Elijah Sindelar Won’t Return in 2020 for Purdue

Oh, what might have been.

Great work, as always, from Tom Dienhart here. That ends a once promising career for Elijah Sindelar, who showed a ton of promise back in 2017 but had his career derailed by injuries. His future looked very bright when he shredded Arizona for 396 yards and 4 TDs in the Foster Farms Bowl while playing on a torn ACL. Little did we know he would only play in five more games in his career.

In 2018 an upper body injury in practice before Missouri and the emergence of David Blough limited him to two games and 283 yards. That injury gave him a 6th season in 2020 if he wanted it, and he started 2019 on fire by throwing for 932 yards and 9 touchdowns in the first two games against Nevada and Vanderbilt. A concussion suffered late against Vanderbilt cost him the TCU game, then he broke his collarbone and was lost for the season after just 4 completions and 46 yards against Minnesota.

It was a tough career for a guy that played really, really well when healthy. I can understand him not wanting to come back, however. He suffered two ACL tears, a concussion, a broken collarbone, and the injury last season. He will leave Purdue with a Masters degree in engineering and a ton of solid memories from that 2017 season as well.

Best of luck to Elijah, who played with a ton of heart. There is no question he gave it all.

Fortunately, Purdue will not be completely bare at quarterback in 2020. Jack Plummer and Aidan O’Connell both got plenty of experience and proved they could move the offense this season. It may feel like a lost season at 4-8, but Sindelar’s final injury did open the door for both and each had some solid moments. Paul Piferi as a redshirt freshman is the definite No. 3 right now, and on Wednesday 4-star recruit Michael Alaimo will sign.