Blog
Covering Purdue Boiler Greats from No. 31 to 40
From 1887 to 1928, Purdue football did not have a single player earn All-America recognition.
That drought ended in 1929 with not one but two All-Americans helping the Boilermakers go undefeated and win the school’s second Big Ten Conference championship.
Those two All-Americans, plus Purdue’s all-time rushing leader, head this week’s edition of the best Boilermakers by number.
31
Elmer Sleight
Nicknamed “Red,” Sleight was a unanimous All-America tackle in 1929 for the undefeated Boilermakers.
In addition to being a three-year starter in football, Sleight lettered in track and basketball.
32
Cliff Avril
Avril didn’t break through at Purdue until his junior year, when he moved from linebacker to defensive end.
Over the next two seasons, Avril made 30 tackles for loss and recorded 12.5 of his 13 sacks. A member of Purdue’s Den of Defensive Ends, Avril would go on to win a Super Bowl championship with the Seattle Seahawks.
33
Ralph Welch
Nicknamed “Pest,” Welch also earned All-America honors in 1929 as a running back. Welch was a three-year starter for the Boilermakers.
He would later coach the University of Washington to the Rose Bowl in 1944.
34
Niko Koutouvides
Koutouvides was a first-team All-Big Ten middle linebacker during his senior season in 2003 after recording 101 tackles. He was even better as a junior with 121 tackles, 11.5 for loss and four sacks.
Koutouvides went on to play nine seasons in the NFL.
35
Mel Dillard
The All-Big Ten fullback from Chicago thrived despite playing three seasons at 187 pounds.
His best day came as a junior in 1956 when he singlehandedly outrushed No. 18 Notre Dame 142-129 and scored two touchdowns in a 28-14 victory at South Bend. That season, Dillard led the Big Ten with 873 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
36
Mark Jackson
Coming to Purdue as a walk-on from Terre Haute South in 1982, the 5-9 Jackson eventually made his way to the NFL.
Jackson and quarterback Jim Everett teamed up for big plays in 1985, catching 43 passes for 732 yards (a 17-yard per catch average) and five touchdowns.
Jackson went to the Denver Broncos in the sixth round of the 1986 NFL Draft. He would play in three Super Bowls with the Broncos while amassing 5,551 receiving yards and 29 touchdowns in a nine-year career.
37
Carson Wiggs
Owner of perhaps the most powerful kicking leg in Purdue history, Wiggs shares the record for the longest field goal, 59 yards against Toledo in 2009, in Ross-Ade Stadium history. Wiggs owns the top four longest field goal made in school history (59, 55, 53, 53).
Unofficially, Wiggs kicked a 67-yard field goal during the 2011 spring game. His .737 field goal percentage was a record when he graduated but has since been eclipsed by Mitchell Fineran (.792), Spencer Evans (.765) and J.D. Dellinger (.741).
38
Mike Pruitt
Pruitt followed another Chicago native, Otis Armstrong, to Purdue and starred at fullback from 1973-75 under Alex Agase.
Using a combination of power and speed (clocked at 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash), Pruitt averaged six yards per carry as a junior. That same season, Pruitt set a Purdue record with a 94-yard touchdown run against Iowa.
Pruitt was voted second-team All-Big Ten in 1975 after rushing for 899 yards. The Cleveland Browns took Pruitt seventh overall in the 1976 NFL Draft. Pruitt earned two Pro Bowl selections during his tenure with the Browns from 1976 to 1984. He was named a Cleveland Browns Legend in 2004, a group that includes 17 Pro Football Hall of Famers and former Purdue standouts Abe Gibron, Erich Barnes and Pete Brewster.
39
Alex Yunevich
Purdue football doesn’t have an undefeated 1929 season without Yunevich, who scored three touchdowns in just his second varsity game to rally the Boilermakers past Michigan 30-16.
The fullback rushed for 127 yards on 21 carries that day, outgaining Michigan by himself. Yunevich earned second-team All-Big Ten honors behind the legendary Bronko Nagurski.
Yunevich’s 90-yard touchdown run against Centenary as a senior stood as the school record for more than four decades and remains the second-longest in Purdue history. The Boilermakers’ 1931 season is also recognized by the NCAA as a national championship.
40
Mike Alstott
The only player voted Purdue’s Most Valuable Player three times, Alstott was one of the few reasons to come to Ross-Ade Stadium in the first half of the 1990s.
Alstott owns school records for rushing yards in a season (1,436 in 1995) and career (3,635), plus the most 100-yard rushing games in a season (9 in 1995) and career (16). No one in gold and black has put up more than 2,500 rushing yards and 1,000 career receiving yards.
Purdue mounted a Heisman Trophy campaign for Alstott before his senior season in 1995, asking “Can a Fullback win the Heisman?” The answer was no, placing 11th in the Heisman voting. Alstott did earn All-America honors, though, before embarking on a 12-year NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Next on the countdown, an All-American who liked peanut butter on his hamburger and the only active Boilermaker on this list.
It’s never too early
Just minutes figuratively after the 2025 NBA Draft concluded, The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie posted his first 2026 mock draft.
Purdue fans had to read much of the article before coming to Braden Smith’s name at No. 28 in the first round.
“I’m a believer in Smith figuring it out as a backup in the NBA,” Vecenie writes. “I wouldn’t take him in the top 20 because of his lack of size (listed at 6 feet), but I’m betting that he continues his growth over the last two years and turns into a guy that scouts just can’t deny.
“He … is tougher defensively than he gets credit for, owing to a plus-five wingspan that helps him contest better than you’d think. I’m betting his feel for the game shining through as he leads Purdue to what could be a special season.”
Fellow senior Trey Kaufman-Renn slides into the final pick, No. 60, of Vecenie’s mock draft. Former Indiana forward Mackenzie Mgbako, now at Texas A&M, is projected to go 57th overall. Tucker DeVries, the son of new Indiana coach Darian DeVries, comes in at No. 54.
Edey ranked No. 9
Purdue great Zach Edey is one of two Big Ten Conference players selected to The Athletic’s top 25 players of the 2000s.
Edey was slotted at No. 9, four spots ahead of Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky. Syracuse great Carmelo Anthony heads the list that includes Jalen Brunson of Villanova at No. 2 and Steph Curry of Davidson at No. 3.
“This is not recency bias,” The Athletic’s Lindsay Schnell writes of Edey. “Edey’s ability to control the paint transformed the Boilermakers and put Purdue in contention for a national championship two years in a row. A former hockey player, despite being a towering 7-foot-4, Edey sometimes got flak for not being more mobile around the basket. The reality is, no one had an answer for how to guard him or score on him consistently. Edey, Ralph Sampson and Bill Walton are the only players to repeat as Naismith Player of the Year.”
Kenny Thompson is the former sports editor for the Lafayette Journal & Courier and an award-winning journalist. He has covered Purdue athletics for many years.