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It has been a busy day for Purdue, as another player committed as a position of need. With Landon Feichter limping around like the Black Knight from Monty Python this past season and Taylor Richards deciding that driving drunk in West Lafayette was okay safety is another position of need. That has now been filled as Juan Jenkins became the latest Purdue commitment.
The 6' 195 pound safety comes from Gainesville, Florida and played for Gainesville High School this past season. Rivals rates him as a 3-star commit, while Scout has him as a 2-star and ESPN has him as a 3-star. He became the 15th commitment, and with his and Patterson's commitment earlier today Purdue has only three spots left unless there are other departures.
Jenkins had a large number of offers from smaller programs, but in the Big Ten Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota had officially offered. In addition to Purdue, they were the only schools from major conferences that offered.
Since he is a safety his role is simple: We need him to be effective covering the middle of the field and also be able to come up against the run. Pretty much we need him to be a Stu Schweigert of a Bernard Pollard because they were the last effective safeties we had.
Jenkins looks like he could be an effective player and that is why he is a good pickup. I am very encouraged that we have been able to land decent looking players at positions of major need. With three spots left it is never a bad idea to keep going after solid defenders or offensive line help.
Welcome aboard, Juan!