Talented 2027 In-State Receiver Includes Purdue in Top Four
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Purdue is firmly in the mix to land one of the top in-state prospects of the 2027 recruiting class. Branden Sharpe, a receiver from Brownsburg, Ind., revealed his four finalists this week, with the Boilermakers among them.
Sharpe is listed as one of the top-15 prospects from Indiana in the 2027 class. He is also considering Cincinnati, Indiana and Vanderbilt for his commitment.
The three-star prospect will utilize the summer months to take official visits to each of the four schools he's still considering. Sharpe will take an official visit to Purdue on June 19.
AGTG🙏🏾. Top 4, Where’s home?? pic.twitter.com/v44H5GSG9S
— Branden Sharpe 3⭐️ (@BrandenSharpe23) April 8, 2026
Sharpe is listed as a 5-foot-11, 160-pound wide receiver and is ranked No. 659 nationally, according to 247Sports. He's coming off a junior season in which he exceeded 1,000 receiving yards and helped lead Brownsburg to a Class 6A state championship.
The junior ended the 2025 campaign with 1,143 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns on 59 receptions. In Brownsburg's State Championship Game win over Westfield, Sharpe hauled in four catches for 151 yards and a touchdown.
Sharpe had five 100-yard receiving games, including a monster performance early in the season against Cathedral. In that game, the receiver recorded eight receptions for 237 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Across his career at Brownsburg, Sharpe has totaled 2,341 yards and 20 touchdowns on 127 catches. He has played in 30 games for the Bulldogs.
Purdue's recent struggles at wide receiver
Coach Barry Odom and his staff are looking to improve the wide receiver room moving forward. It's been an area of concern since Jeff Brohm left to be the head coach at Louisville.
Under Brohm, Purdue had several skilled wide receivers on the roster in his pass-heavy offense. Players like Rondale Moore, David Bell, Charlie Jones and others thrived at the position.
However, the Boilers really haven't had a game-changing wide receiver in the three years since his departure. Adding a commitment from Sharpe would certainly help the outlook of that position group in the future.
It helps that Sharpe is an in-state product, too.
Purdue already has one wide receiver committed to its 2027 class. Dallas Crescenzo, a 6-foot, 183-pound receiver from Bastrop, Texas, verbally pledged to the Boilermakers back in October 2025. He is currently the only player committed to play at Purdue in that recruiting cycle.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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