Rosevelt Colvin, Rob Ninkovich, Mike Neal, Alex Magee, Anthony Spencer, Ryan Kerrigan, Akin Ayodele, Ray Edwards, Shaun Phillips, Chukie Nwokorie, Chike Okeafor and soon to be Kawann Short is evidence. Therefore, recruiting defensive linemen should be easy. At this point we should go into a five-star lineman's living room and say, "Want to get to the NFL? We'll get you there."
Well, our latest commit is not a five-star, but he is a solid defensive end commitment from Centerville, Ohio by the name of Jake Replogle. If the last name sounds a little familiar it should. Jake has decided to turn to the Light Side after brothers Adam Replogle, Tyler Replogle, and Mike Replogle all turned to the Dark Side and became Sith played at Indiana. Jake recently commented on this:
"I mean, I love the rivalry," he said. "But it won't have anything to do with (recruiting). They'd support me 100-percent. They have nothing against Purdue and nothing against me and Purdue.
"I am trying to keep that out of my situation. It's my own deal and my entire college career, I'll be a sophomore when Mike is a senior. I'm trying to make it where I put that aside."
Say what you will about IU football, Jake comes from a family that produces solid football players, and his older brothers have been among the few bright spots on an awful defense for the Hoosiers. Adam was a team captain last year, has played in all 36 career games, and has 10 sacks with 54 tackles as a defensive tackle. Mike played in seven games as a reserve freshman last year and could have a larger role this year. Tyler was a team captain in 2010 and finished third in the Big Ten averaging 8.7 tackles per game.
Clearly, we're getting a kid that has some solid football genes. At 6'4' 238 pounds he projects as a definite defensive end prospect. he is not yet rated according to Rivals, but I think he is a 3-4 star prospect. 247Sports rates him as a two-star, but rising. Here are some highlights:
Jake comes from a pretty good Ohio program that was 7-4 last season. Unfortunately, I could not track down any stats for him. The bottom line is that we're getting a guy that can possibly be an immediate contributor. His three older brothers have been solid players for a Big Ten school, so there is no reason to think Jake can't do the same at a much better school. He can also brag about winning the Old Oaken Bucket more than once in his career.