Cats offer three 2022 prospects

Monday was the first day that college programs could contact Class of 2022 recruits and Northwestern's staff wasted no time in extending offers to three rising high school juniors.

All three players -- Gradey Dick, Braden Huff and Jaden Schutt -- have some type of a connection to the NU program, whether it's a Wildcat player, their high school or their AAU program.

Here is a thumbnail sketch of each of the players who received an offer from the Wildcats.

Connection: 2020 incoming freshman Ty Berry

The No. 32 player in the 2022 class, Gradey Dick was named the 2020 Gatorade Kansas Boys Basketball Player of the Year after averaging 20.3 points, five rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game for Sunrise Christian Academy. He and Berry, a four-star NU recruit, helped lead Sunrise to a 22-3 mark and the Class 3A state quarterfinals before the tournament was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. Dick included a picture of Berry in his offer tweet.

Berry and Dick were also teammates with the KC Run GMC AAU program, which also features 2021 NU target Tamar Bates.

Dick, a 6-foot-6 guard, has offers from Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Purdue, among others, as well as interest from schools like Duke and North Carolina.

Connection: Glenbard West, Illinois Wolves

Unranked 6-foot-9 forward Braden Huff plays at Glenbard West, and the last Hilltopper who signed with Northwestern was all-time scoring leader John Shurna.

Huff also comes from coach Mike Mullins' Illinois Wolves AAU program that produced a slew of former Wildcats, including Shurna, Nate Taphorn, Barret Benson, Jordan Ash and Dave Sobolewski.

Huff averaged 15.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.5 assists per game as Glenbard West posted a 16-13 mark in 2019-20. He has drawn offers from NU and Creighton and reports interest from Ohio State, Wisconsin and Notre Dame, among others.

Connection: Illinois Wolves

Jaden Schutt is another Illinois Wolves product and is ranked as a three-star and the No. 146 player in the nation. You can expect those numbers to rise in the future as Rivals' Corey Evans is a fan.

Schutt averaged 22.2 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game as Yorkville Christian finished the year 24-11. The 6-foot-5 wing has a reported 39-inch vertical leap and is a prolific shooter, scoring 51 points in a game this season.

Schutt's six offers include Illinois, Iowa and Northwestern, and he's also garnered interest from Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin, among others.