Commitment Impact: Sean McLaughlin

Three-star defensive end Sean McLaughlin committed to Northwestern on Friday to give the Wildcats their 11th 2020 commitment.

We take a look at what McLaughlin's commitment means to the Wildcats, and Wildcat recruiting, moving forward.

His upside is as tall as he is: College coaches like long defensive ends and McLaughlin is all of 6-foot-7. But more than that, however, he is an athletic 79 inches tall.

McLaughlin plays tight end for Lincoln-Way East and is fast enough to get down the seam of a defense. He averaged a double-double last season as a center on the Griffins' basketball team. He is also a legitimate baseball pitching prospect who drew a couple college offers and plans to pitch at Northwestern.

McLaughlin still has quite a bit of physical development to do, starting with packing a lot more weight on his 230-pound frame, but the tools are there to be a bona-fide Big Ten defensive end. He will eventually be heavy enough to anchor an edge against the run and fast enough to get after the quarterback.

The DE talent parade continues: No too long ago, Northwestern had problems attracting top defensive ends to Evanston. Not anymore.

McLaughlin adds even more talent to what may be the best and deepest position group on the team. Just look at the depth chart: Joe Gaziano will play on Sundays and is primed for an All-Big Ten-caliber senior year. Samdup Miller has started all 27 games in his college career. Pass-rushing specialist Earnest Brown, who turned down Ohio State and Texas, among others, finished second on the team in sacks in limited time last year. Fifth-year Swiss Army knife Trent Goens is expected to play three ways (offense, defense and special teams) this season. Redshirt freshmen Devin O'Rourke was a four-star prospect coming out of high school.

Then there are others -- redshirt freshman Eku Leota and incoming freshman Adetomiwa Adebawore, for example -- we have yet to see in action.

McLaughlin is from Lincoln-Way East: The Griffins are one of the elite programs in Illinois Class 8A. They are 35-4 over the last three seasons and captured the 2017 state championship. Head coach Rob Zvonar has won 83 percent of his games in 19 years at Lincoln-Way East and has two state titles and a runner-up finish on his resume.

Northwestern landed O'Rourke out of LWE in 2017 and has now added another DE in McLaughlin. The Wildcats also went hard after A.J. Henning, McLaughlin's four-star teammate and the No. 2 prospect in Illinois for 2020, but now seem to be out of the running.

One thing is certain: there will be several more blue-chippers coming out of the far south suburbs, and Northwestern's foot is now firmly wedged in Lincoln-Way East's door.

He’s a perfect fit: Northwestern has upped the ante in recruiting with this class, but head coach Pat Fitzgerald still preaches fit first when searching for prospects. Well, McLaughlin seems tailor-made for the Wildcat program.

First of all, he's a star in the classroom. He holds a 4.4 weighted GPA at Lincoln-Way East and plans to become a doctor. He has turned down interviews with WildcatReport more than once because he had too much studying to do. His grandfather, William "Joe" Deegan, played for Ara Parsegian at NU in 1960, and he took McLaughlin to "countless" games when he was a child. Living 90 minutes or so south of Evanston didn't hurt, either.

He could put some pressure on other DEs: McLaughlin taking one defensive end scholarship will no doubt exert some pressure on the other DEs Northwestern is recruiting in this cycle.

Deontae Craig has been one of NU's top targets for quite some time and visited Evanston in Apri for a spring practice. The three-star from Culver (Ind.) Academy has taken official visits to Tennessee and Indiana since, and is going to Iowa later this month. Craig is also being recruited by Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan, among others.

Jaiden Cameron just picked up an offer from Northwestern on June 1 and visited on Friday. The three-star Northmont (Ohio) Clayton product took an official visit to Cincinnati this weekend and is scheduled to take OVs to Michigan State and Minnesota over the next two weekends. (WildcatReport's attempts to reach Cameron this weekend were unsuccessful.)

McLaughlin is the first May 20 official visit weekend prospect to commit: Northwestern pulled out all the stops to entertain 16 official visitors (nine commits and seven prospects) at the end of May. The Wildcats showcased Evanston on Friday and Chicago on Saturday, with stops that included a tour of Wrigley Field and a stop at the Under Armour Brand House on Michigan Avenue.

All of the visitors raved about the visit, but none committed until McLaughlin pulled the trigger on Friday. No one expected a flurry of commitments right afterward -- there were big-time prospects on hand with several attractive offers to explore -- but it's good to get one on the board. More could follow soon.