20 Days until Purdue legacy and West Lafayette native Carson Kitchel officially dons the Purdue jersey for the first time.
Carson Kitchel
Freshman
West Lafayette, Ind (West Lafayette High School)
Quarterback
6’2”, 193
2024 Projection: Redshirt
Carson is coming off a legendary career are West Lafayette High School. Former Boilermaker lineman Kelly Kitchel’s progeny ran the Hoosier Athletic Conference. Carson and his twin brother Cooper (a walk-on linebacker for the Boilermakers) won 3 consecutive conference championships. Over the course of his career, Carson accumulated 3,444 passing yards and 36 passing touchdowns.
Carson and Cooper are just the type of walk-on guys with deep ties to the program that you need in modern college football. Who better to show new guys what it means to be a Boilermaker both on and off the field than two brothers who grew up in the shadow of Ross-Ade? It’s strange to type, but guys like Carson and Cooper will be one of the few roster constants (that goes for almost every school btw) over the next 5 seasons. Granted, walk-ons will be a thing of the past soon (Awesome job everyone! Nothing like taking away another thing that made college football uniquely different!).
That said, I expect Carson and Cooper to be on the sidelines for the next several years. Right now, I would be shocked if Carson sees any meaningful playing time over his career, but then again, I would have said the exact same thing about Aidan O’Connell as a freshman and I watched him play for the Raider a couple nights ago.