East grad picked as walk-on at Purdue

Columbus East’s Matt Frost, left, drives around Floyd Central’s Cam Sturgeon at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Indiana, Wednesday, February 20, 2019. Jamie Tomlinson | for The Republic

When Matt Frost enrolled at Purdue, he considered getting involved with the Boilermaker basketball program as a student manager or a film crew member.

As it turns out, the recent Columbus East graduate will have an even bigger role with the team. Frost has been selected as a walk-on to the Purdue squad.

The 6-foot-5 Frost led the Olympians with 14.2 points and 6.2 rebounds a game as a senior in earning The Republic Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors. he also averaged 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals this season and shot 53.4 percent from the field and 73.5 percent from the free-throw line.

Frost had visited Rose-Hulman and Anderson University and talked to a few other college basketball coaches before choosing Purdue, mainly for academic reasons. He plans to major in industrial management.

At Purdue, Frost will be joining a Boilermaker program that is coming off its best postseason in nearly two decades. They went 26-10 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament before falling in overtime to eventual national champion Virginia.

Frost will be the third East graduate in the past 12 years to walk on at Purdue. Garrett Mocas played for the Boilers in the 2007-08 season, and Mark Wohlford played that year and the following year before earning a scholarship for his senior year in 2009-10.