Purdue Football Recruiting: What Does the 2021 Class Still Need?

I have no idea how many kids we can or will take for 2021, full disclosure, with a year of COVID and free year of eligibility, I have no idea what is in store. But, we have 10 commits for 2021 already and I do think we can/will take up to five more players.

Here are the 10 commits we have to date:

• Preston Terrell - Wide Receiver
• Jaelin Alstott-VanDeVanter - Offensive Line
• Zach Richards - Offensive Line
• Mahamane Moussa - Offensive Line
• Tristan Cox - Linebacker
• Khordae Sydnor - Defensive End
• Brandon Calloway - Defensive Back
• Rickey Smith - Defensive Back
• Deion Burks - Athlete (Defensive Back/Running Back)
• Sam Jackson - Athlete (Quarterback)

These are all high 3 star prospects, and is a solid building block to the program/class. Again, I have no idea what the size of the class would be, but I do believe we will have the ability to take a few more guys. These are the positions I believe we need help at.

• Wide Receiver (1-2)
• Linebacker (1-2)
• Defensive Tackle (Nose) (1)
• Running Back (1)

For Wide Receiver, I am totally aware that we have like 10,000 of them. But with the departure of Rondale Moore, potentially Jared Sparks and Jackson Anthrop (5th years, but get a free covid season) and the disappointment thus far of Kory Taylor who is headed into his redshirt junior season.

At Linebacker, I am comfortable with taking up to two more guys. With switching to the 3-4 defense, your base defense is calling for 4 linebackers. Where as, the 4-2-5, that we ran in years past, only called for 2 each day.

In the 3-4 defense, a great nose tackle is almost as vital as a quarterback is to the offense. You are asking a guy to be able to be a 2 gap player, but also be a 2 gap filler with his size. This position needs to continue adding depth. Lorenzo Neal Jr and Lawerence Johnson are solid nose tackles, but we need to have a few more in the bullpen in case of injuries and for depth. Your nose has to be an impact player.

Running Back isn’t vital, we are still rather young there, but with injuries that seem to pile up at that position, some long term depth would be nice. At Western Kentucky, Coach Brohm had a fantastic running game. While we saw it with flashes of DJ Knox and Markell Jones. We have not seen it since, I would personally love a great run game.