Spring ball is over, the transfer portal is open and official visits for the Class of 2025 are coming up quickly.

David Braun is heading into his second season as Northwestern's head coach after being named interim in July and signing a contract to become permanent in November.

The Wildcats are off to a strong start on their Class of 2025 and have brought in several key transfers. But shockwaves rippled through the entire Northwestern community on Tuesday, when presumptive starting quarterback Brendan Sullivan entered his name into the transfer portal.

I sat down with Braun to talk about Sullivan's departure, Northwestern's recruiting philosophy, the transfer portal, NIL, the state of the program and much, much more.

Here's the transcript from the interview, edits have been made for clarity and conciseness:


Shelton: Brendan Sullivan announced he'd be entering the transfer portal. Was that a surprise to you and your staff?

Braun: I wouldn't call it a surprise. We'd have loved for Sully to have stayed. But something that's important to us post-spring is being very transparent, very honest with guys. We let them know where we are in projecting reps in fall camp and opportunities. The depth chart isn't set, but it's important for us to communicate where we see it trending and be honest about our exploration for a potential guy in the transfer portal.

To me, truth and transparency always wins. Sully is going to be leaving with his undergrad degree. He's been, and will be, a Cat through and through. I was disappointed in his decision and would have loved for him to stay on the team, but also understand why he made that decision.


I think a lot of people considered him the presumptive starter. Was that not the case if the roster had stayed as is?

There are still opportunities for competition, that will continue. The depth chart is not set, but I think Sully is really prioritizing, I don't want to speak for Brendan, but I understand, with two years left, that he's making decisions where he really wants to prioritize making sure that where he's playing, he's the starting quarterback.


Northwestern has not started a quarterback they recruited out of high school in the season opener since 2018. In the portal era, do you prefer trying to bring in an experienced grad transfer like Ben Bryant? Or, in the long-term, do you want to go back towards high school-recruited players?

High school-recruited players, 100%. I hope for a long, long time we have guys that are starting at quarterback for us that came here as first-year guys. My goodness, would it be awesome to have two-year starters, three-year starters, guys who have been brought up in the program the whole way. But at the end of the day, on our current roster, there's still a lot of growth and development needed at that position.

I'm excited about what's going on in the room, right now. I'm excited about the development with [offensive coordinator Zach] Lujan. But in the best interest of our entire team, the exploration of a transfer quarterback is something that we need to at least be active with and evaluate if there's the right fit out there.


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