Today's Kickoff Countdown post is accompanied by splendid news in Purdue football. Overdue as it is, I'm still excited to check out the new profiles and jersey numbers of the incoming freshmen which have been posted to a newly updated football roster at purduesports.com.
With this news comes additional opportunities with the Countdown posts that were previously unattainable--profiling the incoming freshmen whose new jersey numbers are attached to future dates. And without much hesitation, today brings out the first of these posts. With 33 days left until the start of the 2012 Purdue football season, today we look at the guy who is set to wear the #33 old gold and black uniform throughout his college career in West Lafayette--the true freshman athlete Danny Anthrop.
Danny Anthrop - Fr.
Hometown: West Lafayette, IN (Central Catholic HS)
Athlete
6'0", 180 pounds
2012 projection: Likely redshirt
Like his older brother, Purdue basketball player Dru Anthrop, incoming freshman Danny Anthrop is a product that came straight out of Purdue's backyard. Also like Dru, Danny went to Central Catholic High School in Lafayette. Although he chose a different path and played football instead, he still managed to have quite the impressive football career at CC. His laundry list of credentials during his high school years include recording three straight perfect seasons on varsity (a total record of 45-0!), winning three consecutive 1A state football championships from 2009 to 2011, scoring a school record 107 total touchdowns in multiple areas--including receiving, rushing, defense, kick returning and punt returning--and being named an Associated Press Indiana All-State football selection in his junior and senior seasons.
Danny also played baseball and ran track in high school. He won two baseball state titles at Central Catholic in his freshman and sophomore years and he is apparently going to be a track athlete in college on top of playing football. The fact that he has clocked 100 meter dash times close to 10.5 seconds is down right redonkulous!
Needless to say, Danny is certainly athletic. In fact, he was so greatly recognized as a true talent on the football field that he was given an athletic scholarship to play football at Purdue, a feat that his brother was unable to accomplish--Dru had to walk onto the basketball team his freshman year in 2009. Despite attending a very small high school, Danny has earned a great opportunity in the form of his athletic scholarship. And much of this accomplishment can be attributed to his blinding speed and his rare athleticism. To see exactly what I mean, check out these highlight videos of his junior and senior seasons at CC, which can be found here and here.
Also, for those interested, his recruiting page on Rivals can be found here: http://rivals.yahoo.com/arkansasstate/football/recruiting/player-Danny-Anthrop-131452. Danny is listed as a three star recruit and the 13th best receiver in the state of Indiana. On top of getting a scholarship to Purdue, Danny received offers from the universities of Akron and Buffalo.
Anthrop is currently listed as an "athlete" on Purdue's roster. This means he can play multiple positions and the coaches don't really know what to do with him yet. It's very interesting to ponder and discuss where Coach Hope and the other staff will choose to put Danny on the football field. He has the skill set and experience to play and excel as a wide receiver, cornerback, safety, running back, kick returner and punt returner. While I think he is due to be redshirted in his true freshman season because he is low on the pecking order in all of these positions this year, and I think he might not see playing time at all of these positions during his college career, expect Danny Anthrop to be a major contributor to our football team in many areas very soon.
Boiler Nation can now feel free to hit up Danny Anthrop on his Twitter. Follow him at @DannyAnthrop to keep yourself updated with this crazy kid!