36 Days to Purdue Football: Roman Pitre

Roman Pitre - Sophomore

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - University Laboratory School

Outside Linebacker

6’5” - 230 lbs.

2023 Projection: Special teams duty, rotational Buck LB

The lengthy Roman Pitre, a former three-star recruit, enrolled at Purdue in 2022 having turned down offers from the likes of Arizona State, Baylor, Colorado, Tulane, and Virginia. To quote the young man on his decision:

I wanted to go where the most love was shown...Arizona State, I visited there, and it was really hot. I was like “I don’t know about this.”

His cousin, Jalen Pitre, now a safety for the Houston Texans, was an All-American and Big 12 defensive player of the year at Baylor. The younger Pitre admitted he did not want to live in his cousin’s shadow.

In high school, Pitre book-ended his four years by winning state championships as a freshman and as a senior. He was listed as an athlete by recruiting services given his ability to play as a defensive end, an outside linebacker, even crediting his time filling in at free safety as making him one of the more versatile defensive players a team can have (especially given his size).

While listed as a sophomore, the young OLB saw no action in his first season as a Boilermaker, so I’d expect a redshirt to be retroactively awarded to Pitre.

He’s reaching the weight threshold of what’s considered to be a buck linebacker, a hybrid LB/DE on the weak side in a 3-4 defense like Ryan Walters plans to employ in his first season as head football coach. While Pitre hasn’t seen the field yet, his length and strength make him an ideal candidate for molding into his natural position in what will assuredly be a tough Boilermakers defense in coming years.