Transfer safety again commits to Barry Odom, this time with Purdue football

Purdue football landed a transfer commitment late Saturday night from a defensive back familiar with first-year coach Barry Odom.

Myles Slusher committed to the Boilermakers. He joins the team after sitting out the 2024 season. He played three seasons at Arkansas (2020-22), where Odom was defensive coordinator during his recruitment. Slusher was originally a four-star recruit, No. 172 nationally and the 12th best safety, in 247Sports composite rankings.

Advertisement

Slusher then played at Colorado for Deion Sanders, before again entering the transfer portal. He was listed on Alabama A&M’s 2025 spring roster.

“I’m back,” Slusher wrote on social media committing to Purdue.

Slusher was listed as a 6-foot, 195-pound safety at Colorado, making six tackles in the Buffaloes’ first win under Sanders against TCU, including a game-winning tackle. But he only played four games after suffering an injury. He matched a game-high six tackles against Arizona State that year and finished his Buffs tenure with 17 tackles, 1.5 for loss, one sack and one pass breakup.

A native of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Slusher started his career at Arkansas. He played in 23 games and his best season was his second in 2021. He had career highs of 50 tackles, four pass breakups, six deflections and two interceptions. His next season he had a career-high 5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. He also factored into special teams on both kick and punt returns.

Advertisement

“Athletically, there’s not a lot of guys that can go from safety to play corner, skillset-wise and how we’re playing it. Slush is one of them,” Odom said before Slusher’s breakout sophomore season. He moved to nickelback the next season but Odom noted, “he can play any position on the back end.”

The 23-year-old Slusher has two years of eligibility.

Insider: What we learned from first glimpse of Barry Odom’s Boilers

Sign up for BoilerUpdate to receive the latest Purdue news, updates and insights.