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70 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3 f BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com N eeding help now, Purdue went out and found a bunch. Signing day for college football recruits isn't until the first Wednesday in February, but the Boilermaker coaching staff went to great lengths to get a jump on things by putting a particular emphasis on mid-year junior college recruits and early-enrolling high school prospects. As of the second weekend in December, Purdue had four lined up to sign junior college letters-of-in- tent or scholarship papers to enroll in West Lafayette in January. The purpose of the emphasis was two-fold. For one, there's the obvious benefit for those re- cruits and the team alike of players getting a jump on their freshman seasons by getting started in school in the spring, going through winter conditioning, partic- ipating in spring practices and being part of summer workouts. With a targeted, need-based focus, Pur- due found early signees that could matter starting in the spring at positions where the Boilermakers don't just need help, but in some cases, simply bodies. The other aim was to raise the ceiling on the 2015 signing class as high as can be. Schools are only allowed to sign 25 pros- pects in a class, with a Big Ten-mandated cap of three over-signings beyond that lim- it. Other conferences do not have such re- strictions. But, when a recruit enrolls in January, their scholarship can be counted against Early Returns P R E S E N T S F O O T B A L L R E C R U I T I N G Boilermakers loading up on early enrollees Todd Griffin, Princeton, (Ky) Times Leader. Elijah Sindelar, who torn his ACL on his last high school play, will enroll early and start rehab at Purdue. PURDUE 2015 COMMITMENTS Player Pos Ht Wt Hometown/School Markus Bailey LB 6-1 205 Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson Andy Chelf S 6-0 185 Southlake, Texas/Carroll Wyatt Cook LB 6-2 225 Owings Mill, Md./McDonough Evyn Cooper ATH 6-2 190 Buford, Ga./Buford Sawyer Dawson LB 6-2 200 Plant City, Fla./Plant City Robert Ennis RB 5-10 170 Millville, N.J./Millville Tim Faison LB/DE 6-2 205 Tallahassee, Fla./Godby Tario Fuller RB 6-0 190 Sugar Hill, Ga./Lanier Shayne Henley DE 6-4 245 Moorpark, Calif./Moorpark C.C. Brycen Hopkins TE 6-5 235 Nashville, Tenn./Ensworth School Markell Jones RB 5-9 205 Columbus, Ind./East Mike Little CB 6-0 170 Sherman Oaks, Calif./Notre Dame Anthony Mahoungou WR 6-4 205 La Courneuve, France/West Hills (Calif.) C.C. Ben Makowski LS 6-2 250 Mishawaka, Ind./Penn Matt McCann OL 6-6 305 Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard Twazanga Mugala DE 6-3 215 Charlotte, N.C./Ardrey Kell Joe Schopper P 6-0 190 Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral Elijah Sindelar QB 6-4 200 Princeton, Ky./Caldwell County Peyton Truitt OL 6-5 297 West Lafayette, Ind./West Lafayette Chazmyn Turner DE 6-5 240 Mooresville, N.C./Mooresville Richard Worship RB 6-1 245 Parma Heights, Ohio/Valley Forge Mid-year signees in bold