While all eyes were on Indianapolis for Big Ten Media Day on Thursday, key Indianapolis prospect Joe Strickland announced his commitment to Purdue, over Indiana and Stanford.

As the Rivals No. 8 in-state prospect, Strickland had been a top target for the Hoosiers since before he entered high school, and that relationship was tight for quite some time. So when Strickland announced his top-three, there was a feeling that, given the status of the programs involved, he would either choose Indiana or choose to leave the state altogether — which I discussed in a column earlier this month.

Neither of those outcomes played out, so let’s explore why.

Indiana is on track to be, by far and away, the better program over the course of Strickland’s career. But that’s not the only consideration when recruits are choosing schools.

According to Rivals analyst Josh Helmholdt’s reporting and some reporting of my own (years ago now), Strickland’s relationship with former Indiana defensive line coach and current Purdue defensive line coach Mark Hagen was strong. The camps Strickland attended within the state exposed him to Hagen early in his recruitment, and he cited that in his discussions regarding Purdue on Thursday.

Hagen is a fantastic recruiter, so when he left for Texas and severed Indiana’s tether with the defensive line recruits they had on their board, it’s tough to pick that back up (i.e. Rodney McGraw). That’s not a fault of current defensive line coach Kevin Peoples. Being first is extremely significant for young prospects.

Indiana will likely beat up on Purdue for the majority of the years Strickland is on campus, but if a player has a coach he knows he can trust, he’s most likely going to take the guaranteed relationship. That gets into the next point.

There were no summer camps in 2020. No visits, no traveling, no face-to-face interaction. When programs are in the heat of a recruiting battle, those are priceless assets. One visit can swing a commitment, as Indiana knows with Sampson James. That’s how a school like Ohio State sinks its hook into Washington five-star receiver Emeka Egbuka after a massive spring event and lands his commitment years later. It leaves an impression.

That impression of Indiana, for Strickland, was primarily Hagen in 2019. Tom Allen and Peoples had no chance to make up ground over the summer because they couldn’t get him back to Bloomington.

Before anyone blames the traveling complications of the pandemic for losing a top target any further, though, it’s also important to realize that Indiana has had many victories because of the lack of travel. Donaven McCulley, Cooper Jones, Josh Sales, and Omar Cooper — just to name a few — would’ve likely had far more options if schools were more free to pass through Indiana and host prospects on campus more than they were.

I’ve named two defensive linemen that Indiana has lost in recruiting in the last two cycles — Joe Strickland and Rodney McGraw — and I’m working on the assumption that Caden Curry is likely going to Ohio State or, more simply, not Indiana. The fact that Indiana was involved in these conversations at all shows growth in the program, but if there is a position where Indiana is feeling pressure to stack talent for the future, defensive line is not that position.

With returning linemen, such as Michael Ziemba, Demarcus Elliott, Sio Nofoagatoto’a, and James Head, and linemen with plenty of anticipation, like Jonathan King, Ryder Anderson, and Jaren Handy, Indiana has room to bring in transfers along the line until their developmental talent — Jones, Beau Robbins, C.J. Person, D.K. Bonhomme — are ready to hit the field and make a regular impact.

So, in terms of developing the players they have at the position already, Indiana has rebounded well from Hagen’s departure and has also allowed itself to raise the standard in the trenches, a standard that not every in-state defensive lineman can reach like they might have in the past. See Richard Thomas.

But for those who do, like Strickland, Purdue is simply going to have an edge on Indiana in terms of recruiting defensive linemen they cross paths on. The name “George Karlaftis” carries a lot of weight for in-state defensive linemen, as well as “Ryan Kerrigan” and “Lorenzo Neal,” and Indiana simply hasn’t achieved that brand at the position yet.

Obviously, this is fuel for the fire in regards to the rivalry. It makes it sting that much more for Indiana fans. Dasan McCullough has been carrying the flag for the Hoosiers on Twitter, and while it might seem superfluous and ridiculous to some, a social media presence is essential to recruiting success. The best recruiting classes in the country have commits shouting for the brand on Twitter and Instagram.

This is new for Indiana, not only seeing its commits talking to other recruits on social media and already planting seeds for individual rivalries, but also seeing their commits recruit other prospects. It cannot go overstated how positive it is for recruits boasting about the status of the program they’re committed to. Recruits talk, and they talk a lot. If they’re talking about Indiana, that’s a positive for the Hoosiers.

----

• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals

• Like us on Facebook.