National Signing Day 2015: Be Prepared For Decommits

We're only a couple of weeks from National Signing Day and I wanted to do a quick post to talk about the current scholarship situation. Here is the grid as it stands right now:

You'll notice that after getting Jess Trussell yesterday Purdue is now two over the scholarship limit with a very large class of 22 freshman plus three JuCo commits. That makes for a 25 person class, with four players (Markell Jones, Anthony Mahoungou, Ben Makowski, and Elijah Sindelar) already signed and on campus for this semester. Jones and Mahoungou are going to be immediate contributors I think, but being two over is still a concern, especially with coaches still working to get guys.  How does the situation resolve itself?

Transfers - There is always the threat that someone will leave. Purdue currently is slated to have a very small senior class of 11 scholarship players, and nine are expected to be regular contributors. Only Mikeksy and Rouse will be reserves at most.

Mikesky is an interesting situation, as he is also on the track team. I believe that he cannot be on a track scholarship and not on football, as football is a "head count" sport according to scholarship guidelines. That means that if he is on scholarship and on the football team he has to be on full scholarship. Since Track has 12.5 scholarships generally spread partially among the entire roster he can't have, say, half a scholarship for track and still be on for football. That means he is on full football or nothing. The same is true for Gelen Robinson, who is doing track and wrestling now, apparently.

In terms of transfers, there are a few juniors-to-be that could leave because they don't play a lot. Jonathan Curry, Langston Newton, and Bilal Marshall come to mind, but who knows. I am not entirely sure Newton is on scholarship right now anyway since he transferred from Kentucky. He may be officially a walk-on. Another target could be Keith Byars II, who after two years is nowhere near the depth chart despite being at a position of need (running back) and there are a ton of incoming freshmen.

Academic Casualties - If someone doesn't make grades this spring they can be off the team in a hurry. That's all speculation though.

Someone pays their way - It is entirely possible someone can just pay their own way. I am thinking for someone like Danny Anthrop, who is already local and his older brother already got a two-year basketball scholarship after being a walk-on. Danny has a year left, so maybe as a tit-for-tat deal he goes it on his own this year because we hooked up Dru.

The curious case of Garrett Hudson - Hudson was recruited, but remember, his dad is our defensive coordinator. He may have his tuition covered since he is the son of a university employee and as a result, may not count against the scholarship limits.

Decommits - Hey, they happen. Out of 25 guys only four are locked in. A lot can happen between now and signing day, so we will see.