Colben Landrew sets official visit to Purdue, chats other schools involved
By SAM LANCE
Class of 2026 four-star guard Colben Landrew will take an official visit to Purdue from June 23-25, he told ZAGSBLOG.
Landrew, the 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard out of Wheeler High School (GA) and the Game Elite Adidas 3SSB AAU program, has a very versatile skillset. He showed off all his abilities at Adidas 3SSB Session 2 in front of head coaches during the live period, averaging 13.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 steals. He also shot over 50% from the field.
“People call me Baby Melo with my face-up game,” Landrew said. “But I can speed it up as well. Shoot, rebound, finish. Pretty much do it all.”
Colben Landrew owns a good one-on-one skill set and a special ability to make tough shots.
— Shun Williams (@OntheRadarHoops) April 29, 2025
He scores in a variety of different ways and can play both forward positions.
:@_CoachShep_ @CoachKev456 @gameeliteatl @colben_landrew pic.twitter.com/lU6b9bv9LE
Recently, Landrew made the decision to focus strictly on basketball. He used to play wide receiver on the gridiron but has “retired.”
“Since I’ve been playing football, I’ve been kind of getting big,” Landrew said. “So I’m trying to cut off all this weight so I can be a better and faster player. [Playing football], I definitely got way more physical and explosive. And it kind of made me become a dog, you feel me.”
You can see how Landrew’s football experience translates to success on the basketball court. He’s a very physical player and excels at finishing through contact. He made one of the biggest plays for Game Elite to remain undefeated in Session 2. On Sunday against Iowa United, his and-one finish in double-overtime proved to be the winning basket.
Besides Purdue, some other schools in Landrew’s recruitment include Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Xavier. He’s taken an official visit to Ole Miss and unofficials to Clemson, Georgia and Mississippi State. Other schools that have offered include Cal, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Virginia Tech, among others.
The head coaches out to watch Landrew play in Iowa include Alabama’s Nate Oats, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Georgia Tech’s Damon Stoudamire, Mississippi State’s Chris Jans, Texas A&M’s Bucky McMillan and Xavier’s Richard Pitino. Assistants from all the schools listed above were present as well.
Landrew broke down some of the programs involved to ZAGSBLOG:
Clemson: “To be honest, I haven’t talked to Clemson in a while. But the unofficial was pretty fun. They took me to a football game. It was nice out there. I like them.”
Georgia: “Coach [Antonio Reynolds] Dean. I like Georgia. I like the game play. Georgia is in town for me since I moved to Georgia recently. I try to go to Georgia anytime I can since it’s in town. They invite me to a lot of games. So I like Georgia.”
Mississippi State: “I’m born in Mississippi so I like Mississippi, you know? Mississippi State, coach [George] Brooks, that’s my dog. He’s built a relationship with me since 15u. He came to watch me to play at 15u and ever since then he’s been chatting with me every single day.”
Ole Miss: “The coaches really showed me a lot of love. I feel like I could play there. [Chris Beard] went down to how they play and stuff like that. They show a lot of love. They come to a majority of all my live periods whenever they can. They text me all the time, they hit me up. And they’ve built a good relationship with me.”
On Beard: “I feel like he’s a great coach. He’s locked in. He don’t play about what he play about. He just comes to work. He just comes to the gym and works hard everyday. You see it in his team. He always shows them love after practice and stuff like that, so I mess with him.”
Purdue: “I know its going to be fun. Coach [Matt] Painter, coach P.J. [Thompson], those are my guys. They talk to me everyday. I love Purdue. They show a lot of love and they text me everyday. I can see myself playing there too, how the game style is up there.”
Landrew said coaches showing a lot of love and acting like they care about him will be an important factor in his recruitment.
The four-star is ranked the No. 71 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports. He has a few goals in mind with Game Elite this summer.
“I want to be on the leaderboard of efficiency,” Landrew said. “And then just work as hard as I can everyday basically. Just coming out here and working hard, pushing my teammates, being a leader.”
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