Following the disaster that was a 1-11 season and the release of Ryan Walters and most of the staff, Purdue has seen as many as twenty players jump into the portal so far. Of those twenty, as many as fifteen saw important snaps throughout the season with Dillon Thieneman, Cole Brevard, Tarrion Grant, Kyndrich Breedlove, Jahmal Edrine, and quarterbacks Marcos Davila and Ryan Browne seemingly being assured starters for next season stepping away. That is a lot of talent to replace through the portal for a program that has seemingly struggled to get production there outside of Iowa transfer Charlie Jones and Mississippi State transfer Keelan Crimmins.
Following Barry Odom being announced as head coach, he pledged to meet with every player who was still in the building in a one on one basis. That has resulted in some early results with receiver Arhmad Branch, long snapper Nick Levy, and defensive back Sterling Smith returning. The issue is, outside of Levy, the other two were not seeing any sort of major snaps this past season. With the defections that are currently known along with the number of seniors leaving the program, Purdue could see as many as forty new faces in the building when adding in the freshman class (currently ten signed incoming freshman with two still waiting to be signed in Cameron Gorin and Rashad Jones).
In Walters' first year, he was able to make some relatively splashy moves by getting Hudson Card, Jahmal Edrine, Marquis Wilson, Marquevious Brown, and Braxton Myers. He followed that up with four Georgia Bulldogs who, although thought to be a foundational piece for the Boilers this season, had little impact overall. The portal has, unfortunately, been rather unkind to the Boilers over the last several seasons. It has placed new head coach Barry Odom in a tough situation with guys leaving and a need to upgrade almost every single position. So what does he do?
Well, for starters, he is likely to bring several UNLV players with him. That exact number won't be known until they play in the LA Bowl on December 18th at 6:00pm but likely solidifies some time in the weekend following. UNLV was a very experienced team that has a number of players that won't be able to transfer due to their eligibility running out but keep an eye out on LB Fisher Camac, WR Ricky White, LB Marsel McDuffie, DB Jett Elad, LB Mani Powell, and a few others to get into the portal and possibly make their way with Odom to West Lafayette. That definitely won't be enough to round out the entire roster, so Purdue will likely widen their search. So where do they need to go first?
Offensively, Purdue looks like they will retain much loved running back Devin Mockobee along with talented underclassman Jaheim Merriweather to form a nice set of returning backs along with receivers Arhmad Branch, De'Nylon Morrisette, CJ Smith, and Shamar Rigby. The offense is going to need a boost at the skill positions and desperately need a quarterback but that all means nothing without some big time additions along the offensive line.
Returning for the Boilers along the offensive line are some promising players but none that you can be confident in like Marcus Mbow and Gus Hartwig from last season. The Boilers return Joey Tanona, Jaden Ball, Bakyne Coly, Rod Green, John Randle Jr., Jordan King, Ethan Trent, Jaekwon Bouldin, with Bouldin and Green being highly sought after JUCO offensive lineman before being sidelined with injuries this past season. There is a lot of room to add on the offensive line and the ability to have playing time immediately may open the doors for some players looking to drop down from bigger programs that are seeking just that.
Purdue is going to likely need a starting center, three offensive guards, and three offensive tackles to feel really good about itself heading into the season. There is just no way around Purdue needing the find an offensive line that can establish the line of scrimmage and get the chains moving more than it did last year, which turned out to be the most disappointing position group for the perceived talent that they had last season. The hope is a new offensive line coach and new scheme will help those that are left over and those coming in to be put in better positions to succeed.