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Sep 6, 2025; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers running back Malachi Thomas (24) celebrates a sack with Purdue Boilermakers linebacker Charles Correa (5) during the second quarter against the Southern Illinois Salukis at Ross-Ade Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images
Special thanks to Drew Schneider of Hammer and Rails for joining this week’s podcast to discuss Purdue’s roster:
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Purdue football has seen some serious ups and downs the past half decade. In the final two years of the Jeff Brohm era, 2021 and 2022, Purdue posted a 17-10 record overall, going 12-6 in Big Ten play and culminating in a conference title game appearance. That was the best two-year conference record for the Boilermakers in twenty years (the peak of the Joe Tiller “basketball on grass” era), which Brohm then parlayed into getting the head coaching job at his alma mater Louisville.
Purdue turned the football program over to then-Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters, whom Addicted to Quack has written at length about in the last two years. After a disastrous 2nd season in West Lafayette that saw the Boilermakers go 1-11 and winless in B1G play in 2024, Purdue decided to cut their losses and let go of Walters less than 2 years after hiring him.
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That leads us to the current head coach Barry Odom who is entering his 2nd season at the helm in 2026. As is the case with nearly all coaching transitions in modern college football, Odom’s first year saw an immense amount of roster turnover resulting in Purdue being one of the final B1G teams Addicted to Quack previewed before 2025 (as the order of this series is reverse order of roster stability).
However, discussed in both last and this year’s interview with Drew Schneider from our sister site Hammer and Rails, Odom appears to be laying down strong roots in Purdue and attempting to build a stable football program from the ground up which is why they’ve been moved up to the 5th team in this summer’s preview series. If you only looked at Purdue’s record from Walters’ final season in 2024 compared to the Odom’s first in 2025 it would not appear much if any improvement was made. However, if you pop the hood and look deeper there were noticeable signs of improvement in 2025 as Odom attempts to do a slow patient build.
Offense
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There’s been some shuffling on offensive coordinator Josh Henson’s staff, though it looks like it was planned in advance. RB coach Lamar Conrad was retained from the previous staff in 2025 and finished out with the backs he’d been working with, and now that those backs have graduated Conrad has moved on to Miami of Ohio. Two of the coaches Odom brought over from UNLV were temporarily tucked away at different spots in 2025 to accommodate Conrad, but now in 2026 they’re back to where they were at UNLV: RB coach Ford who was stashed at WR, and WR coach Marshall who was under Ford as assistant WR coach. Meanwhile OL coach Crabtree, Henson’s protege from USC, did his gap year at Fresno State and takes over for Vance Vice.
Quarterbacks
In 2025 Ryan Browne was the starter while Malachi Singleton was QB for a package of designed runs. Singleton transferred out after the 2025 season and with no significant transfers being taken at the position Browne should be the starter in 2025.
Browne’s Passer Rating in 2025 was quite miserable at 115 and nearly two standard deviations below median which was quite a drop-off from his QB rating in 2024 of 127.5. It’s important to remember the difficult situation Browne has been placed in the past two years but the biggest reason for the drop in his statistics from 2024 to 2025 is largely due to two factors that are likely more the fault of his OC and those are:
1. Purdue calling a higher proportion of screen passes in 2025 versus 2024 that were largely ineffective
2. A disproportionate number of passing plays being called to get the ball to ineffective receivers as opposed to the effective receivers Purdue did have
Improvement from Browne in 2025 will come down to his own natural progression year over year as well as the OC doing a better job for him. If only one or neither of those things happen then Browne’s performance will likely stagnate or regress.
Running Backs
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Devin Mockobee was the lead back for Purdue in 2025 and was a very effective back given the line in front of him. Sadly, in the 8th game of the season against Rutgers, he sustained a foot injury and was lost for the rest of his senior season. Antonio Harris and Malachi Thomas had been the other two running backs to receive a meaningful number of carries and were the main backups before Mockobee got hurt. After he sustained his injury the carries were split between the two to finish the season. Harris returns while Thomas has transferred out.
