As a junior, Kirsch completed 104 passes out of 186 attempts for 1,595 yards and 20 touchdowns. This was a very good 56% pass completion rate. He also ran for another 360 yards and five touchdowns. As a tremendous athlete, Brandon averaged 13 points per game in basketball and has just finished a phenomenal baseball season in which he batted .496 and his fastball hit 94-mph in leading his team into the state baseball playoffs.
Then on June 15, Brandon and his dad, started out on a two-week trip that would have them visiting Temple, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Maryland. Then if time permitted, they would also visit Ohio State and Michigan State. In July, they would also visit Virginia Tech, Rutgers, and Virginia.
Their intentions were to visit as many schools as possible to get a feel as to how these teams perceived him as a possible recruit. "Purdue was always in the back of my mind," said Kirsch. "Coach Joe Tiller had asked me personally to come back to his camp and I was very excited to be going back."
"In the middle of the second day of camp, Coach Tiller asked my dad and I to come in for a meeting. Coach Tiller talked for about an hour and then offered me a scholarship. At this point, we met with an academic person who took my dad and I on an academic tour."
"At this point, Brandon was so excited, we went back and talked to recruiting coordinator Jim Chaney and his recruiting coach Scott Downing," said Steve Kirsch. "At this time, Brandon gave the coaches a soft verbal. I wanted him to think about it and be completely sure that this is what he really wanted," said Steve.
"We didn’t get to far down the road when Brandon picked up the cell phone and called coach Downing to tell him that he was definitely going to be a Boilermaker," said Steve. "All of the coaches were great, easy-going, and funny. Temple and Pittsburgh had already offered before, but Brandon had his mind set on the Boilers before we got to the Purdue camp."
