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Top 20 Purdue football players: No. 20 Jerrick Gibson

On3 imageby: Tom Dienhart06/03/26TomDienhart1

Purdue has started preparations for the 2026 campaign, gearing toward the season-opener on September 4 at home vs. Indiana State. Let’s count down the top 20 Boilermakers as we march to the start of the season.

With Devin Mockobee gone, plenty of opportunity looms in the Purdue backfield. And that’s a big reason why running back Jerrick Gibson is here.

A former four-star recruit in the 2024 class and IMG Academy (Fla.) product, Gibson was highly-touted coming out of high school, where he chose Texas over offers from Georgia, Alabama, Miami, Florida, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, USC, Texas A&M, Notre Dame and others.

Gibson emerged as a contributor for Steve Sarkisian as a true freshman in 2024, tallying 78 carries for 377 yards and four touchdowns. He looked poised for more of a workload in 2025, but played in four games before taking a redshirt. Gibson finished his Texas career with 529 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 115 carries in 19 games.

Going back to his true freshman season, the 5-10 Gibson tallied 14 missed tackles forced on 78 carries, with 2.97 yards after contact per attempt. Only Mockobee surpassed that mark for the Boilermakers this fall among players in the steady rotation at running back.

Gibson joins a Purdue backfield that lost depth pieces Malachi Thomas, Jaheim Merriweather and Jaron Thomas in addition to Mockobee. Gibson will battle Fame Ijeboi, Antonio Harris and Izaiah Wright for totes in 2026.

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