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JOHNNY THOMPSON Linebacker ��� 6-3, 200 H Barry Burtenshaw Jake Replogle���s high school coach has seen him grow from a linebacker to defensive end in the last couple years. He could grow into a tackle soon. a 3-technique guy. Purdue���s bringing him in as a defensive end, but I think they kind of feel he���s going to grow into that as well.��� Replogle now faces an interesting household dynamic: Older brothers Adam and Mike Replogle played at Indiana. Adam was a senior in 2012. Mike, a defensive end, will be a junior in 2013. JOHN STRAUSER Defensive End ��� 6-4, 235 S imilar to Replogle, Strauser is a hard-charging former high school linebacker big enough to where he���ll move to the defensive line in college, where Purdue will initially use the 6-4, 235-pounder at defensive end. Strauser, who went to tiny St. Thomas More in Champaign, Ill., is already on campus as a mid-year enrollee. He played everywhere from middle linebacker to defensive tackle during his high school career. ���Whether I���m projected for D-line or linebacker, I don���t really care as long as we are doing what we need to be doing to win the games,��� said Strauser, who committed to Purdue in the summer over Illinois, Pittsburgh, Northern Illinois and others. ���I don���t care where they put me. I want to win, so that���s what I want to do. I signed up to play football at Purdue, not to play linebacker or defensive end. I signed up to play on the football team, so that���s what I want to do.��� That mentality seems to translate to the field for the Rivals.com threestar prospect. ���The guy is relentless, plays with leverage, and gets off blocks,��� Hudson said. ���That���s not easy to do when you���re that tall and have all those blockers coming at you.��� And like Replogle, Strauser comes from a football-oriented family. His uncle is Paul Chryst, the coach at Pittsburgh. His other uncle is Jeep Chryst, the San Francisco 49ers��� quarterbacks coach. 22 ��� Gold & Black IllustrateD ��� volume 23, issue 4 ope���s staff recruited Thompson as an outside linebacker, but time will tell where the currently 6-3, 200-pound Georgia native ends up. Hudson took note of Thompson���s size-18 shoes. Thompson says they���re an indicator he���ll grow to at least 6-6, maybe 6-7. ���I feel like I���m going to hit at least 240 pounds,��� Thompson said. ���We���ve had some people come back to our school from college and they���ve come back pretty big, so I feel like I might gain a lot of weight.��� As is, though, Thompson was recruited for his speed, which he didn���t get to use all that much as a senior while playing along both lines. He also played some tight end for Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. ���He���s another athletic kid who did everything they asked at his high school, played five positions,��� Freeman said. ���He played offensive tackle, tight end, defensive end, tackle and linebacker. But that���s him. He���s an unselfish young man who will do whatever it takes to make his team successful.��� But with that said, Thompson���s looking forward to playing just linebacker in college, at least until he grows out of it, if he ever does. ���I had to learn everything, know what everyone is doing,��� Thompson said, ���like being the quarterback without being the quarterback.��� The Rivals.com three-star prospect committed in the summer over Syracuse and Wake Forest offers, among others. Temple tried to recruit him away from the Boilermakers after Hope���s firing. JASON TRETTER Offensive Line ��� 6-6, 300 A fter Purdue signed five freshman offensive linemen last year, the position wasn���t an urgent need this year. But Hazell wanted at least one and reached back again to his Ohio connections for the 6-6, 300-pound lineman from Revere High School in Richfield. Purdue moved on Tretter, who chose Purdue over a couple of MAC offers and Ivy League opportunities, quickly, as Hazell knew of him from Kent State and new line coach Jim Bollman remembered him from an Ohio State camp a few years ago. A commitment came quickly, giving Purdue a ready-made player physically who���ll probably start out at tackle but could wind up at guard. ���It���s way too early to tell on that,��� Bollman said. ���A lot of that may be how his surrounding teammates are. Any time you���re dealing with the offensive line, it���s never about a guy, it���s about five guys and it���s about how those five guys perform together. I���ve seen similar situations where guys grow up and they play one position or the other and as other guys roll in they end up changing position based on the nature of the unit.��� Wherever he plays, Tretter has size on his side. His listing at 6-6, 300, might be conservative. ���They said they wanted some bigger guys to fill in some needs,��� Tretter said. ���They said that physically, I���m there, and I just need to get there mentally in terms of learning schemes and things like that.��� GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com