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30 GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATE VOLUME 26, ISSUE 3 "When I grew, I just kept the agility with it." Williams may be a narrow 210 pounds or so, but he has shown on the AAU and high school scenes alike that he can be a prolific rebounder, with the potential to get even better as he fills out and becomes stronger. That will be a must for both play- ers at the next level, wherever they may wind up, to complement their athleticism and versatility with mus- cle and power. While neither will ever be Haas or Swanigan physical- ly, they project to have chances to be very good college players. Purdue hopes to be the beneficia- ry with one or the other, maybe even both, though that would seem like a lot to ask. Both players have been recruit- ed heavily from the ground floor by Purdue and both say they've taken notice of the program's big man us- age, a centerpiece of Matt Painter's recruiting pitch to post prospects. "They pass the ball down to them (in the post)," Williams said. "And if one of them's on the wing, they let them knock down a jump shot or handle the ball." Jackson and Williams are the two closest big man targets to Pur- due geographically, but not the only ones. Jeremiah Tilmon, a top-20 player in his class nationally, is an East St. Louis native who's drawn interest from the Purdue staff for years now. Painter's connections with Tilmon's St. Louis Eagles summer program run deep, dating back to his time at Southern Illinois. Tilmon now at- tends LaLumiere, a prep school in LaPorte, Ind. But everyone wants the 6-10 cen- ter. His most recent offers came from North Carolina and Texas, join- ing many others. Purdue also has a long-standing offer out to Michigan's Xavier Till- man, a burly 6-8, 260-pounder who's more of a Swanigan body type. Mich- igan, Michigan State and Kentucky are among his other offers. Ohio's Derek Culver is a versatile 6-9 power forward who Purdue has recruited from the jump. West Vir- ginia and Arizona are among other schools that have offered him. j 2017 POST TARGETS Player Height Weight Hometown/School Rivals.com ranking Derek Culver 6-10 230 Warren, Ohio/Harding 49 Jaren Jackson Jr. 6-10 215 Indianapolis/Park Tudor 61 Jeremiah Tilmon 6-10 210 East St. Louis, Ill./LaLumiere (Ind.) 19 Ikey Obiagu 6-11 220 Decatur, Ga./Greenforest Christian 15 Xavier Tillman 6-8 260 Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian 62 Malik Williams 6-10 210 Fort Wayne, Ind./Snider 35 Note: Targets such as Indianapolis' Kris Wilkes and Ohio's Kyle Young are being recruited to play in the frontcourt, but don't qualify as true posts. For daily headlines on recruiting and other Purdue sports news, check out