Breaking down the Class of 2022

MORE: Northwestern's 2022 class l Signing Day Central

Northwestern once again made fast work of National Signing Day, The program announced the signing of linebacker Braydon Brus, a Californian on Pacific time, at 9:15 a.m. Central time, thus wrapping up the 15-member class.

But it wasn't entirely devoid of drama, as the Wildcats signed one player we didn't see coming, while another one wound up postponing his signing until February.

Northwestern is known for signing small recruiting classes, but the group the Wildcats signed on Wednesday matched the 2014 and 2004 in terms of the fewest signees. Still, the Wildcats' class was ranked as the 46th-best class in the nation. That's impressive for such a small group, as Rivals' rating system dings classes of less than 20 recruits.

Let's take a look at the Wildcats' new Class of 2022.

Ironically, the last recruit to get offered was the first one to sign on Wednesday, and it was a name that we hadn't seen before.

Kenny Soares, a three-star athlete from Avon (Conn.) Old Farms was a surprise to WildcatReport. He had been committed to Colorado since early August before flipping to Northwestern on a Tuesday night Zoom call, according to head coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Soares participated in a Northwestern camp over the summer, and the staff "loved him," said Fitzgerald. A defensive end scholarship opened up over the weekend when Denis Jaquez decommitted, so the Wildcats immediately pivoted and went after Soares.

A versatile 6-foot-3, 220-pounder, Soares was recruited as an inside linebacker by Colorado. He also held offers from 14 other programs, including Indiana and Maryland.

Another dramatic development was the decision of Miguel Mitchell not to sign today. He told WildcatReport that, though he was still verbally committed to Northwestern, he would instead wait until February to put pen to paper.

Mitchell's postponement didn't come as a complete surprise, however. He abruptly canceled a commitment announcement on Saturday, after the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game, where he also took home MVP honors. He said that he is still considering other schools but chose not to disclose them.

A 3-9 record on the field this season did not prevent Northwestern from netting two four-star signees in defensive end Anto Saka (No. 179) from Towson (Md.) Loyola Blakefield and wide receiver Reggie Fleurima (No. 212) from Naperville (Ill.) Central.

Getting either of these talents to Evanston would have been a coup, but to get both after a down year for the program is remarkable.

Saka is a 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end who chose the Wildcats over USC and Penn State on July 17. He was the second-to-last player to commit, and the highest-rated overall by Rivals. He is ranked as the 179th-ranked overall prospect in the country, and is also rated 12th among defensive ends and fourth in the state of Maryland.

Fleurima provides Northwestern with several firsts as the Cats look to upgrade their skill on the perimeter. He was the first player to commit to Northwestern by almost a month when he made his verbal commitment on March 17. In fact, Fleurima is also the first four-star wide receiver the program has signed since at least 2002. Fleurima ranks well across the board: he is seventh in Illinois, 32nd nationwide among wide receivers and 212th overall in the nation.

Fleurima made it a point to be active in the recruitment process of other Class of 2022 signees and on social media.

The Cats' recruiting class started strong in the spring and summer when they 12 commits from mid-March to mid-July. Then it came back to life in December with three more.

After dealing with decommits from DB Trevon Howard, DE Denis Jaquez and QB Bennett Meredith down the stretch, the Cats were able to lock in DE Brendan Flakes, QB Jack Lausch and Soares this month to replace them and round out the class.

Lausch might be the most significant move of the three, as Northwestern has had difficulty recruiting quarterback in recent years. Lausch had committed to Notre Dame as a preferred walkon for football and baseball in June, but the Cats swooped in with a scholarship offer on the same day as Meredith's decommitment. Northwestern then hosted Lausch on an official visit last weekend that featured the trio of Illinois players already committed to help pitch him: Fleurima, OL Deuce McGuire and TE Chris Petrucci.

Lausch is just a two-star in the Rivals database, but the buzz in Chicago about the season he just had at Brother Rice is palpable. He won the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year award and led the Crusaders to the Class 7A state semifinal, where they came up short against eventual champion Wheaton North, 45-27. What's more, three of six Illinois high school coaches polled named Lausch as the best player they've seen this year in an article on Illinois recruiting by TheAthletic.

Lausch is the kind of dual threat quarterback that offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian has made clear he prefers. At Brother Rice this season, Lausch generated more than 3,500 yards of total offense (2,447 passing and 1,084 rushing) and scored 41 total touchdowns.

What's significant about these additions is that the Cats went out late in the cycle and found three potential impact players. All three of them were also committed to other programs previously: Flakes decommitted from Marshall and Lausch from Notre Dame (as a PWO) and Soares from Colorado.

Illinois delivered the most signees to the Cats with four: Fleurima, McGuire, Petrucci and Lausch. While that may be expected, it is the first time that Illinois has produced the most NU signees since the Class of 2018.

What is a surprise is that, among the three states with two commits, is Alabama, which produced CBs Evan Smith and Braden Turner. The Wildcats could have had two more Alabamians, but Meredith decommitted and Mitchell decided not to sign this morning.

Two other states that produced two signees for the Wildcats were Texas, with safeties Devin Turner and Robert Fitzgerald; and Florida, with DL Austin Firestone and Flakes.

Running back Joseph Himon, the Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year, marked Northwestern's first signee from the state of Arkansas since Rivals' database started tracking in 2002. Other rarities are Saka, who is the fifth-ever signee from Maryland, and lineman Nick Herzog, who is the fifth from Kansas.

The furthest trip for the coaching staff was to recruit and sign Brus, from Glendora (Calif).

Some of the usual suspects were missing from this year's class. After Ohio led the Class of 2020 with five signees, and Michigan led the Class of 2021 with four, neither state made an appearance in this year's class.

Fleurima and Saka lead the way with their national rankings, but the rest of the class aren't slouches.

Here's how the Class of 2022 stacks up with their state and positional rankings by national ranking:

Anto Saka: 179th in the nation, 12th at OLB, 4th in Maryland

Reggie Fleurima: 212th in the nation, 32nd at WR, 7th in Illinois

Chris Petrucci: NR at TE, 18th in Illinois

Deuce McGuire: 20th at G, 12th in Illinois

Kenny Soares: 24th at ATH, 2nd in Connecticut

Nick Herzog: 34th at G, 7th in Kansas

Braydon Brus: 47th at LB, 47th in California

Devin Turner: NR at DB, NR in Texas

Robert Fitzgerald: NR at S, NR in Texas

Braden Turner: NR at DB, NR in Alabama

Evan Smith: NR at ATH, NR in Alabama

Austin Firestone: 45th at DT, 85th in Florida

Joseph Himon: NR at RB, NR in Arkansas

Brendan Flakes: NR at DE, NR in Florida

Jack Lausch: NR at QB, NR in Illinois

Fitzgerald announced on Wednesday that four new Wildcats would enroll early at Northwestern and start classes in January: Petrucci, Fleurima, Soares and Devin Turner.

However, Fitzgerald added that those plans could still change.

“We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks,” he said.