Less than a week until kick and jersey #6 features two players that could surprise this season.
Arhmad Branch
Redshirt Freshman
Festus, Missouri (Festus High School)
Wide Receiver
6’0”, 180
2024 Projection: Contributor
Branch, a composite 3* (86) recruit, split opinions with the recruiting services. 247 Sports thought he was a top 50 wide receiver in the nation, the 8th best prospect in Missouri, and a 4* recruit. Rivals was less enthused and considered him the 28th best prospect out of Missouri and a 3* recruit. It was hard to figure out what to make of the multi-sport athlete (football, basketball, track) whose only other offers were from Gardner-Webb and Lindenwood.
Purdue was a little late to the party, but it turns out they were the only guest to show up. Brach’s high school coach and former NFL tight end, A.J. Ofodile, gave the Purdue staff a heads up on a guy he thought was under recruited and the Boilermakers agreed. The last service to evaluate him (247) happened to be the recruiting service that ranked him the highest.
I consider that a good thing.
Branch could play several different wide receiver positions for Purdue. A triple and long jumper in high school, he’s more than capable of playing outside, getting up, and bringing the ball down with him. At a quick, 6’0”, 180, he’s just as capable of playing in the slot and running option and drag routes across the middle. I’m guessing he’s still more of an athlete than a wide out at this point of his career, which makes me think putting him outside and letting him play the role of a frisbee catching dog for Hudson Card is the way to go with Branch.
He’s not going to start this season unless injuries brutalize the wide receiver position yet again, but even with everyone healthy, don’t be surprised to see Arhmad in the 2-deeps this season. This is a deep receiver group, with several players fighting it out for a chance to see the field. The staff thinks they found something in Arhmad, don’t be surprised if he’s a staple on special teams and picks up, at minimum, a handful of snaps a game. He’s not a finished product yet, but his ability to run and jump could prove handy for the Boilermakers this season.
Leontre “Smiley” Bradford
Freshman
East Saint Louis, Illinois (East St. Louis High School)
Defensive Back
6’0”, 195
2024 Projection: Depth in Secondary
Ryan Walters is known for his ability to evaluate defensive backs. As a former college safety, he knows what he likes at the position, and knows how to sell his vision to recruits. At some point, a “blue blood” is simply going to follow Coach Walters around and offer whoever he offers.
Early returns on Leontre “Smiley” Bradford seem promising.
First off, it appears he’s hit a growth spurt, or Purdue is being extremely generous with their measurements and caught him on a tall day, because as a prospect, he was listed at 5’9.5, 185, but Purdue has him at 6’0”, 195 on the official roster. A little extra size would be nice, because he has everything else you’re looking for in a strong safety.
Smiley was an absolute menace in the secondary for East St. Louis High School, tackling everything that moves. As a sophomore he recorded a ridiculous 110 tackles, 3 sacks and 3 interceptions. He followed that up with another 110 tackles, 3 sacks, and an interception as a junior. As a senior he “only” managed 93 tackles, but still brought home first team all-state honors.
Not only was Bradford a walking tackle in high school; he was also a winner. He played in 3 Illinois Class 6A State Finals and came away with the Championship in 2022. Basically, his production and winning was off the charts in high school, but his size depressed his recruiting. At 5’9”, he didn’t look like a guy capable of racking up multiple 100 seasons as a high school player. If the Purdue measurements are close to accurate, that critique goes away, and Purdue just landed a high school safety with insane production, out of a winning program, who fits the size profile at safety.
There’s been buzz around young Mr. Bradford coming out of camp, and the one spot I’ve got circled in the secondary as a potential issue is strong safety (no offense to Antonio Stevens, I just haven’t seen it on the field yet, not saying he’s not capable). Best case scenario, Antonio is beast, ends up in the NFL and Smiley fights it out for a chance to start next season.
Not so best-case scenario, Stevens struggles or gets hurt and suddenly Bradford finds himself on the 2-deeps with a chance to play significant minutes. That would be too much for most guys, but as we saw with Dillon Thieneman last season, freshmen are coming in ready to play because they’re getting better coaching in high school and in camps. Bradford doesn’t have college experience, and trust me, college ball is a totally different animal, but you’d be hard pressed to find another freshman defensive back with the extensive high school resume of Bradford.
As I mentioned above, I don’t think he’s ready to start just yet, but don’t be surprised to see him on the field early and often, both in secondary and on special teams. Word from the coaching staff is he’s a guy that “gets it” and that’s high praise for freshman; Getting it tends to be the limiting factor for freshmen and that doesn’t appear to be the case with Smiley.