34 Days to Purdue Football: Damarjhe Lewis & Ben Van Noord

The weekend will be sparse on the countdown, as there is no 33 or 32 on the official roster at the moment (pour one out for Danny/Jackson Anthrop), but today we have another double player day.

Damarjhe Lewis - Jr.

Griffin, GA (Griffin HS)

6’3”, 300 pounds

Defensive Tackle

2022 Projection: Contributor

The transfer portal is a weird place, and Lewis is one of a handlful of guys who have come over to Purdue from the dark side of Indiana football. He redshirted in 2020 and went through practice in Bloomington, but transferred before last season and ended up in West Lafayette.

Lewis was a solid rotation guy last year, which is nice to have at defensive tackle. He played in 12 games and even started three times. He had eight tackles on the season, and one for a loss. His best game was against Illinois, where he had three tackles, one for loss.

Lewis will be a contributor and spot starter in 2022. He has good size to help plug the middle and will definitely be in the rotation up front. That makes him a valuable pickup on the transfer market.

Ben Van Noord - Fr. (RS)

Springfield, OH (Springfield HS)

6’2”, 210 pounds

Wide Receiver

2022 Projection: Reserve

Van Noord is another player that was a walk-on as part of the 2021 recruiting cycle and he did not play any last season. As a senior in high school he caught 29 passes for 539 yards and six touchdowns. That was enough for him to be named All Greater Western Ohio Conference. He also was an accomplished baseball player in high school.