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Purdue Football: Boilers Add Western Kentucky Offensive Lineman Grad Transfer

Tyler Witt is heading to West Lafayette to finish his college eligibility.

By Drew Schneider
Western Kentucky v Vanderbilt Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images

Tyler Witt, a 6’2, 305 pound offensive guard out of Joliet, Illinois, will transfer to Purdue to use his final year of eligibility.

Witt has collected quite a few accolades during his time as a Hilltopper, including:

  • 2020 PFF All-CUSA Third Team
  • 2019 Wuerffel Trophy Watch List
  • 2019 PFF All-CUSA Second Team
  • 2018 Conference USA All-Academic Team
  • 2017 Conference USA All-Freshman Team
  • 2017 Conference USA All-Academic Team
  • PFF C-USA Team of the Week x 3

What It Means For Purdue

This one is a bit of a head scratcher. I assumed Purdue would take a graduate transfer for the offensive line, but I thought it would be at tackle. Witt is a solid, versatile guard with tons of experience, but he steps into a depth chart featuring Gus Hartwig and Spencer Holstege. They are both coming off honorable mention All-Big 10 seasons. You can never have enough good offensive linemen, but I’m not sure how Witt fits into the Purdue puzzle. At some point, the Boilermakers are going to have to develop their own guys, and I was optimistic about the interior line finally paying dividends.

I could see a scenario where Hartwig slides to center and Witt plays left guard, but I thought Sam Garvin acquitted himself fairly well this season. Again, I like the idea of picking up an instant impact lineman, and Witt is good, but we’re going to have to wait and see how this plays out.

Moving Forward

I’m still not sure of the plan at left tackle without Hermanns. In theory, there should be options on the roster, but I get the feeling the coaching staff isn’t comfortable with any of them, or at least they weren’t last year (Greg Long came in as a grad transfer and won the right tackle spot right away).

The transfer portal is bursting at the seams, and Purdue has playing time to sell. I expect them to make a move on an offensive tackle at some point, but I’ll readily admit that I follow Purdue recruiting closely, and still have no idea what’s going on in terms of roster composition. Maybe the Boilermakers get creative and go with an all guard and center line in 2021.

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