Purdue is no longer a joke, including in recruiting

Jeff Brohm’s team was a delightful surprise in his first year. Now it’s recruiting like a serious threat.

When Jeff Brohm got to Purdue before the 2017 season, he inherited the worst recruiting situation in the Power 5 conferences. The Boilermakers’ five-year class rank was 71st in the country, behind a handful of mid-majors and Kansas. That Brohm pulled off a 7-6 year immediately after taking over that roster was an epic coaching feat.

Now that Brohm’s gotten rolling, he shouldn’t have to work with such a barren roster ever again. The Boilers’ 2018 class moved up to No. 51 in the country and 11th in the Big Ten, which was great given where things were before. Now, the 2019 class stands 21st nationally and fourth in the conference with about five months to Signing Day.

Fueling Purdue’s rise: a recently unprecedented string of blue-chip commitments.

From 2014 through 2017, Darrell Hazell’s Boilermakers signed zero five-star recruits.

Things started to get better in 2018, Brohm’s first full recruiting cycle. The program landed four-star slot receiver Rondale Moore, a former Texas commit who’s since gone viral for squatting well over three times his body weight:

The situation’s only gotten better in the still-developing 2019 class. The Boilermakers’ national approach to the trail is paying dividends.

So far, they have four commits rated four stars, all from different states:

• Defensive end George Karlaftis, the country’s No. 76 player, from West Lafayette
• Safety Marvin Grant, from Detroit
• Defensive end/tackle Steven Faucheaux, from Ohio
• Receiver TJ Sheffield, an ex-Notre Dame commit from Tennessee

The 21-man class also has a handful of high-three-star types. Those are the players teams need to get in bulk when they’re not absolutely stacked with blue-chips.

Recruiting close to home is critical for almost every program. It’s mattered to this Purdue class mainly because Karlaftis lives steps away from campus.

“I live right down the street,” he says, and he emphasizes he means that literally.

Still, just two of their verbal commits are from Indiana. Six are from Ohio. Ten states, stretching from North Carolina to California, are represented.

Brohm’s ‘18 class had a similar feel, though the Boilermakers are going to different states now. The former Western Kentucky coach has drawn on his familiarity with that part of the country. The Boilermakers got more out of Kentucky than any other team last year:

The on-field success since Brohm’s arrival has played a part, but it’s not the only thing making the Boilermakers go.

In Karlaftis, the fourth-highest-rated commit in program history, the Boilers might have just gotten lucky. His “entire family” has gone to Purdue, and living next door has meant constant exposure to the school. He also might turn out to be the rare elite recruit who really, truly doesn’t care what everyone else thinks of his college choice.

“Everyone’s saying that: Like, ‘We’re so much better than Purdue. We’re so much better than Purdue at this and that,’” Karlaftis says. “And I was like, ‘I’m a defensive lineman. I’m not a quarterback.’ If you’re a quarterback, I get it. You need other great people around you.

“I’m not implying that Purdue doesn’t have good people, but I’m just saying I’m against the offensive tackle, the offensive guard, sometimes the center.”

Karlaftis has commitable offers to a bunch of legacy programs. USC, which he recently visited, and Michigan are among those pushing hardest. But he has little patience for rival fans or recruiters who tell him he won’t become a star if he stays in West Lafayette.

“I don’t care,” he says. “Ryan Kerrigan did it.”

Faucheaux, the latest of the Boilers’ four-star pledges, thinks he’ll fit well in the scheme outlined to him by Brohm and co-coordinator Nick Holt. He likes the “chemistry between coaches and players,” which fits with Brohm’s rep as a player’s coach. That often comes up in the context of his ultra-fun offense, but it works on the other side of the ball, too.

“Their success last year would mean nothing to me if I didn’t believe that they would keep being successful and keep improving as a team,” Faucheaux says.

Usual disclaimers apply: All of Purdue’s commits, four-star and otherwise, are still free to sign elsewhere. Signing Day isn’t in the summer (though it’s getting closer!). The exact composition of Purdue’s 2019 class won’t be known until the winter.

But this is known now: Purdue used to be a punchline, not just to fans and media members, but to recruits who had other options in the power leagues. Not anymore.