The NCAA Transfer Portal. One of the most weird things to happen with college athletics in the past few years.
Essentially, when players decide to transfer, it is now public knowledge. 247sports.com does an excellent job of tracking these players on their “NCAA Transfer Portal” Website and their Twitter.
Entering the transfer portal does not mean in the end they HAVE to transfer. It allows the player to talk to other schools and to be recruited again - but in the end, they may return to their original school.
As we all know, Purdue is looking for IMMEDIATE help - either from the JUCO route or from the NCAA Transfer Portal Grad Transfers.
I think it is quite obvious the positions that Purdue will be looking for immediate help from.
- Quarterback - Is Elijah Sindelar coming back? If not, then we are all the sudden really young, with AOC being the oldest player in the quarterback room as a junior.
- Offensive Line - Purdue is still in the middle of grooming offensive linemen. We struck out last year on the OL in the transfer portal and it showed as the young OL struggled early on. Purdue needs interior OL help bad, hell any OL help.
- Interior Defensive Line - We lack beef. If Lorenzo Neal Jr., comes back (healthy too) a lot of that is solved, but again, he and Lawrence Johnson I believe would be the only two guys on the interior DL that are over 300 pounds, we need gap fillers inside.
- Linebacker - We lose Markus Bailey and Ben Holt. Cornel Jones is coming off an injury - leaving us with Jaylan Alexander as the most experience LB coming back. We need help there bad.
Our scholarship grid has us over a few scholarships, but lets be honest here. No one truly knows how the hell that thing works other than our coaching staff. It always works in the end.
Here are a few guys that we could potentially go after for immediate help.
Quarterback:
Feleipe Franks - 6-6, 215 Pounds, Florida
Jack Sears - 6-3, 205 Pounds, USC
Jake Bentley - 6-4, 220 Pounds South Carolina
Offensive Line:
Ryan Johnson - 6-6, 305 Pounds, Tennessee, OT
Dylan Powell - 6-3, 290 Pounds, Stanford, Guard
Bryce Mathews - 6-6, 300 Pounds, Ole Miss, Tackle or Guard
Nino Leone - 6-4, 315 Pounds, UCONN, Guard or Center
J.P. Urquidez - 6-5, 300 Pounds, OT
Interior Defensive Line:
No current grad transfers in the portal.
Linebacker:
Tyree Thompson - 6-3, 240 Pounds, UCLA
Noah Young - 6-3, 225 Pounds, Utah State
Max McDonald - 6-1, 225 Pounds, Colorado State
Drew Harvey - 6’, 235 Pounds, Kansas
This is a mere list that I found from the NCAA Portal on 247 Sports.
Of the players, I have a few favorites.
I really like the Bentley guy from South Carolina for quarterback. He hardly played this season, but last year, he threw for over 3000 yards, 27 touchdowns on 62% completion.
I also like Nino Leone from UCONN. I think he may fly under the radar in the portal. He is 6-4, 315 Pounds. He started all 12 games in 2018 as a redshirt sophomore and again this year as a redshirt junior. He can play either guard or center.