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VOLUME 26, ISSUE 4 37 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com I t was a complicated recruit- ing year for Purdue, marked with changing needs, a chang- ing staff and changing scholarship availability. The final result: A much-larger- than-first-expected class of 23 sign- ees recruited by 13 different assis- tant coaches through the course of the recruiting cycle, due to the turnover Darrell Hazell's staff in- curred in December and January. It is another largely unheralded class, ranked toward the bottom of the Big Ten by all accounts, but one Hazell hopes can impact his pro- gram for the better quickly. He'll need it to, because there are immediate needs that needed to be addressed. Topping the list is the secondary, where Purdue is perilously thin at cornerback and open to upgrading its safety corps. That in mind, Purdue signed ju- nior college players Kamal Hardy and C.J. Parker at corner and safe- ty, respectively, in addition to three other high school corners and one other safety. "They're going to have to have an immediate impact, whether it's in a backup role, as a starter or as a returner," Hazell said of the defen- sive backs. "There's a lot of return- ers in this class, and that's one of the things I thought we were a lit- tle bit lacking in last year in terms of punt or kick returners. This is a class that probably has four or five PURDUE 2016 SIGNEES Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/School Jackson Anthrop WR 5-11 180 West Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic Alex Criddle NT 6-4 311 Broken Arrow, Okla./Thomas Edison Prepatory Academy J.D. Dellinger K 6-2 175 Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day School Semisi Fakasiieki LB 6-3 230 Compton, Calif./Dominguez Javonte Ferguson ATH 5-7 160 Jacksonville, Fla./Oakleaf Benaiah Franklin WR 6-1 206 Marietta, Ga./Wheeler Kamal Hardy CB 6-1 180 Pembroke Pines, Fla./Monroe CC Tanner Hawthorne OT 6-6 275 Glendale, Ariz./Centennial Josh Hayes CB 6-0 184 Indianapolis, Ind./Pike Grant Hermanns OT 6-7 260 Albuquerque, N.M./Rio Rancho Terrance Landers WR 6-4 170 Dayton, Ohio/Paul L. Dunbar Brian Lankford-Johnson RB 6-0 195 St. Paul, Minn./Palm Bay (Fla.) Austin Larkin DE 6-3 250 University City, Md./City College of San Francisco Navon Mosley S 6-0 180 West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield Jalen Neal OT 6-8 315 Tempe, Ariz./Scottsdale CC Lorenzo Neal NT 6-2 305 Houston/Saint Thomas C.J. Parker S 6-2 205 Menifee, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College Brandon Shuman CB 5-11 185 Miami/Gulliver Prep School Rob Simmons DE 6-6 215 Philadelphia/Valley Forge Military Academy Simeon Smiley CB 6-0 195 Pensacola, Fla./Catholic Jared Sparks QB 6-1 200 Geismar, La./Dutchtown Anthony Watts NT 6-4 290 Houston/Jack Yates Jack Wegher ATH 5-11 200 Dakota Dunes, S.D./IMG Academy Chaotic Recruiting Year Yields 23 Signees Purdue needs 2016 class to fill immediate needs Tom Campbell Darrell Hazell's 2016 recruiting class snagged a large class amidst staff transition.