Daniel Jacobsen: Zach Edey 2.0

This name may be a little harder to pronounce than the former seven-foot star Zach Edey, but the new seven-foot-four star Daniel Jacobsen is going to take over the sport of college basketball before you even realize it.

Purdue is fresh off of a trip to the National Championship last year after the crushing loss to back-to-back champions UConn.

No. 14 Purdue was able to overcome a close early game against Texas Corpus Christi 90-73, but that isn’t the main attraction that has caught not only my eye, but many others.

Jacobsen is one of the most unique players in the country already, considering his prowess not only at an enormous height above seven feet tall, but also his overall size.

He sits at 230 pounds to start the season, but the potential growth still to come is very inspiring.

During the first game of the season, Jacobsen had 13 points and seven rebounds to go along with three blocks in his highly anticipated debut performance.

The other factor that should be considered here is how good Zach Edey was in his tenure with the Boilermakers. A two time Wooden Award Winner, and one of the best players in the country year in and year out.

Edey’s success led him to the NBA to play for the Memphis Grizzlies as well.

Jacobsen is going to have a tough time living up to the legend that came right before him. It’s not often that one player at that size is replaced by someone who came in at about the exact same length.

He was a four star prospect coming out of high school along with the 57th best player in the entire class of 2024.

He played for one of the Top 10 high school basketball programs in the country as well in New Hampshire at Brewster Academy.

Purdue has been one of the most successful programs in the country under head coach Matt Painter. In 19 seasons at the helm, Painter has amassed a truly impressive 447-203 overall record.

It’s no secret Purdue is not going to be as strong with a young freshman in Jacobsen replacing a star like Zach Edey, but the supporting cast around him remains intact for the season.

Star point guard Braden Smith is back, and had 20 plus points in the Game earlier this week, along with Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn to the starting lineup.

The schedule for the Boilermakers is marginally tough to start the year as they host No. 2 Alabama next Friday along with games against Auburn, Marquette and Texas A&M in the next month and a half.

The Big Ten conference is going to be a little bit more wide open this season considering that Purdue is ranked lower than they have been along with teams like Indiana and Rutgers being in the rankings as very young teams.

It is one thing to speculate a player being like another superstar, but based on talent and the hype surrounding this young man, it’s hard to argue that he won’t turn into what many project.

That is if the team around him can help guide him through the growing pains.

Giustino Racchini is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email him at gar5448@psu.edu.