Weekend Purdue News, January 14, 2012
With Purdue’s next basketball game on Tuesday, the 17th, there are no game reports this weekend. However, there has been some Boilermaker football and basketball news.
1) Marve back for his 6th year:
Senior quarterback Robert Marve was granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA. As you may know, Marve has had an interesting career path. He redshirted as a freshman at the University of Miami and then transferre after his redshirt freshman year to Purdue when he lost the starting quarterback job to Jacory Harris. Before getting to Purdue, he tore his ACL, but he sat out that year anyway per NCAA transfer rules.
His redshirt junior year was abruptly ended when he tore his ACL against Toledo. His 2011 redshirt senior year got off to a slow start as he was recovering during the early part of the season and subsequently split time with Caleb TerBush. He finished this past season with 633 yards with 4 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
Marve back for his 6th year means that Coach Hope will have another potential starting quarterback at his disposal. Depending on Marve’s ability to practice on his twice repaired knee, he may earn the starting position. But it won’t be easy with Caleb TerBush and Rob Henry vying for the starting role. My guess is that Hope will let spring ball play out before naming a starter. Even then, we are likely to see more of a rotating quarterback system.
2) Derek Willis nearing a decision?
It has been reported through Kentucky’s rivals.com affiliate that Derek Willis is close to choosing the Kentucky Wildcats. Willis, a former Purdue commit, also has offers from Louisville and Indiana. Living in Kentucky, I am sure Big Blue Nation has been in his ear about playing college ball in Lexington. Coach Calipari is as good of a recruiter as there is (feel free to make NCAA violation jokes here) so it’s not easy to recruit against Coach Cal and win.
Derek Willis could make his decision as soon as next week.
3) Purdue still searching for a Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers coach
This past week included a job fair of sorts for assistant coaches. After combing through potential candidates, Danny Hope and staff have to select potential candidates to replace the departed Coach Gary Emanuel (DC) and Phil Elmassian (LB coach). Hopefully Purdue can move quickly because it helps to have a full staff to recruit, make corrections for next season, and become familiar with Purdue’s current personnel.
4) Other Purdue recruiting targets:
Matt Painter is never not recruiting. This week, he checked in on 2015 point guard Hyron Edwards. The 5-11 Edwards plays for East Chicago and is having a very good freshman year.
There have also been whispers that Purdue has offered 2013 shooting guard Rusty Troutman who plays for Derek Willis’ high school. Speculate all you want about this as a power move to entice Willis and Troutman as a package deal to Purdue, but Troutman is actually a skilled player. That said, if Willis commits to Kentucky, we’ll know the true answer if Purdue stops recruiting Troutman.
If Willis does indeed commit to Kentucky soon, look for Matt Painter and staff to expand their horizon on other 2013 forwards.
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