Purdue Football Recruiting: Gus Hartwig Commits!

Gus Hartwig, a 6’5, 275 pound, 3*(88) center out of Zionsville, Indiana gave Purdue a crucial verbal commitment for the 2020 recruiting class.

According to the 247 Sports composition rankings, Hartwig is considered the 440th best player in the nation, the 8th best center, and the 3rd best player in Indiana in the 2020 class. Offensive Line Coach Dale Williams and Wide Receiver Coach JaMarcus Shephard led the charge in securing Hartwig’s commitment.

The pickings are rather slim in Indiana this year after a historic 2019 class, and getting a player of Hartwig’s caliber at a position of need is incredible for Purdue. There are two solid center recruits in Indiana, #2 overall player Josh Fryar out of Beech Grove and Hartwig. Purdue needed to land one of them and managed to land Hartwig early.

Brief Evaluation

Hartwig is just the sort of tall, athletic lineman that Purdue covets. He plays in an offense that utilizes the shotgun, meaning he will come in with that skill mastered already. I know it seems like a small thing, but being able to reliably get the ball back to the quarterback in the shotgun is crucial. Often times it takes an offensive linemen a year or two to master the skill.

He is a mobile center that has the ability to work the double team and get out and reach a defensive end on a zone block. Like most high school players, he will need to work on getting his pads lower and mastering some of the finer points of playing offensive line, but he appears to have the physical ability to handle that task.

Coach Williams likes working with good pieces of clay that he can mold into Purdue linemen, and Hartwig has more to offer than most. According to the 247 composite, he is the highest rated offensive lineman to (potentially) commit to Purdue in the Brohm era.

Thank you for your time, you may now return to your regularly scheduled basketball angst.