We've been openly concerned about the lack of verbal commitments that our Boilers have received on the recruiting trail thus far. But, Danny Hope, according to multiple interviews doesn't seem to be as concerned as I.
The really great news is that Hope is aggressively assessing talent. In fact, he admits to watching film and/or personally seeing over 500 future collegiate football players. The even better news is that he has very high standards for whom he has made offers. The proof is in the amount of offers- At this time last year, Purdue had put out over 120 schollie offers to various players...some were aggressively pursued, others not-so-much. Conversely, this year, Danny Hope has only extended offers to around 80 potential Boilers.
He says he's not done offering yet, but wants to only offer the best athletes (who might make the quickest impact) who are also good students, at this point. Perhaps if the class doesn't fill up quickly, he'll start looking a bit deeper in the recruiting pool to make sure Purdue's incoming class of 22 is filled. Perhaps not...regardless, Purdue's incoming coach sounds like he definitely has been intentional in his first official duty as Purdue's head football coach.
Here's where I stand- Until he gives us reason not to believe him, I'm going to take Coach Hope at his word and believe that his plan can work. But I do think that his plan might need some adaptation or tweaking before it's ideal. He does have time, but as he presses and works to move his program forward, his competition is doing the same thing.
I do think it's a good thing, generally, for recruiting to have a reassessment or shot in the arm especially when the results have been less-than-ideal...So I like what I'm hearing from Coach Hope and will really like it when his planning comes to fruition...When it does, we'll be all over it. More importantly, let's hope the eventual verbals become signed athletes who simply fit the program that Hope's building.
Verbal commitments, afterall, aren't what build a program, signed athletes are.