This presumed starter has had quite the meteoric rise over the course of the past two seasons.
Redshirt senior defensive back Antonio Stevens arrived in West Lafayette in 2020 as a three-star recruit out of Nashville, Tennessee’s Battle Ground Academy. Though the 6’2” 217-pound Stevens is projected to be the starter at strong safety, the young man has come quite a long way just in the prior two seasons.
Stevens began his career seeing action in five games of that weird COVID-shortened season when essentially all eligibility rules were tossed to the side. The following season he saw no playing time, then entered the fray in 2022, appearing in 13 games with eight tackles.
He began to see real playing time, recording 17 tackles and two fumble recoveries (both on special teams) while appearing in all twelve games. Two fumble recoveries was good enough to be tied for second place in the Big 10! Stevens ended up earning himself three starts along the way, and now it appears as if he’s the guy at strong safety entering 2024.
At his size, Antonio Stevens possesses the prototypical safety build. I’ve said it several times before, but with a head coach like Ryan Walters and what he’s made his name off of coaching, I really like the potential of Stevens as a world-beater in deep ball situations.
Perfect size, physical, good footwork and hip turning, seems to have learned how to better and better diagnose plays over the years, I have no complaints. Paired with young phenom legacy Dillon Thieneman, the Purdue safeties tandem should be a fun one to watch this fall.