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24 IllustrateD volume 24, issue 4 f with Purdue but across the country, it seemed to be more of a game of holding onto guys the last weeks, days, hours 'til signing day. Is there more poaching go- ing on these days or is that just the way of the world in football recruiting? Parker: "I don't know if it being more is the case. I just think that it's talked about more. With social media there's just more people in- volved. It's always happened. It's just everybody hears about it more. It's out there." Gold and Black: What's your take on an early sign- ing period? Parker: "I think there's a lot of positives to it. I think you're not going to eliminate all problems. There will still be stuff that will hap- pen. You're still going to get poached. There's still going to be issues. I like it because at least you'll know where you stand going into the dead period of Christmas. So you can come out of that with a better plan of whom you're chasing." Gold and Black: How tough is it when a kid you've recruited decommits at the last minute? Parker: "The politically correct answer is that you move on and go. We're happy about our class — we want to make sure they know that and everybody knows that. My wife knows all the kids that I call and recruit and you want to get them involved in your family. So it stings a little bit when you get a decommitment. You just move on to the next one, and we keep moving." Gold and Black: Is more of your strategy hav- ing big recruiting weekends, with multiple pros- pects in at the same time, after the season and then trying to close on them then? Parker: "We had a successful weekend that first weekend (in December) because it's awesome when you get a bunch of families and kids together at the same time because it creates more excitement. Those weekends when you have two or three kids, you have to have those, (too). But it's not part of the big production and the production is really the fun part of it." Gold and Black: How far ahead are you now in com- parison to how far behind you were a year ago at this time? Parker: "We're certainly ahead. It's not even close re- ally. We're out in front and have obviously already dealt with next year's class. Now you at least feel caught up. It's a personnel-driven game, and we've got to continue to push, push, push because ev- eryone is thinking of new ways to recruit, a new way to get to them, a new way to create ex- citement. And we've got to think that way." Gold and Black: Any idea about the potential size of the '15 recruiting class at this point? Parker: "The number of seniors we have is 15 or 16. There's no way to know where that number goes from here to there. We're going to sign a big class. We will recruit as if we have a full 25." Gold and Black: It is publicly known you have offered 11 in Indiana for 2015. Are you trying to make a statement? Parker: "Absolutely. Coach has said from the start we want half or over half our guys to be from the state of Purdue (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania) and especially local ar- eas. It is not a gimmick. Every offer we give out is good enough to play here. We have to get on them, get them here for two reasons: (No.) 1, it creates fan base in high school coaches, and (No.) 2, you like it when a kid can get in his car and drive here and have grown up knowing Purdue tradition." j Tom Campbell Recruiting coordinator Gerad Parker believes the Boilermaker recruiting arsenal is finally at full strength heading into 2015.