Pat Fitzgerald predicted this. Last year, the first year of the early signing period, Northwestern’s head coach said that the early signing day in December would soon become THE signing day, and that the traditional national signing day in February would become an afterthought.

That’s certainly the current reality in college football recruiting. Really, his hypothesis was proven last year, when 16 of the 18 members of the Wildcats’ Class of 2018 signed in December and just two signed in February. Nationally, about 70 percent of signees inked their national letters of intent early last year.

This year, the December-February balance is even more out of whack in Evanston. Northwestern signed 18 players from their Class of 2019 in December and, barring a shocking development, will add just one – two-star running back Evan Hull – on Wednesday. He committed on Jan. 19, the day after he picked up his offer from Northwestern, though he didn’t announce it until Jan. 28, the day after returning from his official visit.

Sources tell WildcatReport that the Wildcats could still be in the market for a grad transfer to add to the class, but even that seems like a longshot at this point, and grad transfers can sign after national signing day anyway. We can also expect Fitzgerald to reward a walkon or two with a scholarship at some point; there were certainly a lot of candidates who emerged during the 2018 season.

But that’s about it.

So it will be another snoozer of a signing day at the Walter Athletics Center – and around the country, really. The televised prospect hat dance that was once such an integral part of signing day has gone the way of the fax machine, another tradition that has seen its time come and go.

Eighty-nine of the Rivals100 signed in December, so just 11 remain on the board as of Sunday night. Of those 11, just seven are undecided; the other four are verbally committed.

It’s not just the Northwesterns of the world who are getting their classes all-but-wrapped-up early, either. Look at the top three classes in Rivals’ national rankings: No. 1 Alabama has 24 recruits who signed in December and just four verbals who have yet to put ink to paper; for No. 2 Georgia, it’s 22 signees and one verbal; for No. 3 Texas, 23 signed, one verbal.

In the Big Ten, it’s more of the same. Top-ranked Michigan has 25 signees and just two verbals, No. 2 Penn State has 19 and two, and No. 3 Nebraska has 25 and one.

There may a few of those unsigned Top100 kids who could end at one of those schools, but for the most part, Wednesday’s signing day will have all the drama of a Russian election.

Uneventful signing days are nothing new in Evanston, of course. Last year, there was a little drama as one prospect, D.J. Brown, was choosing from among Northwestern, Cal and Notre Dame on signing day. He wound up in South Bend.

This year, there’s not even that bit of intrigue. Things have been very quiet for the 2019 class since last December. Everyone knew that Northwestern still wanted a running back for the class after losing three of their top six backs from a year ago.

There were three in the hunt for that scholarship: Ainias Smith chose Texas A&M, and Northwestern chose to offer Hull over Micah Kelly. The Wildcats offered just one 2019 prospect, Hull, over the last month and a half, and they landed him.

Fitzgerald still has a few scholarships in his pocket, but he decided that it was better to reward a walkon or two or land a grad transfer or two, and then have those scholarships available again in 2020. It makes sense. The Wildcats already have four commits on board, are in on some local four-star talents like Peter Skoronski, Rylie Mills and A.J. Hennings, and will start to reap the full recruiting benefits of one of the finest indoor facilities in the nation in this upcoming cycle.

The bottom line is that Northwestern fans won’t be on the edge of their seats for signing day. Once again, they can just sit back and relax.