Northwestern has been catching up with its peers with early enrollees in recent years.

Last year, five Wildcats graduated high school early and started classes at Northwestern in January. This year, three more will try to get a jump on their college careers when they officially enroll on Monday.

One of those early enrollees, Trey Finison, represents a first for the program. He is perhaps one of the first in all of college football.

Very few kickers enroll early in college, and virtually no walkons do. So Finison, a walkon kicker, is a rare bird indeed.

Ask Finison if he knows of any walkon kickers who enrolled in college early and he draws a blank. Head coach Pat Fitzgerald says he hasn’t heard of it, either. “But more power to him,” he said on national signing day last month.

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