Purdue Boilermakers Host Three 2017 Recruits

During a week where the Purdue Boilermakers extended their head coach through the 2021-22 season and the Big Ten schedule was released, There’s nothing better to cap it off then seeing three potential recruits visiting campus.

Timing is a big asset in recruiting and for a program with no commits yet, this comes as close to perfect timing as you can get.

The prospects who visited on Friday were Nojel Eastern, Xavier Tillman and Terrell Brown. Two of these players have been constants in the revolving topic of conversation involving Purdue’s recruiting trail in Eastern and Tillman.

Eastern is a 6-foot-6 Illinois native whose game is very expansive. The versatile lefty is the 78th ranked player in the ESPN 100 as of right now and has room to grow.

He can attack the rim with the best in his class, while having the ability to play multiple positions due to his ability to defend.

If you want to know more about Eastern and how he sees himself as a basketball player just watch below in his interview with DraftExpress during the USA Basketball U17 Training Camp:

If head coach Matt Painter can land a commitment from a recruit like Eastern, this would have a profound affect on this 2017 class.

Eastern is not the only visiting recruit a part of the ESPN 100, but big-man Xavier Tillman is actually rated a tad higher as the 75th prospect.

This 6-foot-8, 230 pound big-man is from Grand Rapids, Michigan with both Michigan State and Michigan on the list of schools who’ve offered him.

According to 247sports.com crystal ball predictions, which is as it states just a prediction, the Spartans and Wolverines hold a 50-percent split in him signing their.

Now, Purdue obviously still has a chance at him, being that he’s visiting, but so far they have not closed on a prospect and Tillman could be their toughest challenge out of the prospects still on their radar.

When you talk about recruiting classes and how they shape up, players like Eastern and Tillman make those classes “pop”, but it’s players like Terrell Brown who can add to the depth.

Though Brown is the least heralded out of the three it’s easy to see why Painter would want to recruit him. It all comes back to recurring theme with these recruits and that’s the theme of versatility.

He’s a 6-foot-10, 215 pound power-forward and though he’s slimmer for his position there was also a slimmer big-man who excelled under Painter’s leadership in recent years— JaJuan Johnson if you didn’t know.

I’m not saying he will be what Johnson was for his Purdue teams, but you can definitely understand what players Painter and his staff tend to build their program around which are big-men.

Recently, there were various notable prospects who decided not to keep the Boilermakers on their list of potential schools to sign, like Malik Williams (Louisville) and Kris Wilkes.

So, they have missed out on some good prospects, but with a loaded 2017 recruiting class they have time to make those losses irrelevant.

Hosting this specific group of three players on Friday is a huge step in a positive direction because these upcoming months are crucial in the recruiting process and for a program who has zero commits right now, this means something.