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NOBLESVILLE — Possessing considerable promise in both football and basketball a few years back, Myles Colvin and his family had a decision to make.
That decision fell the direction of the hardwood, despite Colvin’s family pedigree in football, and it was Purdue that actually played a minor role in that decision.
“We just got to the point where going into his eighth-grade year at Heritage Christian, (Purdue basketball) called and said they wanted to invite him up to their elite camp,” said Rosevelt Colvin, the former Purdue and NFL football standout and Myles Colvin’s father. “I said, ‘Why do you want to invite him up there, he’s only 12?’ They said they just wanted to check him out, see what he looks like.
“Once that happened and he got a little bit of attention there, I started thinking those three months he’d take off to go play wide receiver, we could put a little more time into (training) and shooting. It’s been good for him. And he’d have been a 14-year-old wide receiver going over the middle in 2A football against somebody who might be 19 years old, getting smacked. We just didn’t think it was worth it, so we went in the direction he was already trending in anyway and it’s worked out so far.”
The investment certainly has paid off.
Two weeks ago, Purdue was there again, this time not with a camp invite, but a scholarship offer for the 15-year-old junior-to-be. On Wednesday, the first day college coaches could call Class of 2023 recruits, Virginia and Butler were among those who rang. Tulane offered.
Purdue, though, beat everyone to the punch, as it should have been expected to given the Colvin family’s ties to the school. Rosevelt Colvin was a star defensive end at Purdue in the late ’90s before going on to win a couple Super Bowls with the Patriots. His daughter, Raven, just enrolled as a freshman for the Boilermaker volleyball program.
“It meant a lot,” Myles Colvin said of the Purdue offer, “especially to my family, because we’re a Purdue family.”
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Rosevelt Colvin says he understood that things aren’t always simple for college coaches when it comes to recruiting the children of alumni.
“I told people before that I think a university is in a tough situation when it comes to legacy kids,” he said. “You don’t want to burn a bridge and you also don’t want to not recruit a kid and they turn out to be really good or recruit kid and they don’t turn out very good. You’re kind of in a tug of war making sure it’s the right decision.
“It was a culmination of his hard work, and then them saying, ‘You know what, this kid really can play.'”
Myles Colvin visited West Lafayette on June 1 — the first day of live recruiting following a year-plus pandemic dead period — and Purdue offered the versatile and athletic 6-foot-5 wing then and there.
“He said I check all the boxes, ” Myles Colvin said., “that I can get to the basket when I want, that I have great form (as a shooter) and that I’m someone who can go get it any time I want.”
Needless to say, the Purdue offer was significant.
“It is a really big deal, especially because they’re a top Big Ten school and the Big Ten for basketball is really good.,” Myles Colvin said.
“Just being around the school for football games and basketball games, the environment is really great.”
When Jim Colletto’s Purdue football staff offered Rosevelt Colvin many years ago, he committed right away. When Purdue volleyball offered Raven Colvin a few years back, she committed as a freshman.
Purdue would like to see that story repeat itself with Myles Colvin.
It remains to be seen.
“I’ve always told him that I played my professional career and Purdue’s been really, really good to me, but, ‘You go play where you feel like you’re going to do well and it’s going to benefit you,”” Rosevelt Colvin said. “I’ve said, ‘My legacy is my legacy; you go create your own.’ We’re just trying to help him make the best decision for him and I think he’ll go where he feels it’s best for him.”
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