15 Days to Purdue Football: Charlie Jones

After seeing Purdue receivers run rampant against the Iowa secondary today’s player decided he wanted to experience that from the other side.

Charlie Jones - Gr.

Deerfield, IL (Deerfield HS)

6’, 188 pounds

Wide Receiver

2022 Projection: Starter

Purdue’s return game has been one of the worst in the Big Ten the last couple of years, but that should change dramatically this year. Even if Jones doesn’t do a single thing on offense his presence as a kick and punt returner will be extremely beneficial. Last season at Iowa Jones won the Rodgers-Dwight Award as the Big Ten’s best return specialist. He was First Team all-Big Ten in that area in each of the last two seasons. He averaged over 25 yards per kick return last year with a touchdown and over 7 yards per punt return. In his two years at Iowa he has returned both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown. Purdue has had neither under Brohm and I believe it has not returned a punt for a score since Aaron Valentin when Danny Hope was coaching.

Jones is also expected to have an impact at wide receiver. He had 21 receptions for 323 yards and 3 touchdowns last season in Iowa’s extremely conservative offense. In 2018, when he was at Buffalo, he had 18 receptions for 395 yards and 3 scores. He was a very big get on the transfer market.