After just one season playing for Deion Sanders’ Colorado program, former Tennessee football safety John Slaughter re-entered the transfer portal. Now, he’s headed to the Big Ten as a part of Purdue, he announced on Thursday.
Slaughter just finished his redshirt-sophomore year and will have two years of eligibility remaining. With the Buffs, he played in 11 games and started in three. On the year, he posted 25 tackles, two interceptions and forced a fumble.
Slaughter graded out with a 55.4 mark on PFF. He struggled to find consistent playtime early in the season, but was a big-time contributor as a free safety by the end of the season.
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Slaughter spent a pair of seasons at Tennessee before transferring out. In 2024, he played in just four games. Those were the blowout out-of-conference wins over Chattanooga, NC State, Kent State and UTEP. In 2023, as a true freshman, he played against UConn and Vanderbilt in the regular season and in the Citrus Bowl win over Iowa.
As a recruit, Slaughter was considered a three-star prospect by 247. The site’s composite rankings had him as the No. 599 player in the class and No. 56 safety. As a transfer, 247 ranks Slaughter as a three-star recruit, No. 1,207 player in the portal and No. 125 safety.
He now joins Purdue after the Boilermakers finished 2-10 (0-9 Big Ten) in Barry Odom’s first season. He took over the program after a pair of seasons at UNLV, a stint as the defensive coordinator at Arkansas and head coaching at Missouri.
Things don’t look bright for Purdue on the gridiron this upcoming year, either. In the Big Ten, which is as good as any conference at the top, it’s going to be tough for the Boilermakers to string together wins in the nine-game conference schedule.
One Response
Let’s start by correcting the stats. AT COLORADO
2025 (Jr.)
Played in the final 11 games of the season, starting in three.
Made his first collegiate start against Arizona at home in week nine.
Started three of the final four games.
Finished the season with 25 total tackles, 18 unassisted tackles, two interceptions, one forced fumble, and one quarterback hurry.
Made his first interception on the road against West Virginia in week 10 with a 22-yard return.
The following week at home against Arizona State he added his second career interception.
His best game came against Arizona State where he had six total tackles, five unassisted tackles, one interception, and one forced fumble.
He time was limited due to the buddy buddy system but his performance was excellent. He finished with an 86 transfer rate!