Brian Waddell Commits to Purdue Boilermakers

The Boilermakers picked up a commitment from legacy forward Brian Waddell out of Carmel, Indiana. Waddell is a 3-star per Rivals, but unranked in 247Sports’ composite.

The 6-foot-7, 175-pound small forward is the son of former Purdue guard Matt Waddell, who is sixth all-time in career assists for the Boilermakers with 460 from 1992-1995. The senior Waddell also played on the Boilermaker’s 1993-94 Elite 8 squad with now head coach Matt Painter.

Brian Waddell received an offer from Purdue just last week following his team, Carmel High’s 4A state title game win over Lawrence North. He played on varsity during his sophomore season, but was a reserve on the bench during the state championship that year. Last year’s tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19, but Waddell averaged 15.6 points and 6.1 rebounds on his 26-2 team this season as a senior en-route to the state title.

He joins four-star forwards Caleb Furst and Trey Kaufman-Renn as Purdue’s incoming freshmen. Coach Painter has made clear that Waddell will redshirt next year as a freshman, however.