44 Days to Purdue Football: Daniel Hawthorne

Daniel Hawthorne - Senior (with eligibility in 2024 as well)

West Monroe, Louisiana (West Monroe High School)

Long Snapper

6’0” - 235 lbs.

2023 Projection: Likely Starter

Following the departure of sixth year senior Nick Zecchino, the Boilers tapped into the transfer portal for an experienced long snapper. Who they found is a former three-year letterman at Missouri.

Daniel Hawthorne arrived as a walk-on in Columbia, Missouri as an undersized former offensive lineman before appearing in the Tigers’ final seven games as the long snapper. He did well enough to where he maintained the starting spot for the entirety of his sophomore year (13 games) and started the first seven of his junior campaign before declaring his intention to enter his name in the NCAA transfer portal.

He announced in late April that he had found a new home with incoming first-year head coach Ryan Walters and his staff in West Lafayette and enrolled at Purdue in June.

The Louisiana native switches jersey numbers from 47 to 44 on his second black and gold team and will compete with redshirt junior Nick Taylor, who has seen action in just one game in his years of backing up Zecchino.

Hawthorne’s experience in 27 collegiate football games alone will likely place him at the top of the depth chart as long snapper, so look for #44 to be the guy for Purdue’s renovated coaching staff in 2023.