Northwestern landed another major piece for its Class of 2025 on Tuesday when Rivals150 point guard Jake West announced his commitment to the Wildcats.

West is the third commitment for Northwestern in the last 11 days and fourth overall. It's their first class of four players since the Class of 2018. They Wildcats still have as many as two scholarships remaining but could decide to bank them for the transfer market after the season.

West, a three-star guard from Philadelphia (Pa.) William Penn Charter School, took an official visit to Northwestern on the weekend of Oct. 5, when the Wildcat football team hosted Indiana. He chose the program over finalists Florida, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina and VCU. He took official visits to four schools but canceled a planned visit to Florida after visiting Northwestern and making up his mind.

West, who is also a TikTok star with more than 1.5 million followers, announced his decision live on YouTube.

A long and skinny 6-foot-3, 165-pounder, West calls himself “a point guard at heart,” but he learned to play both on and off the ball on his Team Final AAU squad. He was usually paired in the backcourt with four-star, Top 50 point guard Jerry Easter II, so he often played as a two-guard. He averaged about 14 points and four assists per game on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer.

The EYBL is where Northwestern assistant coach Bryant McIntosh scouted West. NU’s all-time leader in assists ran the point (excuse the pun) on West’s recruitment, and it was that relationship, and the backgrounds of both McIntosh and head coach Chris Collins as former guards, that played a pivotal role in West’s decision to become a Wildcat.

"Coach B-Mac is a guard like me, so it's awesome to have him recruiting me,” West told WildcatReport earlier this month. “Coach Collins played at the highest level and was also a guard. They're good at developing guards, as you've seen.”

That they are. The Wildcats just graduated two-time All-Big Ten point guard and NU all-time leading scorer Boo Buie. His previous backcourt mate, Chase Audige, was the conference defensive player of the year. Both players expect to be on G League rosters this season. This year, all eyes are on preseason All-Big Ten guard Brooks Barnhizer.

Of those three, West is definitely the most like Buie and will be a primary ballhandler for the Wildcats. Time will tell if he turns into the type of scorer that Buie was, but he’s a distributor who will run the offense and get the ball into the right players’ hands.

West is a big name in the 2025 class, but it’s nothing compared to what he is on TikTok. He had one of his dance videos go viral in December of 2022, with 10.8 million views. He guesses that a lot of his followers don’t even know he plays basketball, but that is changing and he will be ideally suited to cash in on NIL opportunities during his career in Evanston, as companies will no doubt be attracted to his follower base.

Northwestern’s 2025 class is shaping up to be one of Collins’ best. Just 11 days ago, the Wildcats had one commit – and he was a big one, three-star combo guard Phoenix Gill, who is the son of former Illinois and NBA star Kendall Gill.

Then, on Oct. 4, they pulled in a surprise commitment from Tyler Kropp, a 6-foot-9 power forward who flew under the radar for most of his recruitment. Kropp’s only high-major offer was from Northwestern, but they had beat out Dayton to land him.

Then came the big splash, a commitment on Oct. 9 from Tre Singleton, one of the most sought-after recruits in the Midwest. The 6-foot-8 wing has yet to be ranked by Rivals but his offer list tells you all you need to know about him: he chose the Wildcats over Purdue, Notre Dame, Louisville, Virginia and Clemson.

Now, they’ve landed a ballhandler in West.

Northwestern will lose guards Barnhizer, Ty Berry and Jalen Leach next season, as well as seven-footers Matt Nicholson and Keenan Fitzmorris. They also have an extra scholarship because the Wildcats only have 12 scholarship players this season, one fewer than the limit of 13.

The Wildcats may be done with their 2025 recruiting and hold the two remaining scholarships for transfers. Or, they could take at least one more 2025 player: big man Cade Bennerman, who took officials to both Michigan and Northwestern in September, is the obvious remaining target.

However it shakes out, the Wildcats are rolling in recruiting right now. They have a lot to sell.

They have made two straight NCAA Tournaments for the first time in school history. Collins is the face of the program and is locked up long term. They play in a beautiful new(ish) arena and have an electric home atmosphere. Their NIL budget is “competitive”, according to Collins.

The addition of West, and his three other classmates, are positive signs that Northwestern will be able to sustain its success in the coming years.