Four-Star Quarterback De-Commits From Purdue

A possible NIL related recruiting issue?

Late Monday evening, a 4-star quarterback in the class of 2023, Rickie Collins de-committed from the Purdue Boilermakers via Twitter. This comes a little over a month after telling reporters that “I’m a Boilermaker.” and “That’s not changing.”

Well, it has certainly changed.

Several reports say that LSU is now considered the heavy frontrunner to land the Louisiana product. Collins is the 177th ranked overall prospect and 13th ranked quarterback in the country via Rivals.

Make no mistake, you will take a four-star quarterback any day of the week. However, Purdue does have another four-star signal caller in Brady Allen who will be a freshman this year. If Allen has the type of career that the coaching staff believes he can have, then this will not even register in Purdue fans’ memories. If things with Allen do not fit well and Collins has massive success in Baton Rouge, then we might have ourselves a different conversation. That obviously remains to be seen.

The question many Purdue fans will ask is if this had anything to do with the booming NIL era. There is a good chance that it is the case as LSU is in the heart of SEC country and has an amazing track record over the last decade or more specifically. Therefore they have a larger pool of NIL benefits from alumni and boosters, something that Purdue was a bit late to the game with.

It is also reported that Collins attended LSU’s “Bayou Splash” recently and could have had a change of heart. Given that he is a Louisiana native, that does not seem like a stretch.

Regardless, Purdue will move forward and look for another recruit at the quarterback position for the class of 2023 or via the transfer portal.