Purdue football expected to win huge recruiting battle over Wisconsin

Ryan Walters knew he had some big shoes to fill when he accepted the Purdue football head coaching job. Replacing Jeff Brohm who had just led the Boilermakers to Indianapolis with a Big Ten West title wasn’t going to be easy.

But so far, the former Illinois defensive coordinator is holding his own — at least on the recruiting trail.

In fact, the Boilermakers boast the No. 29 recruiting class in the country as of June 28 and they could soon be moving up if they can land one of their top defensive targets.

Koy Beasley, a four-star safety from Ohio, just took an official visit to Purdue this past weekend and now he seems to be trending toward the Boilermakers. Purdue actually picked a couple of crystal ball predictions to land the top-150 defensive back this week and that would mean that the Boilermakers might win their first big-time recruiting battle under Walters.

Sure, Walters has three four-stars already committed to his 2024 class, but Beasley would immediately become the best.

Purdue football close to winning a crucial Big Ten West battle

Beasley is being targeted by the likes of Wisconsin and Pitt as well as he took officials to both schools and he holds offers from Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and USC.

To put it bluntly, this would be a potential program-changing win.

Purdue is always a solid football team, or at least it has been since Brohm took over, and this could only help the Boilermakers stay on that upward trajectory.

Beasley is ranked the No. 123 overall recruit and the ninth-best safety in the class.