How Will Purdue Football Approach Transfer Portal? Coach Barry Odom Explains

An era where coaches rest during the offseason has never existed in college football. However, in today's landscape, it's even more important that staffs immediately get to work once spring football concludes. That's certainly the case for Purdue coach Barry Odom and his crew, who will likely have to jump into the transfer portal in the coming weeks and months to continue to improve the roster in West Lafayette.

The Boilermakers closed out the spring practice schedule on Saturday with a spring showcase at Ross-Ade Stadium. Purdue's end of spring ball coincides with the opening of the 10-day transfer portal window, which allows players to enter beginning on Wednesday, April 16.

How will Odom and his staff handle the transfer portal during the offseason? He says the activity depends heavily on which current Boilers decided to explore new opportunities.

"A lot of it will depend on how many guys we have that leave the program," Odom said. "In my mind, for us, we've got to create a roster — if all the rules pass the way that they're stating, we've got to get our roster to 105 (players). You can't replace somebody once the season starts. If somebody gets hurt, you're down that number.

"So, every move that we make — whether we agree with the ruling or not — every decision we make is to try and get the best 105 in here that we can. We'll see what that looks like as we get into fall camp ... ultimately we have to get 105 guys in here that we feel we can play winning ball with."

Because of the current landscape of college football, Odom had to rely heavily on the transfer portal after being named the next coach in December. Purdue brought in 30 players from the transfer portal and have signed 12 high school recruits. Three other high school prospects are considered "hard commits" to the program.

Already, Purdue has seen two players announce their intent to enter the transfer portal: Defensive end Logan Jellison and linebacker Landon Drennan. Odom said he "expects to lose some and gain some" from the portal over the next few months.

The picture will likely look much clearer later this coming week when the portal officially opens. After 10 days, it will close on Friday, April 25.