2016 Purdue Football Recruiting: How Does it Look

In short, not good.

Purdue currently has 10 commitments for 2016. This is after getting two this week. It is rated 92^nd nationally and dead last in the 14 team Big Ten by a WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE margin according to Rivals. Things can get better this weekend as 4-star offensive tackle Sean Foster is coming for an official visit along with nine others, but so far it doesn't look good. Even if we land Foster it won't be a huge improvement.

According to my math Purdue currently has five scholarships open. Here is the latest scholarship chart:

Now, to dive a little deeper:

• Purdue lost only four offensive starters, three defensive starters, and a kicker. That's good at least from a returning experience standpoint. It is bad in that many multi-year starters return from a team that is 6-30 over the last three years.
• There are a handful of Danny Hope recruits left. Basically, anyone listed as a 5^th Year senior, so Hazell can't use the "Hope's recruits" excuse anymore.
• Players like Logan, Newton, Warburg, and Curry are basically scholarship deadweight in that they are nowhere near the two deep going into the spring.
• Purdue has 15 players coming out of their redshirt year. This is compared to just nine at this time last year. Of those nine, only two (Patterson and Blough) played extensively. The boilers are going to need more from the 15 coming out. A lot more.
• I would be absolutely shocked if Keyante Green stays. He has spent three years here as a 4-star recruit and in two of them he did not play a down. Markell Jones and D.J. Knox are ahead of him, as is, apparently, David Yancey. If he doesn't transfer I will be stunned.
• So far only Christopher Parker, the lone JuCo commit, looks like an instant impact player. Purdue has a lot of linemen in this class and those guys generally take a year or two to develop. There are a couple of DBs, but Purdue has several coming out of redshirt anyway.
• Right now Purdue does not have a scholarship kicker, and coach Hazell made it very clear we both need one and no one on the roster could replace Griggs midseason last year. The official roster lists Brian Bravo, Tyler Duncan and Myles Homan, but they are all walk-ons that never got the chance to replace Griggs. Of course, if the offense gets much worse we may not need a kicker since we can't get close enough anyway.

The thing is, I think Purdue has some talent at almost every position. It has players that can play and ones that are better, overall, than Hope left, but the coaching was so awful this past season that it showed every week. Not only did you have the Shoopfense, but you had two of the Big Ten's best corners playing far off the receivers and a defensive scheme that rarely made adjustments.

Basically, Purdue is going to roll it back with new coordinators and hope players that have been beaten up for 2-3 years will suddenly break out. I am not encouraged. It is going to take something drastic to avoid a repeat of 2015. Sure, Purdue will win its opener against Eastern Kentucky because even Hazell can beat FCS teams, but beyond that? We can't even count on a MAC win over Ohio, not when Hazell is 1-3 against that conference. Cincinnati is a challenging non-conference opponent, then you get tot he same Big Ten that has kicked us around for three years to the tune of 2-22.