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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 4 32 nounce at the U.S. Army All-America Game in San An- tonio in January — extraordinary P.R. for the program as Moore announced on a nationally televised platform — then adding Florida linebacker Jack Smith at the last moment. The new early signing period yielded certainty for Purdue and others around the country, but also chaotic times for head coaches. It was a good problem to have because Purdue was playing in a bowl game, but the new early period's un- intended effect on head coaches was essentially the re- quirement that they make their in-home visit with ev- ery December signee during that month. That stretched Brohm thin, at a time when Purdue was prepping for the Foster Farms Bowl. "As I've gone through it, it's good to kind of get it to where it's at right now at this point so you're not fighting for the next six weeks as well for a lot of these guys, so I kind of liked the new signing date," Brohm said. "Was it more work? Yes, it was. It was something that probably after two weeks, I think I did one day kind of feel it and have to kind of get over it a little bit and slept it off a little and was able to regroup. It's an important time, and when you have a lot of commit- ments, a lot of people you're seeing, it's an active three weeks. Luckily, we have a lot of great resources here to help us get where we need to go." (The flip side was a bit of a quieter January for Brohm, though the new ear- ly signing period simply made the first month of the New Year more geared to- ward future classes, so very little net gain in terms of workload.) Purdue drew its signees from expected territories. Like any coach with a productive near- by recruiting base would, Brohm has pri- oritized Indiana, his home state of Ken- tucky and surrounding states as his base. It paid off with the 2018 class with two signees from Indianapolis, where Purdue has prioritized becoming more of a play- er for the city's best players, and another from Fort Wayne, another important popu- lation center in part due to assistant coach JaMarcus Shephard's ties to the city. Brohm's — or, we should say, the Brohms' — connec- tions to Louisville are considerable, and Purdue intends to leverage those ties for all they're worth, the Derby City looking like just as much a starting point for Purdue in recruiting as Indy. In Year 1 under Brohm, the Boilermaker program signed three players from Louisville or surrounding communities — including the state's No. 1 prospect, Moore — as well as two other recruits from Kentucky that Purdue's staff knew well from its days at Western Kentucky. Purdue did work Illinois and Ohio particularly hard to the tune of three Chicagoland recruits and signees from the Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus areas, and reached outside the Midwest to recruit Georgia and Florida — as every staff in college football does — and dabble in Texas and even California, a territory Pur- due's not often traversed beyond its junior college mar- ket. Purdue kept more of a presence in the Deep South than it historically has, as well, pulling in two recruits from Alabama. j www.BobRohrmanSubaru.com Bob Rohrman Subaru Built Local 1600 South Creasy Lane Lafayette, IN 47905 Brand New 2018 Impreza 2.0I Sedan Brand New 2018 Outback 2.5i 1-866-906-6223 BUY LOCAL! built in lafayette, IN. by our family, friends and neighbors