A transfer punter and a highly-touted freshman cornerback bring us to 38 days on the countdown!
Gettin’ close! We are inching toward the point where we can finally say it’s under a month until football season. For now, however, we highlight the two Boilermakers set to be wearing the jersey number 38 in 2025.
Jack McCallister comes to Purdue from the University of Washington, where he was the Huskies’ main punter in 2024. Also 2023. Also 2022.
He was the primary punter for Washington for the majority of his post-high school career, that’s what I’m getting at. Such is to say he’s projected to handle all punting duties in his final year of eligibility in West Lafayette.
At Washington in 2024, he averaged 43.0 yards per punt with a career-long 62 yard punt against Indiana. His last two regular season games (let me say “regular season” and pretend we can go 6-6 and go to a bowl) as a Boiler this season will come against Washington followed by Indiana. Here’s to more long punts against Indiana! Wait, here’s to hopefully never having to punt against the gaudily striped Hoosiers.
McCallister, after redshirting his true freshman season, appeared in every single game over the next three years for the Huskies, including during their College Football Playoff run two seasons ago. So, Boiler fans, here’s your new starting punter. The job is his. Welcome, Jack!
The other 38 is a true freshman who stayed committed to Purdue during the coaching staff overhaul. Notable in both commitment and his scouting reports, the Boilers have a very talented brand new defensive back.
Zyntreacs Otey, a cornerback out of the Franklin/Murfreesboro, Tennessee area, was rated as a four-star prospect who chose the Boilermakers over offers from Georgia Tech, Louisville, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Ole Miss.
The 5’11” 165-pound defensive back, formerly the 13th highest-rated prospect in the state of Tennessee, will need to get a bit bigger before he sees real playing time, but make no mistake: this kid is a great athlete who has the potential to be a future starter in the defensive backfield.
Otey is a freak athlete who excelled in a highly competitive division of high school football, he’s just a little skinny and will get bigger with college-level nutrition staff and weight training staff.
It’s possible that Otey redshirts his freshman season. I could see that both in terms of waiting until he’s bigger and being behind a lot of upperclassmen (and sophomore Hudauri Hines). He may be too talented to deny him special teams and rotational experience. For now, with several upperclassmen (including senior transfers) at both sides of the corners in a 4-2-5 defense, I assume he redshirts.
He’ll have one year to learn from the very experienced Tony Grimes, a transfer from UNLV (from multiple other schools) who is projected to be the starter in his final year of eligibility at Otey’s projected position.
Let me be clear, I am not slighting Tony Grimes for transferring a bunch of times. Let the kids do what they want. I am simply stating he has seen a lot of football against many high-level opponents and would therefore be a good guy to learn from if he’s the starter at your position, given that you’re a freshman and he’s a senior. Hypotheticals over.
At this point in time, I’ll just appreciate watching his high school film from his days at a school called THE BATTLE GROUND ACADEMY. That or simply Battleground Academy sounds like it could have been a fighting game for the Sega Dreamcast. Instead, it’s a private K-12 school established in 1889 that pumps out eventual college and professional athletes.
One of the main reasons I feel like we can say “starting CB material” in watching his film: I love his instincts. He’s a great cover corner who keeps his head turning, is very dynamic in his movement and a thus adapts and changes direction acutely and quickly, and generally just reads the pass very well.
Any underthrow has shown to be easy pickings for Otey. He hits much larger receivers and tight ends pretty hard for a dude I just said needs to put on a bit more weight. Really, if you’re interested, watch his Hudl highlights.
Otey also made appearances at safety in high school, but as things stand he is more likely to permanently play as a cornerback. Left side more likely than right.
Watch how he reads some of these throws, watch his closing speed, his engaging on bigger targets (leading to pass breakups and fumbles), and how naturally he intercepts passes in his general vicinity. Very good hands, very good awareness, very good strength and speed. His change of direction and how he utilizes the hips and legs in coverage to stick on his targets are quite impressive.
Nicknamed “T.O.” for both his ability to create turnovers and the fact that his last name is pronounced as if it were the abbreviation for overtime or offensive tackle, I hope he’ll be TOOT-ing his own horn with interception celebrations for years to come wearing gold and black.