GBI Magazine

Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 28 Digital 4

Gold and Black is a multi-platform media company that covers Purdue athletics like no one else.

Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/949548

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 37 of 88

GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 4 38 Bonner will give Purdue size and physi- cality on the boundary, in this class a nice bookend for Kory Taylor and complement to Rondale Moore and Amad Anderson Jr. Purdue needed everything in this class of wide receivers and Bonner's part of that lies in his downfield potential and strength, a player who Purdue hopes will be effective vying for contested balls and as a blocker on screens and such. Height: 6-2 Weight: 195 High School: Carrollton Hometown: Carrollton, Ga. Senior Stats: 26 receptions, 333 yards, 3 touchdowns (six games) B eing that he played a couple seasons as a defensive back, Jordan Bonner isn't afraid to mix it up with the opponent. Even if he's doing so now as a wide receiver. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder will bring physicality to the wide receiver room. "He's an exceptional blocker, which is something you don't hear a lot of," Car- rollton High School Sean Calhoun said. "People talk about it, but Jordan really takes pride in it. He's a good route runner, has good speed, has a really good body. He's not frail. He's put together now: Loves, loves, loves the weight room, which you can tell by the way he plays and tell by the way he looks. He understands how important that room is." And because of it, Bonner gives the Boilermakers a different — and needed — addition to their receiver corps. He picked Purdue in July, over offers from Minnesota, Syracuse, Wake Forest and West Virginia, then signed in December. "Do I see him quite ready right this second? Maybe not," Jeff Brohm said then. "But I think he has playmak- ing skills, he has some strength to him." Bonner played a majority of his snaps as an outside receiver in Carrollton's scheme, but Calhoun moved him around too, and Purdue could do the same. "He's football smart, very football savvy," Calhoun said. "We don't run an offense probably as complex as Pur- due's, but we have a lot of the same concepts. Jordan is coming from a high school program that is run as close to a college as possible, so as much as he's going to be asked to lift weights and do the nutrition, watch so much film, to the structure and organization of practice, none of that is going to be a culture shock to him." The Purdue Fit Did You Know? Missed time early in his senior season due to a knee injury. Jordan Bonner Wide receiver "Bonner is a phys- ical wideout with more quickness than speed. He has shown the ability to make the first guy miss and get up field. An area he can improve in is his ability to get separation. He adjusts to the ball well, his hands are consistent and he has that tough- ness about him." — Southeast analyst Chad Simmons rivals.com take

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of GBI Magazine - Gold and Black Illustrated, Vol 28 Digital 4