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GOLD & BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 4 14 da and Georgia, turned out four signees, as well as Purdue's first signee from Louisiana, defen- sive tackle Fred Brown, since 2007. Maryland produced a signee, two of them actually, yet again, as the Eastern Seaboard state has become a valuable territory for Purdue, though losing assis- tant coach Kevin Sherman to Pitt will require someone new to take up shop there from now on. Purdue landed two commit- ments in North Carolina, but lost defensive end Twazanga Mugala to Duke and may have lost fellow end Chazmyn Turner to West Virginia. Turner hadn't signed anywhere as of late Feb- ruary. Purdue went West, hitting the California junior college circuit hard and bringing in its first Golden State high school recruit, Little, since 2001. The Boilermaker coaching staff went as far south as the Mexican border — to recruit Mendez of Los Fresnos, Texas — and as far north as Montreal, where it recruited de- fensive end Mathieu Betts, who de- cided to stay in Canada. And that says nothing of Mahoun- gou, who's from France. It's the sec- ond year in a row Purdue signed an international player from the California JUCOs. Last year it was Swede David Hedelin. The decommitment game wasn't as unkind to Purdue as it was a year ago, where the Boilermakers lost a staggering eight commitments. This year, though, tight end Cole Hikutini stung Purdue, as the mid- year signee opted for Louisville right on top of the January signing date days after committing to Hazell's program, which badly wanted a mid- year junior college tight end in this class. Hikutini hadn't even visited Louisville. Mugala and Turner left Purdue without a high school defensive end in its class, though the door may not be closed on Turner ultimately land- ing in West Lafayette. Purdue took its share of commit- ments from other people, as Wilson (Bowling Green), Brown (Arkansas State) and Truitt (Miami-Ohio) are among those who flipped from oth- er schools. Additionally, Wells (Ken- tucky) and tight end Jess Trussell (UCF) had previously been commit- ted to other schools before their recruitments re-opened. Two of Purdue's top signees committed early and never gave Hazell and Co. cause for concern as quarterback Elijah Sindelar and running back Jones stood strong in their commitments right up until the mid-year sign- ing date, when they inked to en- roll at Purdue early. Both are already on campus, as are Mahoungou, Mendez and snapper Ben Makowski. Sindelar was the quarterback Purdue wanted. It was a coup for the Boilermakers when the engineering-minded QB from Kentucky committed last Febru- ary, long before a senior season in which he was named Ken- tucky's Mr. Football. Sindelar likely would have competed to be Purdue's start- ing quarterback this spring had he not torn his ACL in his final high school game. Jones, on the other hand, will have every chance to be on the field early and often right away, starting this spring. Indiana's Mr. Football sets foot on campus and steps right into a wide-open fray at running back. Purdue will need this class to make an immediate impact, espe- cially on offense, where the junior college receivers obviously weren't recruited to stand on the sideline and significant opportunities await at both running back and tight end. j Anthony Mahoungou is the Boilermakers' second foreign player in as many years. Dennis Gallegos