Head coach breakdown: Purdue 2025 QB commitment Sawyer Anderson

It was easy for Sawyer Anderson to be competitive growing up as the third in a five-brother family. That edge no doubt shaped him as an athlete and led to this point where he stands on the precipice of being a Big Ten quarterback.

The 5-11, 170-pound Anderson, who plays at Parish Episcopal High–the same school as 2024 Purdue freshman Caleb Mitchell- -is Purdue’s second quarterback commitment in two years from Texas, as Marcos Davila pledged in the Class of 2023.

A classic dual-threat signal-caller, Anderson had offers from Texas A&M, Ole Miss, N.C. State and Texas Tech, among other schools, before tabbing Purdue in August 2023.

Anderson will be entering his third season as a starter and already has 69 touchdown passes and over 6,000 passing yards in his career.

Anderson bloodlines also are impressive: Grandfather, Donny Anderson, was a star at Texas Tech before going on to play for the Green Bay Packers, St. Louis Cardinals and Miami Dolphins.

GoldandBlack.com spoke to Dan Novakov , Anderson’s head coach at Dallas Parish Episcopal High, to learn more about Anderson.

Q: What type of quarterback is Purdue getting?

A: He’s got the quickest release of anybody I’ve ever seen. His ability to throw it, throw it on pace and get it out of his hand is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

Q: Does he remind you of any other quarterback?

A: He’s almost like a shortstop. He’s accurate. He’s got incredible arm strength. And, for somebody that you wouldn’t classify as huge, the arm strength is second to none.

Q: How mobile is he?

A: He reminds me of Bo Nix . And I’m sure Graham (Harrell) would tell you he reminds him of Mason Fine (a 5-11 quarterback Harrell coached as offensive coordinator at North Texas from 2016-18). He kind of made Graham Harrell. That’s who he really reminds me of. Not many people know who Mason Fine is. But, if you go back and look at him at North Texas and the career he had, if I get into Graham’s mind, that’s probably what he’s thinking. That’s when Graham was just starting. Fine was the reason North Texas had all that success and Graham got the USC (OC) job. Mason Fine (at North Texas from 2016-19) was incredible.

Q: Why do you think Anderson picked Purdue?

A: The connections. There is the Texas connection with Graham (from Ennis, Texas). I think comfort had a lot to do with it. I think going somewhere where you feel like they really want you and you mesh with what they’re doing offensively is important.

Sawyer has a ton of unbelievable traits, but I wouldn’t take him to be a quarterback in the old Stanford offense with (former Cardinal head coach) David Shaw , where you’re under center, play-action. He’s a gunslinger. And there’s probably no better person to coach gunslingers than Graham. So, I think that’s kind of the fit there, you find the right fit at Purdue.

I don’t think people realize all the great quarterbacks Purdue has put out. I don’t think Sawyer and Drew Brees’ games are very similar. I think Sawyer is much more of a gunslinger-type than Brees, who was much more mechanical and obviously, very, very good. They are different players, in my opinion.

Q: What does Sawyer do well?

A: His ability to flick RPOs, bubbles and things and all that kind of stuff, he is the most elite I’ve ever seen at doing that. He has an unbelievable ability to just feel space and feel who’s open and pull it and throw it … he’s incredible at doing that. Sawyer never has lost a district game. He’s never lost a playoff game. He’s a winner. He’s hard to beat.

Q: How many state titles has he won?

A: We have won five in a row, and he was the starter on the last three. He has lost just five games in three years.

Q: Is Sawyer like Kyler Murray ?

A: Obviously, the drop-back passing game, Sawyer is incredibly athletic. He went to the Elite 11 and had one of the best 40 times and verticals. He’s more athletic than I think he’s given credit for.

Kyler Murray was thought of as a true dual-threat. I think of Kyler as running around. When I think of Sawyer, that’s not his image. He’s hard to sack because the ball comes out so fast. And he’s able to makes such quick decisions that you don’t see a lot of him running around, making these helter-skelter kind of plays that you think of when you think of Kyler Murray.

I would like for him to get to where if he’s dominating the game that if he can’t find somebody open for a touchdown, he can run for 30 yards or whatever. That would be a nice element to add. But he gets the ball out so quickly and so fast that he doesn’t need to do that, if that makes sense. He makes such quick decisions and throws it so quick. He’s never standing back really having to make somebody miss.

Q: How tall is he?

A: 5-11, 6-0? I don’t really know. I’ve never measured him. He’s not huge, but he’s not small. I had (current SMU quarterback) Preston Stone , the No. 1 quarterback in the country for most of his high school career. They are so different. Sawyer is just so unique.

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