#1 – Evans Chuba
One more day folks until we are back in Ross Ade Stadium cheering on our Boilermakers. Today we focus on one of the new Boilermaker QB’s Evans Chuba. Evans comes by way of Montreal through Washington State where he spent his freshman season as a member of the northern-most PAC-2 squad. The former 3-star QB did not appear in any games for the Cougars, rather watching and learning. He took his redshirt and hit the transfer portal, eventually landing in West Lafayette under Barry Odom and company. This
season, Ryan Browne has been named starting QB and the likely #2 is Malachi Singleton, so Evans will likely need to battle for the 3rd spot and beyond. Crazier things have happened on the field, but it looks like another season of watching and learning for Chuba.
#1 – Smiley Bradford
Defensive Back
6’0”, 195 lbs
Sophomore
St. Louis, Missouri
Previous School: East St. Louis High School
Projection: Backup Corner / Nickel
On the other side of the ball, we have Smiley Bradford, a Sophomore DB out of St. Louis. Bradford, a 3-star recruit and a top-50 safety in his class, is one of the carryovers from last season. In his Freshman season, Smiley played in 5 games with 4 starts, amassing 17 tackles, 11 of which came in the Oregon and Penn State games. With a season under his belt, Bradford will look to make an impact under the new coaching regime but as has been the case with basically position, the DB room is very crowded with many new faces. As it stands, Bradford looks to be a backup corner or nickelback and could see some action on special teams. Depth charts are obviously subject to change but hopefully Smiley can make a positive impact for the new-look Boilermakers this season.
