Purdue Boilermakers to host 2019 Brandon Newman; Make Final 5 for Malik Hall

With Isaiah Thompson and Mason Gillis already on board, the Boilermakers got some more great news on the recruiting trail in the past week.

Malik Hall, a 6’8” 215 pound forward from Wichita, Kansas announced his final five schools after being heavily recruited by some powerhouse programs all across the country. The Purdue Boilermakers, who have made Hall a top target from the word go, were fortunate enough to make the cut along with Michigan State, Texas, Oregon and Oklahoma.

Hall would possibly be able to fill the role of another versatile wing player who can do a little bit of everything with his size and skill for the collegiate game. Hall attends the same Kansas high school as current Purdue Boilermaker Matt Haarms, where he has reclassified to join the 2019 class.

Playing for the Mokan Elite in the EYBL circuit, Hall averaged 10.6 points and nearly six rebounds per game against players who are a year older than him for the most part. According to people around him, the buzz around him has gotten more and more real as more people and bigger names have had the opportunity to get into the gym and watch him perform.

As the college game continues to evolve, no team can ever have too many multi-dimensional wing players, and Hall would certainly be able to bring that to the table. He’s been a top target for the Boilermakers for some time now, and it appears that they are at the top of his list as well.

Along with the Malik Hall news, 2019 guard Brandon Newman also announced that he will be taking an official visit to West Lafayette on August 30th. Newman is a 6’5”, 180 pound guard that could serve as a really nice combo guard for Matt Painter as he continues to shape what the roster will look like in just a few years.

Newman is currently just outside of the Top 100 according to 247 Sports, sitting at the 101st ranked player in the country. He is currently attending the widely recognized Montverde Academy in Florida, but is originally from Valparaiso, Indiana. He is the 17th ranked shooting guard in the class and the 12th ranked player in the state of Florida.

Newman is bringing back some of the recruiting competition between the Boilermakers and their hated rivals down south, the Indiana Hoosiers, who are also in pursuit of the services of Newman. Many coaches, Matt Painter and Archie Miller included, view Newman as somebody who could become a really valuable two way guard that defends at a high level and is also capable of making shots.

With Gillis and Thompson already locked up in the recruiting class, Purdue has pushed their attention mostly to those two players in hopes of creating a new group of guys to build on the culture that was originally built up with Coach Painter by E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel and JaJuan Johnson.

If Painter can bring in another recruiting class like that or like the 2014 group of Thompson, Mathias, Edwards and Haas, then Purdue should be in for another run of incredible success.