Boonville’s Mockobee Decommits from Navy Opts for Purdue Instead

Boonville stud running back, Devin Mockobee announced Wednesday morning that he has not only decommitted from Navy, but that he's staying in-state to continue his football career with a Big Ten Conference powerhouse.

Mockobee announced through his Twitter account that he will now be heading to West Lafayette to play at Purdue for Coach Jeff Brohm.

Wednesday's announcement comes nearly a year after he made a verbal commitment to play for the Midshipman at Navy (July 20th, 2020, to be exact). In talking about the decision at that time, Mockobee told Kyle Sokeland with the Evansville Courier & Press the Naval Academy's offer to him was "out of the ballpark" compared to other offers he had received and because of that, the decision to commit before the start of his senior season with the Pioneers was "sort of a no-brainer."

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What led to his decision to "jump ship" (pun intended) from Navy and commit to the Boilermakers is unknown at this time, but based on the statement he made in the graphic above calling Purdue his "dream school," had hopes of being a Boilermaker for a long time.

The move not only keeps Devin in the Hoosier state to play for a program with a long, storied history, as well as a large and passionate fan base that stretches from border to border, it also keeps him in the same black and gold color scheme he's worn for the last four years in Boonville.

Whatever Devin's reason for the move (and frankly, it's none of our business), the Boilermakers are getting themselves one heck of a football player.

I had the privilege of watching Devin do his thing on the field last year as my son was a member of the JV squad and dressed for all the varsity games giving me an up-close look at the type of athleticism Mockobee has worked hard for years to establish.

On the field, he's a beast, playing like a man amongst boys. Even when opposing defenses focused all their attention on him, he made them pay with a balance of finesse, agility, and pure strength. Need proof? Check out this highlight reel his father, Conrad Mockobee put together and posted to YouTube.

The 6'0", 190-pound running back ran for nearly 1,400 yards in 10 games in junior year. An average of 138.4 yards per game. He followed that up last season averaging 227.5 yards for a total of 1,820 yards, according to MaxPreps. What makes last season's numbers even more impressive is that he did it in only 8 games as a couple were canceled due to COVID. In one of those games, a September 11th home game against Gibson Southern, he set the school's single-game rushing record with 415 yards <insert bulging eye emoji here>.

Obviously, the Big Ten isn't the Pocket Athletic Conference. The competition will be much tougher. The opposing defensive players will be bigger, faster, and stronger. But, from what I've seen, and I'm by no means an expert, Mockobee has the skills to succeed at the next level.

[Source: Devin Mockabee Twitter / Evansville Courier & Press / MaxPreps]