To solve the QB question in this recruiting cycle, Barry Odom turns to a three-star who calls him “dad.”
Following the hiring of former UNLV head coach Barry Odom, Purdue football has seen an influx of former Runnin’ Rebel commits who have now signed letters of intent to become Boilermakers.
Quarterback was going to be a question since the firing of Ryan Walters meant the decommitment of several recruits including the one QB spot for this year’s cycle. It became less of a question when Barry Odom was hired.
Odom’s son Garyt Odom is a three-star quarterback out of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Aside from a brief stop in Nevada, the younger Odom stayed in school in Arkansas even after his dad took the head coaching job in Las Vegas following a three-year stint as the Arkansas Razorbacks’ defensive coordinator. He had previously been committed to play for his father at UNLV for well over a year. Now he’s got his own page on Purdue’s athletics website. Warning: his head is hilariously photoshopped into a Boilers uniform.
Thankful for this! Psalm 91 https://t.co/8iwOQn9gSd
— Garrett Odom (@GarytOdom) December 12, 2024
If you’re prone to rolling your eyes at the idea of a coach’s son, remember: Purdue offered him a scholarship in 2022. He chose Purdue over offers from Texas A&M, Arkansas, Penn State, Nebraska, and the obvious UNLV, among others.
Also, now I’m a bit confused. Is his legal name Garyt but he spells it like my name as a choice? Vice-versa? Anyway…
What he brings to Purdue:
As you can see in his film, Odom has great awareness in the pocket and great footwork to evade defenders and extend plays. When’s he’s forced to run he can take off, and the designed runs for him frequently resulted in gaining more yardage than needed. Heck, he rushed for 412 yards on 57 carries as a senior.
What worries me is that there are some risky throws in there, but he shows his full arsenal of touch passes (I like his corner fade), bombing it deep, short routes over the middle, and stayed pretty accurate while doing so, posting a 66.4 completion percentage en route to 2400 yards and 27 touchdowns.
His size is a question simply because of the inconsistencies reported in his height and weight. Assuming he really is 6’2” and 180 pounds, great, just get a bit more muscle on the lad before he starts taking hits as a possible rushing threat. That said, I’ve seen anywhere from 6’0” and 165 to 6’1” and 175 to 6’2” and 180 all in the few weeks, so we’ll see.
Projection:
Odom will likely redshirt his freshman year, but he does have what I assume is a bit of a leg up in “knowing the offense” so to speak. The head coach his is dad, c’mon. He was already going to play for him anyway. That does something for his readiness in studying the playbook, but other than that I think he redshirts.
After that, I think the sky’s the limit for this versatile quarterback with a high football IQ. I’ll need to see him get a bit bigger and see a bit more arm strength, but he’s got the tools to be a fun-to-watch playmaking quarterback. If he doesn’t redshirt, I’m not terribly shocked, but I think he will and then he can easily be starting caliber by 2026. There’s a lot of potential in this one.