From what Drew has heard, Fame Ijeboi is penciled in as the starter but he suspects this to be a 3-horse race between Ijeboi, Harris (the returning back-up), and Jerrick Gibson (the transfer from Texas who played early in 2025 before getting hurt in late September). These three should then become the projected 3-deep in the room. Purdue also took a running back from Jacksonville state, Travis Terrell, who put up strong numbers at the FCS level but due to his smaller size Drew suspects he will be a gadget scat-back.
With four upper classmen along with the high 3* Prep recruit Izaiah Wright there should be enough bodies in this room, though I question the ceiling of play as the projected starter was a Back-up at Minnesota last year who did not do anything special in the B1G.
Tight End
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Five different Tight Ends caught a pass for the Boilermakers in 2025, however only three did so during meaningful play, and none caught more than nine passes during the entire season. A large reason for this lack of returning production was due to the season-ending injury sustained by starter George Burhenn in the 4th game of the year, and his replacement Rico Walker was underwater in per-target success rate.
Burhenn showed promise in the early portion of the season and the year before, and may be Purdue’s number 1 offensive skill player in 2026, which is why we have him as the projected starter headed in to 2026.
Of the back-ups we suspect Kylan Fox will be the traditional back-up Tight End while Luca Puccinelli will be the 12 personnel blocking specialist. Purdue also signed 2 prep recruits in the 2026 cycle.
A healthy Burhenn could be extraordinarily helpful for Purdue’s offence as a whole but specifically helpful for QB Ryan Browne. The problem is the depth in this room is a bit dicey, after Kylan Fox there are 4 additional bodies in the room: two upper classmen who have hardly any on field experience in Puccinelli and Grimmett and then two high school prep recruits.
Wide Receiver
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As a result of a lot of both attrition and injuries Purdue hit the transfer portal hard to rebuild the receiver room. They took in 3 transfers and a JUCO who along with De’Nylon Morrissette make up the projected receiver 2 deep. Here are the raw stats for their transfers.
Xavier Townsend from Iowa State
Asaad Waseem from FAU
Bisi Owens from the FCS
Ricky Sampson from JUCO
In our conversation with Drew we were surprised that Xavier Townsend appears to a projected starter on the outside given his stature. But from the perspective of just trying to get the best receivers on the field it makes sense given the production both Townsend and Waseem have put up at the FBS level.
We project Bisi Owens as the other starter on the outside given that he at least gives Purdue one receiver option with the requisite height and was productive at the FCS level.
In the event of injuries the Boilermakers have lots of other options as well to provide depth in this room. The transfers brought in, as well as several returners who missed 2025 but are getting back to full health in 2026, provide a nice floor and should be an upgrade over last year’s situation and the players Purdue lost.
Offensive Line
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In 2025 Hank Purvis initially replaced Jalen St. John when St. John was injured mid-season. Upon St. John getting healthy again Purvis took Ethan Trent’s job and appeared to be on his way to becoming a quality returning starter for Purdue in 2026. Sadly for the Boilermakers though, Purvis transferred to South Carolina at the end of the year.
The composition of the projected 2026 starting offensive line will be:
- 1 Returning starter (Tanona)
- 1 Returning developmental (Easley)
- 2 Transfers in pole position for starting jobs (Stanley and Mafi)
- 1 battle between 2 USC Trojans transfers (Nanuelos and Saina)
The loser of the RG position battle figures to be the immediate backup at both Left and Right Guard. In terms of depth, Purdue took 4 high school prep recruits in the 2026 cycle, and beyond them and the 6 players fighting for 5 spots already mentioned there are 10 additional linemen available for backup roles, meaning the size of the O-Line unit is in good shape for future years.
But for immediate purposes this year, needing to rely on three transfers and a questionable returner, none of whom have put on quality tape at the Power Level, leads us to believe Purdue will struggle along the offensive line in 2026.
