Sunday Caleb Swanigan Recruiting Update

According to Twitter, the Homestead High School prom was last night, so there were likely more important things than basketball on the mind of Caleb Swanigan. Today Purdue was able to get a key point guard for him when Johnny Hill of Texas-Arlington agreed to transfer. He is immediately eligible, and that makes the scholarship situation as follows:

So Purdue has one scholarship left going into the coming season. If Basketball SID is to be believed, there is something brewing:

Awesome, awesome news for @BoilerBall! Not done yet!!!

— Chris Forman (@ChrisForman12) May 10, 2015

That scholarship is going to be used. Here are the most likely scenarios:

• Caleb Swanigan indeed commits, Boiler Nation goes crazy.
• Swanigan declines, but it is offered to transfer Tayler Persons, who visited within the past few days, but has not officially been offered (likely because of Hill and Swanigan as priorities). My Kokomo sources have told me that Persons would commit when offered, and I believe them. He would be a very good player to add, but he is not Swanigan.
• If all else fails it is awarded to Stephen Toyra, who was on scholarship this past season. As the senior walk-ons either he or Jon McKeeman would get it.

Lost in everything about Swanigan is Persons. His potential addition is very interesting if Swanigan comes on board. Persons has to sit for a year regardless of where he goes unless he drops to Division II, which is unlikely. Would he be willing to pay his way for a year and essentially be a walk-on practice player as he waited for a spot to open up? If so, that would put Purdue down to two spots for the 2016 class, but he would be a good combo guard that would have a year to acclimate to the system.

We can worry about that later, however. I would love to add Tayler because he is a hard-nosed player in the Purdue mold. He is still regaining strength from his ACL tear in September 2013 and would be 100% (likely with a returned jumper) by the time he could play. Both he and Weatherford could be nasty defenders at guard.

As for Swanigan, there is this:

The longer the Swanigan thing drags on, the more perplexing it becomes for everyone involved, but he wants to be sure he gets it right.

— Jeff Washburn (@JeffWashburnJC) May 10, 2015

I tend to agree with Jeff. If this was indeed "done" on Thursday night why are we 72 hours later with not a peep out of the camp? Ultimately, I want the kid to make the best choice for him. I understand it is a difficult decision that can be ended with a simple fax. It is also a life-changing one. Look at the situation with Jay Simpson. He was dreaming of the NBA at one point too, then found out that wasn't happening. Caleb busted his butt academically to graduate from HS a year early (he was originally a 2016 recruit), so he clearly cares about academics. If he is thinking at all about life after basketball academics could be a large part of it too.

The Swanigan kid really is a good young man. I think he is having a difficult time telling someone no.

— Jeff Washburn (@JeffWashburnJC) May 10, 2015

This could be true too. From everything I have heard he is a good kid, and I do wish him nothing but the best. We would be more than happy to welcome him to the Boiler family.