His brother is at IU. But Center Grove DE Kobe Cherry to forge own path at Purdue
What does Kobe do if that quarterback is his brother, Tyler Cherry? Sack him, of course.
'Absolutely,' Kobe Cherry said. 'We are both working incredibly hard and taking the correct steps to find ourselves out on the field in that Big Ten matchup.'
Kobe, a 6-5, 275-pound senior defensive lineman at Center Grove, announced his commitment to Purdue on Monday night, picking the Boilermakers over his other finalists — IU and Wisconsin. Choosing Purdue meant going to the rival school of his brother, Tyler, a former star quarterback at Center Grove, who will serve as a student coach for the upcoming season as he recovers from a knee injury.
Despite the IU-Purdue rivalry, Kobe said Tyler was 100% behind his decision.
'Tyler is more than unbelievably proud of me and the decision I've made,' Kobe said. 'He has been through it himself and he knows that I look up to him so he couldn't be more proud and excited to see where the future takes me. Tyler's advice to me was that the hard work and dedication does not stop here. It is an unbelievable accomplishment, but I have to keep my head straight and keep grinding.'
Cherry quickly rose in the recruiting rankings with a breakout sophomore season that saw him make 70 tackles and three sacks. He picked up an offer from IU after the season, and later adding offers from Louisville, Minnesota, Toledo, Wisconsin, Western Michigan and Purdue. But after suffering a knee injury, Cherry missed his entire junior football season.
Missing that time has made Cherry even hungrier for his senior year.
'I trusted the plan that God has laid out for me and put my situation in his hands,' Cherry said. 'My goals for my senior year are to lead my team to another state championship for Center Grove and show why I am a top defensive player in the country after missing last season.'
Cherry said he plans to graduate early and enroll at Purdue in January. That means missing his senior year of baseball, a sport where he also excels. In three seasons as a pitcher for the Trojans, he posted a 12-2 record with 2.37 earned run average.
'Baseball was always a love for me,' he said. 'Same with football. But as my body grew and developed, I found myself falling in love with football more and more every day and now am in the best situation I could have possibly asked for.'
That situation makes Cherry part of the current 18-player high school recruiting class for new Purdue coach Barry Odom. Other in-state recruits in the class are Lawrence Central three-star offensive linemen James Williams Jr. and Brock Brownfield of New Palestine.
Cherry said defensive line coach Kelvin Green, defensive ends coach Jake Trump and defensive analyst Daryl Lydon were all key contacts for him in his recruitment.
'If I was going to be in contact with one, I was going to be in contact with all of them,' Cherry said. 'That's how their brotherhood works. Extremely close. But overall, it's all about the people and Purdue has the best people to build a football program around.'
Green told Cherry he likes versatility in his defensive linemen. Cherry fits the bill.
'He likes his defensive linemen to know the playbook and be able to play every position across the defensive line,' he said. 'And he sees me doing that.'
The objective now for Cherry: Get ready for a big senior season. And help recruit more Boilermakers.
'Coach Odom spoke about using me to recruit,' Cherry said. 'I am open to using (my profile) to add some Boilermakers in the upcoming years.'
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