WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue women’s basketball guard Amiyah Reynolds enrolled last summer with an immediate need for physical and emotional support.

The South Bend Washington enrolled with a foot injury, suffered at the end of her senior season. Purdue oversaw her second foot surgery in July. She progressed from immobility in a cast to full clearance by mid-January. Then she ran the Boilermakers’ scout team in the second half of the season.

“My trainers — weightlifting and medically — have been super big for me,” Reynolds said. “... I was able to come back pretty soon, gaining muscle after surgery.

“Being in a cast for a long time was really hard, but they really got me up to even higher than when I came in from high school.”

Reynolds’ experience is not unique. Strength and conditioning, athletic training and health and nutrition all received the highest scores from Purdue athletes in a first-of-its-kind national survey of college athletes.

Athletes.org, which calls itself a players organization endeavoring to "empower our member athletes," is conducting an ongoing survey of college athletes across the country. Roughly 1,400 athletes from 25 NCAA sports across 42 states and Washington D.C. have ranked their athletic program in each of nine categories on a 1-5 scale (worst to best).

Purdue ranks in the top three with an overall score of 4.6, along with Ohio State and Clemson. According to CEO Brandon Copeland, only those schools who have received 35 reviews from current athletes are publicly visible. However, member athletes have access to the ratings of all schools.

Copeland said the NFL Players Association, which annually releases its anonymously sourced Team Report Cards, was consulted in the creation of this survey. However, the AO survey results are not static. They will update over time as more athletes respond.

Copeland played at Penn prior to his 10-year career as an NFL linebacker. He believes the survey provides transparency for incoming athletes and transfers when making their college decision. He hopes it also motivates athletic departments to invest and raise their standards.

"When you go on the recruiting trip, you understand everyone is putting on their best show to recruit you to come to their school," Copeland said. "I remember how some of the athletes on some recruiting trips I went to acted one way aorund the parents and coaches and another way outside of that. Now imagine what the coaches do?

"I'm literally making a life-changing decision in a two-day span with everyone on their best behavior at this university. It just didn't feel right."

Copeland said over 40 Boilermakers had submitted ratings as of late last week. They collectively rated Purdue a 4.8 in the areas of strength and conditioning, athletic training and health and nutrition. Not coincidentally, the athletic program recently made upgrades in all of those areas.

A renovation of the Mackey Arena weight room — used by basketball, volleyball and some Olympic sports programs — finished this summer. Other non-revenue programs use the Mollenkopf Athletic Center weight room. Football has its own strength training facility in the Kozuch Football Performance Complex.

At least one respondent said Purdue’s problem was not finding good strength coaches, but retaining them.

“Enjoyed my time here so much,” read one Purdue athlete response, provided by AO. “Only complaint is that I had about 8 strength coaches in 4 years. The lifting facilities are great but they don’t pay the strength coaches enough.”

Over the summer, Purdue implemented a home recovery program for its athletes. Utilizing technology from wellness brand Hyperice, products such as Normatec air compression boots, Hypervolt percussion massage guns and Hypersphere vibrating massage tools can be taken home for personal use.

Over 1,000 devices were purchased via the John Purdue Club’s Forge Ahead campaign. The $18.69 million fundraising initiative backs what the JPC calls “a data-driven approach to recruiting, retention, and the development of championship teams.”

Purdue also opened an $11 million dining facility, utilized by all athletes, in July.

Obviously the ratings can vary greatly from sport to sport within the same school. One Purdue respondent wrote of a "seemingly unlimited amount of resources and people you can reach out to as an athlete here." Another was more ambivalent, writing: "Purdue has some programs that really prioritize their athletes and some that don’t."

Purdue’s other ratings as of Wednesday included 4.8 for competition facilities and academic support and 4.6 for career and personal development, college experience and mental health support. If not for a 4.0 in NIL Support, the school might hold the No. 1 overall ranking.

However, that still-evolving landscape tended to represent the lowest score for most of the teams published thus far. Among the nine Big Ten programs included, the NIL ratings ranged from Ohio State’s 4.3 to Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin at 3.7.

Copeland said there was a "huge discission" about whether the survey should be anonymous. He said some of the athletes feared retribution if their negative comments or ratings were visible at their school.

Only Athlete.org members can participate in the survery. Copeland said the organization verifies that those signing up are indeed current college athletes. Membership is free, though Copeland said dues may be necessary as the organization grows in the future.

That membership entitles athletes to various resources, including legal assistance with contracts, advice on evaluating and choosing an agent for NIL purposes and obtaining additional medical opinions beyond a team physician. Copeland said those services, modeled after those available to him as an NFLPA member, are provided free of charge.

Member athletes can also see how each individual respondent rated their school, including their written reviews.

Reynolds is fully healthy as her redshirt freshman season begins. She credited a variety of sources of support for helping reach that point.

“Our (medical) staff helps us mentally and physically,” Reynolds said. "They're super huge on making sure we're high in both aspects.”

Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue athletes rate Boilermakers facilities, support high in survey