33 Days to Purdue Football: Jackson Anthrop & Simeon Smiley

Good news if you have a #33 jersey with Anthrop on the back. After four years of Danny Anthrop it still has value!

Jackson Anthrop -€” Fr.

West Lafayette, IN (Lafayette Central Catholic HS)

5'11", 180 pounds

Wide Receiver

2016 Projection: Possible redshirt

What is Purdue going to do without an Anthrop on the basketball or football roster? His dad was on Purdue's last Final Four team. His older brothers played basketball and football at Purdue. Since the 2009-10 season we have had an Anthrop on the men's basketball team or the football team, and with Jackson that will continue for another four years.

Like Danny, Jackson put up huge numbers at Lafayette Central Catholic. Last year alone he rushed for 2,247 yards and 55 touchdowns as Central Catholic completely destroyed everyone on its way to a 7^th Class A State championship (And 5^th since 2009). In the first eight games of the season Central Catholic outscored its opponents 443-26. Only West Lafayette in the regular season finale even came remotely close to beating them, losing 38-20. In the six playoff games Central Catholic outscored opponents 301-42, with the 31-14 win over Pioneer even being any sort of contest. In fact, the last time Central Catholic lost a Class A state tournament game was 2008.

Through all that, Anthrop has put up absurd statistics. He finished his career with a school record 105 touchdowns, breaking his brother Danny's record. Being a small school Anthrop also played basketball and baseball all four seasons. Central Catholic won its sectional all four years with Anthrop and even a regional as a freshman. As a pitcher in baseball he led them to a 33-2 record this past season with the second loss coming in the Class 2A state championship game. Central Catholic was actually playing up a class after winning the state title in 2012 and 2013, and they were runner-up last year. This season Anthrop was 11-1 with a 1.67 ERA heading into the title game before Providence tagged him for six runs in the 7-6 loss. in his 4 years Central Catholic only once lost a sectional game in the three sports he played, and that was a 28-24 loss to eventual state runner-up Tipton in football in 2013 while they were playing up in Class 2A due to the success factor. If not for the success factor it is entirely likely Anthrop would have won eight state championships in his career across football and baseball instead of a mere three.

At Purdue Anthrop is officially on football scholarship. He was originally going to greyshirt and enroll this January, but the scholarship situation opened up for him to enroll now. He will play as a receiver like his brother and baseball coach mark Wasikowski definitely appreciates the football scholarship. Since baseball only gets 11.7 scholarships to divide amongst the entire roster it won't have to worry about Anthrop, who also plans to pitch on the baseball team in the spring.

Simeon Smiley -€” Fr.

Pensacola, FL (Pensacola Catholic HS)

6', 197 pounds

Cornerback

2016 Projection: possible contributor at defensive back

Thanks to the Legend's contribution yesterday on the new defensive scheme we know that Purdue needs at least one true freshman to step up at cornerback, possibly more. Smiley is one player that might get a chance there. He was a first team all-State selection in Florida last season and a pretty solid 3-star recruit that Louisville, Minnesota, and Wisconsin were after.