Purdue Recruiting: New 247 Sports Rankings Update!

247 Sports released a new rankings update today, and two Purdue commits made substantial moves up the rankings.

First off, George Karlaftis moved up from a 4* to a 5* after a dominating the camp circuit this summer. 247 has Karlaftis rated as the 9th best overall player in the nation, the best strong side defensive end in the nation, and the best player in Indiana.

I want everyone to stop and reread the above paragraph....now do it again...and again...and now, once more. Just a few short years ago, Purdue was struggling to land a top 10 player in Indiana, and now they’ve got a top 10 player in the country (according to 247). Having a top 10 player on board, in and of itself, is amazing, but the ancillary benefits of having a top 10 player in the nation helping recruit other stud players to your program is incredible. Karlaftis maintains a presence on twitter and is constantly tweeting at top recruits. I’m fairly certain Purdue offered 4* DT Jacob Bandes based solely on his relationship with Karlaftis. I assume that Purdue is going to fight hard to land his 5th official visit.

What’s interesting is that 247 likes Karlaftis waaaaaay more than any of the other recruiting sites, who list him as a mid 4*, fringe top 100 player. I think Rivals will probably shoot him up the rankings as well, once they release their update. Karlaftis was a once in a generation opportunity for Purdue recruiting and Brohm and Holt managed to get the job done. It will be a fight to keep him, but as long as the coaching staff remains, I think Big George will stick. I’m interested to see if he signs in the early period, or if waits to see how things shake out. As a Purdue fan, I hope he signs early, but if I were advising Karlaftis, I would tell him to wait. I would be shocked if he signs early.

The second player moving up the rankings is Kyle Bilodeau. He moved up 751 spots to land at 246 overall and gained a 4th star. 247 also has him ranked as the 11th best TE in the nation and the 7th overall player in Virginia. The fact that Purdue went into Virginia and landed a top 10 player may be even more incredible than landing hometown hero Karlaftis. The recruiting jackals will start circling Bilodeau now that he picked up a 4th star, but he committed to Purdue to play in the Brohm offense, and as long as Brohm stays put (I’m putting the odds of that happening at around 95% right now) I think Bilodeau will remain in the fold as well.

So there you have it, Purdue is pretty much a recruiting juggernaut at this point, and will certainly be calling out Bama in a season or two.