A true freshman from Kentucky has entered the chat.
With two players wearing #18 on the roster, we now highlight the one with less college experience. His surname is bookended by the letters that make up his home state’s postal abbreviation! He’s big a big defensive lineman with nowhere to go but upward! Give it up for Lexington, Kentucky’s Demeco Kennedy!
Kennedy is a former three-star defender who arrives in West Lafayette at 6’2” and 290 pounds who will likely redshirt in 2024, but his potential cannot go unnoticed.
The former captain of Frederick Douglass High School in Lexington, Kennedy is a bruising projected defensive tackle with ample experience in run-stopping. Ranked the 5th best player out of Kentucky in the 2024 class, he’ll be an interesting prospect to observe moving forward given that the majority of the Purdue defensive line is approaching their last little bit of collegiate eligibility.
He’s got good footwork at the line to psych out interior offensive linemen and go untouched into the backfield, he’s got the size to plug gaps when exchanging blows in the trenches, and he’s got the arm length to gain leverage over taller offensive linemen. And no 6’2” is not short to most people.
Keep an eye out for Kennedy in the coming years. He has the tools to be not only a key contributor, but the cornerstone (center-stone?) in a 3-4 base Ryan Walters defense.