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Today we feature an offensive lineman that might be able to play as a true freshman, an extreme rarity for Purdue.
Gus Hartwig - Fr.
Zionsville, IN (Zionsville HS)
6’5”, 305
Offensive Line
2020 Projection: Possible reserve
Hartwig was able to get a bit of an early start on his Purdue career. He graduated in January and was able to enroll for spring semester. That meant he went through the limited spring practice before all hell broke loose.
He has a very promising career ahead of him, too. Rivals and 247 both rated him as a 4-star recruit. he also played in the All-American game back in January:
“I started playing when I was in the second grade, and I’ve always wanted to become a Big 10 or a Power 5 [conference] player,” Hartwig said. “I knew at a young age that’s what I wanted to do. I remember when I was younger, I watched Blake [Lueders] play. And I remember thinking that I wanted to be like Blake. I have always looked up to him as someone who had been a really good player at Zionsville, and that’s what I wanted to be.”
I have had the privilege of covering Zionsville the last few seasons and playing in Indiana’s second best conference will definitely help him . The Hoosier Crossroads Conference is second only to the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference in terms of the quality of football. Zionsville is the smallest school in the conference, but held its own and even won a class 6A sectional this past season with 44-41 upset of undefeated Brownsburg in the sectional final. This reversed a 54-14 regular season loss.
He helped Zionsville win three sectionals in the last four seasons as well. he projects mostly as a center but can also play at guard, which is where he could most likely play if there is a 2020 season and he avoids a redshirt.