Purdue Football Recruiting: Mahamane Moussa Commits to Boilermakers

Mahamane Moussa, a 3*(84) 6’5, 260 pound offensive lineman out of Pike High School in Indianapolis, gave his verbal commitment to join Purdue’s 2021 recruiting class today.

Moussa received his Purdue offer on August 1st and has been trending towards Purdue since then. The Boilermakers gave him an opportunity to stay home and he jumped on it, much to the chagrin of programs like Boston College, Kansas, Memphis, Louisville, and Wake Forrest, who were also courting the big man out of Indianapolis.

He joins fellow in-state linemen Jaelin Alstott-VanDeVanter and Zach Richards in the 2021 class and pushes Purdue’s commitments into double digits.

What He Brings to the Table

Athleticism is the name of the game for the Pike lineman. He has nice balance in pass protection and can recover if a defender gets the edge. He profiles as an offensive tackle at the college level, and it’s not hard to envision him protecting the quarterbacks blind side in the future.

In a Steve Wiltfong article on 247 Sports (article here) his coach at Pike, Pat Echeverria is quoted as saying,

“Man, I told him earlier, we went full pads one day (last week), and last year he looked like a skinny linemen, this year looks like a stud offensive linemen, He’s long, he’s aggressive, he’s athletic, put on some good weight.”

Gaining weight while maintaining his athleticism is going to be key in his development. He moves great at 260, and it’s going to be interesting to see if he can maintain that ability at 290+. He’s a late bloomer that just started to fill out his lanky frame, giving the strength and conditioning coaches plenty to work with at Purdue. I like guys that come in a little under weight as opposed to over weight. It allows the S&C staff to start building right away instead of having to tear down bad weight and then try to build back up.

What It Means for Purdue Recruiting

This is a huge pick up for the Boilermakers in terms of numbers. They were desperate for a third lineman in this class, and snagging a late bloomer with high upside like Moussa is a home run in my book. He’s a guy that is going to need some time at the collegiate level to build up his strength and perfect his technique, but that can be said about the majority of high school offensive linemen.

This should wrap up the offensive line for 2021. I would love to bring in a fourth, but I’m not sure there is another linemen out for Purdue at the moment. Things could obviously change, but bringing in three linemen in what looks to be a small class is fine.