Purdue names Ryan Browne starting quarterback ahead of 2025 season

New Purdue head coach Barry Odom has named former North Carolina transfer Ryan Browne as the Boilermakers’ starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 college football season. The 21-year-old Brown beat out Arkansas transfer Malachi Singleton for the opportunity.

It’s a full-circle moment for Browne, who started his career at Purdue and even started two games last season but opted to transfer to the Tar Heels in mid-December. Browne then changed his mind and announced his intention to return to West Lafayette, Ind., in mid-April to compete for the starting job.

Browne is 0-2 all-time as the Boilermakers’ starting quarterback, but managed to throw for 532 yards and four touchdowns to two interceptions in six games last season. He completed 43-of-76 passes as a redshirt freshman in 2024, where he backed up former Texas transfer Hudson Card.

Odom is in his first season at Purdue after two seasons at UNLV, where he went 19-8 overall and 12-3 in the Mountain West. Prior to that, Odom went 25-25 overall and 13-19 in SEC play across four seasons as Missouri’s head coach between 2016-19.

The Boilmakers are coming off a difficult 1-11 campaign in 2024, including a 66-0 blowout against rival Indiana in the regular-season finale, which led to the dismissal of head coach Ryan Walters after just two seasons in West Lafayette. Walters went just 5-19 overall across his two years at Purdue.

Browne played high school football at New Berlin (NY) Milford Academy, where he was a three-star prospect. He was the No. 1,095 overall player and No. 4-ranked player in the state of New York from the 2023 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting media companies.