Boilermakings Makes a Triumphant Return

It has been a long, long, loooooong time since we have had a Boilermakings around here, but it is the middle of July and there is little to write about from a larger topic sense. There are plenty of smaller news tidbits to touch on, however. That makes for the perfect time to bring Boilermakings out of retirement.

George Karlaftis Impressing at The Opening

The top recruit in our 2019 class was invited to the prestigeous The Opening, and it appears he is not making friends with his intensity. Here he is blowing past one of the top offensive linemen in the country. A report from 247 has this on him:

Kardell Thomas ... As he often does in the phone booth, Thomas drew several oohs and ahs by putting multiple defensive linemen into the astroturf on Sunday, including Florida State commitment Quashon Fuller. Fuller did provide one of the few losses on the day for Thomas by rolling the dice on a spin move and managing to get outside of Thomas’ reach. The 6-3, 356-pound LSU commitment also ended his day by spinning the helmet of Purdue defensive lineman commitment George Karlaftis, then, after Karlaftis gave him a shove, Thomas threw up hands in the heated exchange.

JaJuan Johnson Gets Paid

After a season that saw him win the EuroCup with Darussafaka, JaJuan Johnson recently signed a lucrative one year deal with Lokomotiv Kuban in Russia for 2018-19:

The previous season was perhaps the best in Johnson’s European run so far. Under David Blatt, the 29-year-old big won the EuroCup with the jersey of Turkish club Darussafaka Istanbul while being named in the All-EuroCup Second Team.

Johnson averaged 13.9 points, 6.3 rebounds in EuroCup, including 7.5 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 1.5 steals in the Finals against Lokomotiv Kuban. His new team.

The deal is for more than $2 million through 2020, which is a nice little chunk of change. now he just needs to find a home in the city of Krasnodar, which is “the economic center of southern Russia.”

All-American. Long. Snapper.

We have long talked about the proud longsnapping tradition at Purdue and it continues to be excellent. Ben Makowski was recognized as a Third Team All-American according to the early Phil Steele preview:

That’s right. The tradition started by John Finch (who actually works as a longsnapping instructor now for Rubio), Kevin Ballenger, and Jesse Schmitt now has an All-American honor to go with it. Also, against all odds, we can now say Darrell Hazell recruited an All-American!

Get Drunk with Jeff Brohm

Our friends at Eleven Warriors have ranked the coaches in the Big Ten they would like to have a beer with, and Brohm is No. 1:

Brohm’s ranking at the top of this list comes down to three things:

He played in the XFL, which makes him inherently cooler than any other Big Ten coach.

He spent three years in rural Kentucky. Bourbon and beer replaced his blood a long, long time ago.

Prost!

Elliott Cribby to Repalce Steve Holm as Purdue Pitching Coach

This is big news as coach Waz looks to keep the positive momentum going after this past season. This past season Seattle was a respectable 34-23 and made some noise in the WAC Tournament. They upset regular season champion Grand Canyon, but then were eliminated int he next two games. As a staff they had a 4.81 ERA, but starters Jake Prizina and Tarik Skubal were a combined 16-3 as a potent 1-2 combination. With freshmen Trent Johnson and Andrew Bohm likely moving into the weekend rotation Cribby’s ability to develop starters will be huge.

Among notable wins for Seattle this past season was an 8-3 win over CWS participant Washington on March 6.

Former Boiler Cameron Perkins Makes a Highlight Reel Catch

Just look:

Tyler Trent Continues to Tell Cancer to Screw Itself

We’re behind you, Tyler.

Boiler Business Exchange Renovates Indy Courts

We have a few new Cardinal Courts:

Nick Dalesandro Makes Pro Debut

It is early, but Purdue catcher Nick Dalesandro is off to a solid start in his pro career:

In just four games, Dalesandro is hitting .565, driving in three runs and stealing a base. With two multi-hit games, Dalesandro is slated to start tonight as the DH.

In college, he proved to be one of the most durable players in the BIG Ten, playing in all 59 of the team’s games and batting .297 with two home runs and 34 runs batted in. He drew a team-high 37 walks while stealing 27 bases on 30 attempts.