Purdue By The Numbers: Best Boiler Gridders, Zero through 10
Already picked to finish dead last again in the Big Ten Conference by one national publication, the Purdue football program hasn’t always been in dire straits.
When I began researching this upcoming series of columns highlighting the best Boilermakers by uniform numbers, I was surprised to find that almost half of the first 11 players in this series played under now-Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm from 2017 to 2022.
More telling for someone who is approaching his 64th birthday in just a few weeks, I’ve seen everybody but one Boilermaker on this list play in person. We’ll continue this series weekly until we reach No. 99. But let’s start with a number that wasn’t legal to wear when the first version of this countdown appeared in the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
0
Milton Wright
Players have been allowed to wear No. 0 only since 2020 so the pool to choose from is pretty shallow.
Wright is one of those “what could have been” stories at Purdue. Playing alongside two future Big Ten Receiver of the Year winners, Rondale Moore and David Bell, Wright was a consensus four-star recruit out of Louisville Christian Academy. Wright collected 57 passes for 732 yards and seven touchdowns as a junior in 2021. Set to replace Bell as the No. 1 receiver in 2022, Wright became academically ineligible for what would have been his junior season and never returned to the team.
1
Steve Jackson
A four-year starting cornerback from 1987 to 1990, Jackson was a third-round NFL Draft pick by the Houston Oilers. Jackson spent nine seasons in the NFL and has been an assistant coach in the league since 2001.
2
Elijah Sindelar
While he’s not a member of Purdue’s Cradle of Quarterbacks, Sindelar will be remembered for a three-game stretch during the 2017 season when he played with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Boilermakers won all three games, at Iowa, vs. Indiana and in the Foster Farms Bowl against Arizona.
More spectacularly, Sindelar completed 60.1 percent of his passes in that stretch for 1,074 yards and 11 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Injuries limited Sindelar the following two seasons and he passed on a sixth season of eligibility in 2020.
3
David Bell
Bell was voted Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year and an All-American in 2021 as a junior. He led the Big Ten in receptions per game (8.5) and receiving yards per game (116.9) that same season.
He left Purdue a year early to enter the NFL Draft. Bell departed with the school record of most 100-yard receiving games (17) and with career totals of 232 catches for 2,946 yards and 21 touchdowns.
4
Rondale Moore
Only the third true freshman in college football history to earn consensus All-America honors, joining Herschel Walker and Adrian Peterson.
In Moore’s first game, he accumulated 313 all-purpose yards to break Otis Armstrong’s record of 312 set in 1972. Moore earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Receiver of the Year honors with 1,164 yards receiving to go along with 203 rushing yards and 13 combined touchdowns. Moore also won the Paul Hornung Award, given to the most versatile player in college football.
Injuries shortened his sophomore and junior seasons. Moore was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2021 NFL Draft.
5
George Karlaftis
The youngest member of Purdue’s Den of Defensive Ends was a first-team All-American in 2021.
In just 27 games, all starts, as a Boilermaker, Karlaftis recorded 14 sacks. He was voted second-team All-Big Ten as a freshman and a sophomore and earned first-team honors as a junior. Karlaftis was drafted in the first round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 and already has 24.5 career sacks.
6
Isaac Jones
Jones’ final catch as a Boilermaker was memorable, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to lift Purdue past No. 4 Kansas State 37-34 in the 1998 Alamo Bowl.
Brees and Jones connected on 83 passes for 899 yards and seven touchdowns during the 1998 season. In Jones’ two seasons under coach Joe Tiller, he made 124 of his 154 career receptions for 1,332 yards and 11 touchdowns.
7
Adrian Beasley
The safety earned a place in Purdue lore with his 43-yard fumble return for a touchdown against No. 12 Notre Dame in 1997, which all but clinched Joe Tiller’s first victory.
Beasley thrived under Tiller. Later in 1997, he earned the Alamo Bowl Outstanding Defensive Player of the Game against Oklahoma State. As a senior in 1999, Beasley earned second-team All-Big Ten honors. His 11 career interceptions are tied for third most in Purdue history.
8
Markell Jones
The 2014 Indiana Mr. Football winner from Columbus East ranks sixth in career rushing yards with 2,594 and ninth in career rushing touchdowns with 20.
In his final game at Ross-Ade Stadium in 2018, Jones rushed for 217 yards in a victory against Indiana. Only Otis Armstrong and Mike Alstott have rushed for more yards in a game against the Hoosiers.
9
Mark Herrmann
The College Football Hall of Fame quarterback left Purdue in 1980 as the most prolific passer in NCAA history. At the time, the Carmel graduate held nine NCAA records including career passing yards (9,188 that does not include statistics from three bowl games) and completions (707).
Herrmann was the first NCAA quarterback to pass for 8,000 yards, then 9,000. He was the Offensive MVP in Purdue’s three bowl victories (Peach, Bluebonnet and Liberty). Herrmann was a unanimous All-American in 1980 and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
10
Dale Samuels
The Chicago native joins Mike Phipps and Drew Brees as the only modern era quarterbacks to lead Purdue to a Big Ten Conference title.
In just his second collegiate game, Samuels led Purdue to perhaps the greatest victory in school history. The Boilermakers ended top-ranked Notre Dame’s 39-game unbeaten streak, winning 28-14 in South Bend in 1950. The Fighting Irish had not lost at home since 1942.
Samuels was the first Purdue quarterback to pass for 1,000 yards in a season, pulling off the feat in 1950 (1,076) and 1952 (1,131).
Noteworthy
Redshirt freshman center Daniel Jacobsen has made the USA Basketball U-19 National Team roster, a good sign for the Purdue men’s basketball team.
Jacobsen, whose freshman season ended one minute into his second game with a broken leg, will be competing with 6-11 transfer Oscar Cluff for the starting center role with the Boilermakers.
It’s the second consecutive Junior National Team berth for the 7-4 Jacobsen, who heled the U-18 team win gold at the AmeriCup in Argentina. Jacobsen averaged 9.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in just over 16 minutes a game. His 19 blocked shots broke the AmeriCup record previously held by Indiana Pacers star Myles Turner (18).
Jacobsen becomes the seventh Boilermaker since 2015 to be named to the U19 National Team, by far the most for any school in the country. Kentucky, Duke and Oklahoma State are next with four representatives each.
Also competing in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 28 through July 6 is incoming Purdue freshman Omer Mayer. Mayer will play for Israel, which qualified for its first FIBA U19 World Cup. Israel is in Group C with the Dominican Republic, Jordan and Switzerland.
All FIBA U19 World Cup games will be streamed on the FIBA’s YouTube page. …
Purdue men’s basketball will seek its fifth consecutive non-conference tournament title in the Bahamas.
The Boilermakers will take on Memphis in the opening game of the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau on Nov. 20. Game time is 6 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network.
Texas Tech and Wake Forest are on the other side of the bracket of the tournament that concludes Nov. 21. Texas Tech reached the Elite Eight a year ago, and Memphis qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning both the American Athletic Conference’s regular season and tournament titles. Wake Forest is coming off a 21-11 season, and its roster includes former Boilermaker Myles Colvin.
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.