QUINIX Sport News: Daniel Jacobsen's transformation is already in progress

Daniel Jacobsen started a stir in the last month of the season with hopeful fans before game.

The 7-4 true freshman’s season was cut as short as he is tall. Just a minute into his second game, he collided with a Northern Kentucky player and a couple days later a lower leg injury diagnosis would have him ruled out for the rest of the season.

That didn’t stop people from watching Jacbosen towards the end of the season when he was cleared for basketball activities and back in the lay up lineup and thinking ‘what if?’.

Early rankings have Purdue as high as the #2 team in the country. A lot of that has to do with returning one of the favorites for Player of the Year, Braden Smith, and another likely All-American, Trey Kaufman-Renn, but just as important, Purdue has added to its center room, the one glaring need from last season’s team with the portal addition of Oscar Cluff from South Dakota State and the return of Jacobsen.

But Jacobsen’s focus this season hasn’t just been getting back on the floor, but getting better.

Jacobsen came to Purdue with one obvious physical need – get stronger. Jacobsen has great length and mobility, but the Big Ten can be trench warfare at times for big men. Jacobsen will be able to play over most players, but he’ll also need to be able to hold his ground.

“Since I’m not doing practice and lots of intense cardio,” Jacobsen told me during Purdue’s NCAA Tournament run. “I’ve been able to buy into lifting weights.”

You can see it in Jacobsen’s frame. His shoulders have taken to weight well, and there’s rumors he’s added as much as 30-40 pounds of weight to his frame. That’s not something Jacobsen could have realistically done while playing a full season. The demands, the cardio, and wear of a regular season is too much to drastically change a player’s body. That’s why summers are so important to transform players, but even then, that’s limited by having just a couple months to get that weight room work done before season preparation begins again.

“I’ve been able to use the opportunity of not playing to get a lot of other things done,” Jacobsen added. “Like getting stronger, skill work, putting weight on.”

Jacobsen’s injury was enough to take away the entire season, but he has been able to start working on his frame since the start of 2025, meaning he will get close to a full calendar year of being able to focus on grinding in the gym and adding to his game. He’s also been able to get valuable practice reps later in the season.

Still, it wasn’t easy for Jacobsen to sit on the sidelines as Purdue struggled to finish the season, losing 6 of its last 9 before the NCAA Tournament and in desperate need of Jacobsen’s shot blocking and rebounding.

“It definitely sucks watching,” Jacobsen said. “And I feel like I can help.”

But internally it was never that difficult of a decision to make once Jacobsen was diagnosed with the break in his leg.

“They knew pretty much right away how it was going to go. I probably wouldn’t be ready by the end of the year,” Jacobsen said. “If I can’t give 100%, I don’t want to risk it.”

Instead Jacobsen sat on the bench and watched Purdue just be one possession short against a Houston team that would make its way to the national title game. Purdue wasn’t far from returning to another Final Four for the second straight season.

Jacobsen thinks this Purdue team will be better next year.

“I’m really excited. I think we’re gonna be even better next year. I can’t wait,” Jacobsen said looking around the locker room after the loss to Houston. “I can’t wait to play with Braden, with Trey, with Fletch, with all those guys.”

Purdue’s improved from the portal, but maybe more importantly, it’s improved from the sidelines where the 7-4 big man, Jacobsen, has had almost a full year to get better and think about how good the next season could be.

That silver lining could help lead Purdue back to a Final Four in Indianapolis.