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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 27, ISSUE 4 18 Mackey was a key keep for Brohm, too, among those commitments he in- herited from the prior staff. Cincinna- ti — where the coaches who recruited him to Purdue now work — and South Florida pushed hard for the Miami na- tive. Brohm wasted no time, either, in offering Carmel High School DB Ja- cob Abrams, who must have appealed to the coach's affinity for taller defen- sive backs. Former Western Kentucky commitment Kenneth Major is known to be fast and physical and that's usually a good starting point when it comes to contributing immediately. Then, there's the offensive line, where Purdue loses several important seniors, doesn't know the status of ex- iled Martesse Patterson and returns only an unproven and injury-riddled group that stands as maybe the team's biggest personnel question mark. You never want to play true fresh- men on the offensive line, but it's conceivable that some of Purdue's four high school signees — Jalen Jackson, Viktor Beach, D.J. Washing- ton or Mark Stickford — could work their way into that sort of situation. It's certainly hoped that JUCO tackle Ethan Smart will. Purdue signed two quarterbacks, both of them inherited from Hazell's staff, in California's Nick Sipe and Flor- ida's Griffin Alstott, Mike Alstott's son. It added two high school lineback- ers in Florida's Cornel Jones and To- bias Larry, along with McCollum, part of the Western Kentucky infusion Brohm brought with him to Purdue. And it signed three projected defen- sive linemen in raw mid-year JUCO transfer Kai Higgins, Robert McWil- liams (who could also play lineback- er) and Giovanni Reviere (who could also play offensive tackle). Reviere's one of the six Western Kentucky move-overs, who at least give Brohm some peace of mind in the sense that he's already thoroughly evaluated and gotten to know those players. That's not a common luxury in a two-month recruiting spree like the one he just navigated. "We thought they'd be great addi- tions and they wanted to be here," Brohm said. "It's about recruiting the best guys that fit, but also if you've seen them live and in person and you can (vouch) for them, vs. just watch- ing guys on video, which with some of these guys, that's all we knew about them. You lean toward, 'Hey, I've seen RUN. WALK. IMPACT. CURE. THE CHALLENGE 5K THAT SUPPORTS PURDUE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR CANCER RESEARCH. SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 2017 REGISTER AT THEPURDUECHALLENGE.COM PURDUEFED.COM Proudly Sponsored by Federally insured by NCUA.