Purdue Football Recruiting: Defections & Transfers are Coming

Change is coming to the Purdue Football roster. In fact, change has already come to the Purdue Football roster. Tanner Hawthorne, a 6’6” 290 pound offensive lineman from Glendale, Arizona announced just days after the Foster Farms Bowl that he would be transferring from the program.

He has already landed at Glendale Community College, where he is probably going to play this fall before using his final two years of eligibility elsewhere.

Glendale is a 3-time JuCo national champion, so they have a very strong program. It is a good stop for him when he would have to sit out a year at an FBS school in 2018, anyway. Hawthorne redshirted in 2016 as a true freshman and was nowhere near the depth chart this season, but he still had some promise as a two-time state champion in high school. He could have provided some depth at tackle, but it didn’t work out.

What Hawthrone’s departure does give Purdue is another open scholarship for the recently signed class. Purdue is currently 7 over the 85 scholarship limit for 2018, and that does not include Rondale Moore, who seems likely to commit on Thursday at the Army All-American game. Moore, Evander Craft, and Willie Lane are the three carryovers that did not sign during the early period and will have to wait until early February to sign with Purdue. Since Lane and Craft have said they are still committed, but we don’t have official word from Moore, I don’t have Moore on the list yet.

So even with Hawthorne gone we have to lose 8 somewhere in here to get under the limit. There are some caveats, however.

Jacob Theineman – I believe it was said the former walk-on was on scholarship this far, so I am counting him. It would seem to be a bad move to take him off scholarship for his senior season when he is a starter can key member of the defense.

David Blough – Technically, Blough did graduate this December and could transfer somewhere else to play immediately in his final year. He has already said he wants to return to Purdue and battle for the starting QB job, so he is not going anywhere.

Eddy Wilson – Wilson did not make the bowl trip and his status for the coming season is very much up in the air. For now, I am keeping him on the list until we receive official word he is gone, but he ended up being mostly a reserve this year (though a key reserve). He would almost certainly be in line to start if he returns, but since it seems like grads are an issue his status for 2018 is uncertain at best.

Kirk Barron – Like Blough, Barron also graduated in December and could transfer elsewhere to play immediately for his final year, but he has made no indication he will do so. I would be shocked if he left.

Cole Herdman – Herdman is the same as Blough and Barron. He has a degree in hand with a year left, but has made zero indication he is leaving and there is no expectation he will.

It is really, really hard to see or say where the remaining 7-8 scholarships open up. Purdue has 20 players on scholarship as of right now that are entering their final year of eligibility. Of those 20, at least 17 are expected to have a large role in 2018. Purdue managed to have 14 freshmen hold on to their redshirt this fall. One player, Jack Wegher, played as a true freshman in 2016, but not this year, so 2017 can be considered a redshirt for him and he is a redshirt sophomore now.

As always, we will keep an eye on this as things develop. For most of last summer Purdue was over the limit before the final roster was released in August. I would imagine we’ll see some departures in the spring after spring football and spring semester grades come out.

It should be noted that the current scholarship makeup per this chart has 41 Hazell players and 51 Brohm players, so the 2018 season will already have more of Brohm influence when it comes to recruiting than Hazell. Of course, Brohm was still able to get the most out of Hazell recruited guys like Anthony Mahoungou, David Blough, Elijah Sindelar, and more.