Defense
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Kevin Kane has replaced Mike Scherer at DC. After one season and confusing messaging around his departure from Purdue Scherer has returned to UNLV.
Kane was on the defensive staff at Purdue in 2023-24, then went to Minnesota as the SAM/NB coach last year, but has been welcomed back by Odom this year. Kane was titularly the DC under Walters on Purdue’s terrible 2024 defenseand Minnesota’s confounding blitz design, but we believe his agency there was limited, and Drew described him as “the grown-up in the room” who made the calls Walters didn’t want to. Duck fans may be curious to follow this situation at Purdue as Kane has been heavily involved with both of Oregon’s two most recent high profile transfer additions.
Drew suspects that Kane will be calling Odom’s defense and he doesn’t anticipate major structural changes.
Defensive Tackle
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In transitioning from a 3 down front to a 4 down front the Defensive Tackle room in 2025 was a short rotation of only 3 players once starter TJ Lindsey went down with an injury – they evidently didn’t have anyone else they were comfortable replacing him with for the main rotation.
Heading into 2026 Purdue has a known quantity in Ian Jeffries that should provide high level play with TJ Lindsey who showed promise in his limited snaps last year before getting hurt, along with Curt Neal who is now on his 3rd B1G team but finally in a defensive scheme that should suit his body type. This gives Purdue 3 proven quality options and plenty of depth options to find their 4th player in this rotation among some additional transfers and older returners.
Defensive End
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There were 4 players in the defensive end rotation in 2025. Sadly for Purdue in 2026, the one player they lost from this room, Nunnally, was by far the best havoc generator in 2025.
Purdue’s defensive end room is the perfect example of why returning production in college football can be overrated (key word can). Yes, they have some players returning but the players returning weren’t that good in 2025 so is it really a good thing?
Drew is hoping Georgia transfer Elo Modozie can win a starting job over the returners but with only 1 other transfer and a JUCO added Purdue is going to need 2026 to be a lightbulb year for one of or all of CJ Madden, Trey Smith, and Breeon Ishmail. Put simply a lot of things need to go right for the Defensive End production to replicate Nunally’s production, let alone improve the overall performance of the unit.
Linebacker
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The off-ball linebacker room at Purdue in 2025 was probably one body short. Mani Powell and Charles Correa were asked to work miracles behind a defensive line that was not generating enough levels of havoc. Those 2 hardly left the field and when they did they were spelled by Alex Sanford.
In 2026 Drew suspects that Charles Correa will almost never leave the field and the 2nd line backer spot will be a revolving door between 2 transfers with the player getting on the field to be determined by the down and distance. The two transfers being Jojo Hayden who played in all 12 games for the Illini in 2025 and Tre Moore was a productive at the FCS level.
This year the LB room will start off with 5 players who should see meaningful play which is 2 more then last year. Another year of development from Correa along with 2 B1G transfers and a productive FCS transfer also keeps the ceiling relatively high for Purdue in this unit.
Secondary
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Safety & Nickel
Mangham and Slaughter offer a high floor as Purdue fully rebuilds the room with an eye towards the future with Denson, Hampton, and Dax Noles (another JUCO recruit signed) all having multiple years of eligibiltiy remaining. While in the nickel room Smiley Bradford kicks inside from outside corner and is backed up by an FIU transfer. The Purdue safety room has a good level of depth which provides a nice floor but in 2026 will be lacking a ceiling for high level play.
Outside CB
Hudauri Hines returns and was a productive starter last year and we should expect him to continue to be a value added corner. Traveon Wright also returns to his backup role and is now entering his redshirt junior year.
I do worry about the other 2 corners currently projected to start as one is transferring up from FCS and the other appears to be a player that has attempted to transfer up from FCS but has not successfully caught on at either of his previous power 4 stops.
At the very least these players offer a floor for Purdue and provide bar for the younger depth pieces to clear to be able to break into the rotation.
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