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Pete ThamelESPN
Former Texas quarterback Hudson Card committed to Purdue on Monday, sources told ESPN. The commitment gives first-year coach Ryan Walters a key early building block as he takes over from Jeff Brohm.
Card, a redshirt sophomore and former top-40 recruit, gives Purdue a quarterback with three years of eligibility remaining and a solid track record in limited appearances. Card started five games over two seasons for the Longhorns, and he has thrown for 1,523 yards and 11 touchdowns over his three seasons.
With Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell heading to the NFL draft and freshman Brady Allen appearing in the NCAA transfer portal Monday, Purdue was down to just two scholarship quarterbacks.
Card hails from Austin Lake Travis High School in Texas, the rival high school of Purdue legend Drew Brees, who went to Austin Westlake.
Card completed 65.5% of his passes in 22 appearances for the Longhorns. That included perhaps the best performance of his career, completing 21 of 27 passes for three touchdowns in a win over West Virginia earlier this year. This season, Card had just one pass intercepted in 108 attempts. In his career, he has been intercepted just twice in 194 attempts.
Card is 6-foot-2, 201 pounds and drew a wide array of interest in the NCAA transfer portal. The allure of Purdue’s system under new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, which is expected to fit with Purdue’s DNA of wide-open offenses, helped make it an appealing destination. Harrell is a Mike Leach disciple who has run different versions of the Air Raid in stops at North Texas, USC and West Virginia.
Card got beat out in training camp for the starting job by Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers. Card’s commitment to Texas was a key one back in the class of 2020, when he was ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback behind Bryce Young of Alabama.