Today, Purdue signed 17 players to bring the total incoming class up to 20. As you all know, 70% of the class is from the state of Florida, with only 6 players being recruited from New Jersey, Kentucky, Georgia (2), Texas and NY. This is the first time since '75 that Purdue hasn't signed a player from Indiana...and opinions are mixed if this is all positive. While I understand that Football is played year round in the Southeast, I also don't think it's great to see good players leaving the state. Players like Dakotah Tyler, Montez Robinson and Jordan Barnes come to mind first as the ones that got away...But Hope and Co. didn't see it as important to focus on Indiana.

Some theorize that a two-star Florida player equates to a three-star Indiana player. I don't know if that's necessarily true, but as IU recruited heavily in Indiana, we will get to see how the two states compare in the next four years. IU's recruiting class ended up being ranked 58 (65 according to Scout) and Purdue's comes in at 74 (63 according to Scout)...pretty even. And honestly, according to star ranking, neither is anything to write home about...but I like a lot about this incoming class for Purdue.

Speed was obviously a focus as Purdue boasts of eight players that run a sub-4.5 40 yard dash...five of those in the 4.4 range. But does that speed come at a cost in the fact that many of these guys will need a redshirt year to bulk up? Perhaps...but whether they're physically ready or not may not matter as Purdue will probably need to get at least a few of these receivers on the field right away.

Here are some of the guys that I think have a good chance of seeing the field in the fall of '09:
-Ishmael Aristide CB
-Dwayne Beckford LB ('08 carry over)
-Gabe Holmes TE
-Al-Terek McBurse RB
-Antwon Higgs DE
-Eric McDaniel DT
-Xavier Reese WR
-Eric Williams WR (slot)

My hope is no more than this are needed and can be redshirted...but my guess is that won't be the case...and I am positive one or two of the 4.4 players will end up playing special teams someplace.

Conversely, here are the players that I think will redshirt:
-Antavian Edison
-Cody Davis
-Trevor Foy (I think Hope sees him as an O-lineman a la Matt Light)
-Rob Henry (I actually hope he is able to redshirt; he has huge upside)
-Kevin Pamphile (only played organized football for one season)
-Chris Quinn
-Najee Tyler

Granted, this is all vast speculation based on articles and videos...so I could be very wrong. But I am already excited to see what the new guys can do.