Football recruits sign on
 By
Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor
Purdue now has what the coaches are calling "a
good problem to have."
There are almost too many promising players at
the most important positions — quarterback, running back and wide
receiver.
On Wednesday Purdue coach Joe Tiller announced
the signing of 22 student-athletes to national letters of intent.
"I think this has the making of the most talented
group of players that we've signed since we've been at Purdue," the
fifth-year coach said.
The list of talented players includes two quarterbacks,
two running backs and two "athletes" who are likely to see time at running
back or receiver.
Play callers
With the departure of senior quarterback Drew Brees
and the signing of two quarterbacks, the Purdue quarterback race is
as wide open as ever, according to offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.
Brandon Hance, who redshirted last season, is the
No. 1 starter for now. However, he is likely to receive some serious
competition from Kyle Orton and Mike Rhinehart who signed Wednesday.
Tiller said Rhinehart, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound Fort
Wayne, Ind., native, might move to tight end but wants a chance to compete
for the quarterback position first.
The thing that impressed Tiller most about Orton
was his resolve in staying committed to Purdue since his junior year
of high school.
At one point Purdue had tapes of 283 high school
quarterbacks. At other times in the offseason there were more. Orton,
who also received serious consideration from Colorado, didn't mind.
"His response was, 'Fine, Coach, I'm ready to compete
with whoever you want to bring in. If you want to bring in Joe Montana,
bring him in,'" Tiller said. "I liked that."
Orton was at a Purdue camp last summer and Tiller
can remember seeing a ball thrown almost the length of the field. Thinking
it was a pass from Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jon Kittna, a guest
at the camp, Tiller turned around only to see that it was Orton who
threw the ball.
Chaney is excited to have depth at the quarterback
spot.
"Without any question, with Brandon and Kyle and
Rhinehart, those three kids'll be battling their rear ends off," Chaney
said. "It'll be interesting to try to see how they use their own physical
skills to try to win the job."
Whoever wins the quarterback battle will have the
opportunity to throw to two highly-regarded receivers.
Pass catchers
Tiller called Kevin Noel, who led Naperville (Ill.)
Central to a 25-1 record his final two seasons, "certainly the highest-profile
receiver that we've been able to recruit to date." Noel runs a 4.45
in the 40 and is a two-time all-state selection in track, where he runs
a 44.8 in the 400 and a 14.2 in the 110 high hurdles.
Purdue's other recruit at wide receiver, Jameson
Evans, runs a 4.58 in the 40 and also played defensive back, punter
and quarterback at Shaker Heights (Ohio) High School. The Northeast
Ohio Player of the Year, Evans is regarded as one of the best athletes
in the Cleveland area.
But the athleticism doesn't stop at the quarterback
and wide receiver positions.
Running backs
The group of running backs includes Reggie Benton,
who carried 664 times for 5,035 yards (7.6 yards per carry) and 63 touchdowns
in his career at Grand Blanc (Mich.) High School, and Brandon Jones,
who runs the 40 in 4.5 and had 5,322 yards on 747 carries (7.1 yards
per carry) and 54 touchdowns at Peru (Ind.) High School.
"Running back was an area that we wanted to address
and we also felt like we could get players on the field this year,"
Tiller said. "I think you're going to see one or two of these freshman
running backs play right away."
Purdue might use multiple running back sets and
rapidly rotate running backs next season, Tiller said.
Blockers
Purdue also signed three offensive linemen to block
for the running backs, including Matt Turner, the younger brother of
Boiler guard Rob Turner. Josh Tomsheck, a 6-7, 270-pound lineman may
move to tight end and join 6-6 Charles Davis and 6-7 Brian Wang as freshmen
at the position.
Many of the offensive linemen and tight ends are
likely to sit out a year as redshirts so they can gain weight and mature,
Tiller said.
"Overall, the speed and athleticism of this class
is good," Tiller said.
Recruiting analysts rank Purdue's class somewhere
between 15th- and 35th-best in the nation. But, as Tiller said, recruiting
is not an exact science.
"We don't follow the drummer," Tiller said. "We
kind of go our own way.
"We've been pretty fortunate in terms of getting
the right guys on board and I think this class will prove to be exactly
that type of class again. I think you're going to find a lot football
players in this class."
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