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UPDATE: Former Purdue QB Danny Etling Transferring to LSU

What’s the story on the transfer quarterback LSU is courting?

By Billy Gomila Updated
Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports

News broke Friday from multiple media outlets that former Purdue quarterback Danny Etling, who left the Boilermakers this spring, is visiting campus this weekend.

UPDATE: Per late-afternoon media reports, it appears that Danny Etling will be transferring in.

Etling was a four-star recruit in the class of 2013, who managed to start as a true freshman on a very bad Purdue team, but fell out of favor as a sophomore and has decided to move on. He's not a graduate transfer, so he'd have to sit out the 2015 season and have two more seasons of eligibility starting in 2016.

In short, this would largely be a depth move, one that wouldn't really benefit LSU this season (don't read into the timing, this visit had been in the works well before Thursday's incident with Anthony Jennings), but could help bridge the gap between the current QBs on the roster and Justin McMillan/Felipe Franks. Frankly, it's the kind of move that LSU should have pursued to bridge the gap between Zach Mettenberger and Jennings. It'd be nice to transition from one veteran QB to another with actual game experience plus time in the system. Truthfully, that's been a big part of the issues in recent years.

Here's a video of Etling's high school highlights:

Etling threw for 2,490 yards in 13 career games for Purdue, completing 55 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The numbers aren't what you'd call bad, but rather nondescript.

For some first-hand intel, I consulted Travis Miller of the SB Nation Purdue affiliate, Hammer and Rails:

He was a big-time, four-star recruit from a pretty lousy high school team. He was then kind of thrown to the wolves on the worst Purdue team that I have ever seen as a true freshman. He had some decent numbers, but in my opinion got a little shell-shocked because his line was terrible and he often had to run for his life.

He was the starter at the beginning of last season but struggled. Austin Appleby took over in the Illinois game and Etling never played again. In the spring Appleby (a redshirt junior when Etling was a true junior) stayed ahead of him and redshirt freshman David Blough passed him. Since he fell to No. 3 (and there's a very good true freshman coming in, too) he decided to transfer, which is not a surprise.

I liked him and think he can be a decent player, but he had absolutely nothing around him as a true freshman. He would have two years left after sitting out a year and LSU has a lot more to put around him, so he could be a good fit. As a freshman he was part of a team that tried to install more of a power run game and ended up one of the worst in the country. Barely better than Washington State nationally, so think about that. It should tell you just how bad our offensive line was.

Overall, it just sounds like things didn't work out for Etling in West Lafayette. But he's still a former starter from a Power-5 conference, with some talent to work with. He flashes a very nice arm in the HUDL tape. And again, a little bit of veteran depth would be nice in the future, even if 2015 is even more uncertain at the position right now.