Ethan Trent finally wore his parents down last year.

Yes, they told him, he could get a tattoo — a T-squared on his right wrist, a constant reminder of big brother Tyler and all that he had left behind.

That Ethan starred as a center for Carmel High’s football team was not a coincidence. He would, quite literally, see his late brother’s initials every time he got into position and snapped the ball to the quarterback.

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Now the name “Trent” will don a Purdue football jersey, maybe even on the field in actual game action sometime across the next few years. Ethan Trent announced his commitment to the Boilermakers on Wednesday, a signing day story that managed to shine through even amid one of the craziest days of the college football calendar. Trent will be a preferred walk-on at the school that his oldest brother had become synonymous with across his public battle with cancer, ensuring that Tyler’s legacy will live on throughout the West Lafayette, Ind., campus and beyond.

“I love it. This is the fun part,” Ethan Trent said Wednesday. “Being able to build connections with everyone, and then it’s time to get to work when summer comes. It’s time to get work today, to prepare for it.”

As with most recruitments, this one took an 11th-hour turn, as head coach Jeff Brohm left for Louisville earlier this month.

Brohm and the Trents had bonded while Tyler was a Purdue student, as they flew to Los Angeles together for the ESPYs and went to Atlanta for the College Football Awards Show. Tyler Trent was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma as a 15-year-old, but he insisted on enrolling at Purdue a few years later anyway. He wrote for the school newspaper. He camped outside Ross-Ade Stadium for tickets. He served as an honorary captain multiple times. He famously predicted the Boilers’ upset of No. 2 Ohio State in 2018, on the same day that ESPN’s “College GameDay” aired a moving profile of him.

Tyler passed away on New Year’s Day 2019 at the age of 20, but not before raising more than a million dollars for cancer research and inspiring an entire school of more than 40,000 students.

All the while, Ethan, his youngest of two brothers — middle brother Blake is set to enroll in flight school — became a budding football star who wanted to make Tyler proud. As an offensive lineman, he chose jersey number 77 to honor Tyler, whose favorite number was 7, and whose birthday was Sept. 7. He was good enough to earn a scholarship offer from Indiana State, and it looked for a while like he was going to become a Sycamore, but he could never truly rid himself of the idea of following in Tyler’s footsteps.

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When Brohm left, that dream was fleeting. Who would Purdue hire? Would the new coach even have time for a non-scholarship guy, especially with all of the pressing issues at hand?

The Trents wished Brohm well. That 2018 season was a significant one in both of their lives, and like most around Purdue, the family understood the significance of the Louisville native returning to his hometown and alma mater. The Boilers hired Ryan Walters to replace Brohm, and two days after taking over, the new head coach visited Carmel to check in on Winston Berglund and Will Heldt, a pair of three-star Purdue commits on the defensive side of the ball. While there, Walters sought out Trent, informing him that the previous staff’s promise of a preferred walk-on spot was still on the table.

(Say this for Walters: From putting Devin Mockobee on scholarship on Day 1, to having Drew Brees as an interim coach, to now going out of his way for the Trent family, he has hit all of the right notes barely a week into the job.)

“I think it’s what ultimately ended up helping Ethan make his decision, not because (Brohm’s) gone, but I think in that moment he realized maybe that PWO offer wasn’t going to stand and that made him really disappointed,” his mother, Kelly Trent, said. “So I think it almost revealed to Ethan how much he really does want to go there, if that makes sense, and where his heart really was.

“And when coach Walters came in and talked to him and made the time to come to Carmel — I know there are two other recruits at Carmel — but I think it made such an impression on Ethan that he at least was being thought of, and that he said the offer still stood and just everything that he had to say. First impressions were awesome.”

On Tuesday night, with his parents by his side, Ethan called Purdue recruiting director Nate Dennison, put him on speakerphone and told him he was committing to become a Boilermaker. He tweeted the news himself the next morning.

100% Committed!! Boiler Up 🚂🚂 @CoachNatePurdue @Coach_Walters @coach_hebert @EzeObiora2

— Ethan Trent (@TheEthanTrent) December 21, 2022

“Surreal,” Kelly Trent said. “Is he really doing this? Is this really happening? It was one of those moments for sure, and I think something you almost hold at bay a little bit because you want it to happen, but you don’t want to expect it and you don’t want to get your heart too involved in it because I wanted to be happy wherever he went. So to me, sitting there and he’s verbally telling Nate, it was incredible.

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“You almost don’t know how to feel, because there’s been so much emotion, especially this past week and a half. It’s been very emotional and hard. He didn’t take it lightly. Part of why he waited till the last minute is because he wanted to be certain. And it was a hard decision for him, but at the end of the day, I think he just wants to be at Purdue.”

Ethan loved the energy of Walters — so much so that he committed without even knowing who his position coach will be, as Purdue has yet to hire an offensive line coach.

He also gave up the chance to save his parents hundreds of thousands of dollars across the next four years by not taking the offer from Indiana State, to say nothing of the fact that he would have almost certainly been assured of more playing time in Terre Haute. And while money was certainly a topic during the family’s discussions this past week, Ethan’s parents did everything they could to allow him to take that out of the equation when determining where he really wanted to be.

The Tyler Trent Cancer Research Endowment funds cancer research at the Purdue Center for Cancer Research. The Trents made it to every Boilermakers home game this fall. Ethan’s father, Tony, attended the school as well.

Ethan believes there is unfinished family business with the Boilers. And if he happens to crack the field at some point next year?

Well, it wouldn’t be the first time the Trents were overwhelmed by Purdue.

“I think there will be lots of tears when we see that,” Kelly Trent said. “I might even tear up right now. We were talking last night and I just literally feel like I can see Tyler smile. He would be his brother’s No. 1 supporter, I have no doubt. He would be front row, all the time, and so it just keeps Tyler right there with us on some level, and a lot of comfort imagining how supportive he would be of Ethan.

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“And I think that in a way helps Ethan feel love from him even more because Ethan knows how happy Tyler would be. So we all can easily imagine that, and it’s just really exciting.”

(Photo of Blake Trent, left, and Ethan Trent standing over their brother Tyler outside Ross-Ade Stadium in 2018: Courtesy of Kelly Trent)